View source for Thyestes

== Myth ==
[[Pelops]] and [[Hippodamia (mythology)|Hippodamia]] are parents to Thyestes. However, they were cursed by [[Myrtilus]], a servant of King [[Oenomaus]], the father of Hippodamia. Myrtilus was promised the right to Hippodamia's virginity and half of Pelops' kingdom, but Pelops denied both to him and killed him by throwing him into the sea. With his dying gasp, Myrtilus cursed their line, which is where Thyestes and Atreus come in.

Thyestes' brother and King of Mycenae, [[Atreus]], vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to [[Artemis]]. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, [[Aerope]], to hide from the goddess. She gave it to her lover, Thyestes, who then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne.

Atreus retook the throne using advice he received from the gods. Zeus sent [[Hermes]] to him, advising him to get Thyestes to agree that should the sun rise in the west and set in the east, Atreus could have his throne back. Atreus did so, and [[Helios]] reversed his normal course, in anger over Thyestes' actions.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D12 E.2.12]; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#18 1.18.30]</ref>

Atreus then learned of Thyestes' and Aerope's adultery and plotted revenge. He killed Thyestes' sons and cooked them, save their hands and heads. He served Thyestes his own sons and then taunted him with their hands and heads. This is the source of modern phrase "Thyestean feast", meaning one at which [[human cannibalism|human flesh is served]]. When Thyestes was done with his feast, he released a loud belch, which represents satiety and pleasure and his loss of self-control.

An oracle then advised Thyestes that, if he had a son with his own daughter [[Pelopia (daughter of Thyestes)|Pelopia]], that son would kill Atreus. Thyestes did so by raping Pelopia (his identity hidden from her) and the son, [[Aegisthus]], did kill Atreus. However, when Aegisthus was first born, he was abandoned by his mother, ashamed of the origin of her son. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to Atreus, who raised him as his own son. Only as he entered adulthood did Thyestes reveal the truth to Aegisthus, that he was both father and grandfather to the boy and that Atreus was his uncle. Aegisthus then killed Atreus.

While Thyestes ruled Mycenae, the sons of Atreus, [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaus]], were exiled to [[Sparta]]. There, King [[Tyndareus]] accepted them as the royalty that they were. Shortly after, he helped the brothers return to Mycenae to overthrow Thyestes, forcing him to live in [[Kythira]], where he died.

===Legacy===
As a token of good will and allegiance, King Tyndareus offered his daughters to Agamemnon and Menelaus as wives, [[Clytemnestra]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] respectively.

When Agamemnon left Mycenae for the [[Trojan War]], Aegisthus seduced Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, and the couple plotted to kill her husband upon his return. They succeeded, killing Agamemnon and his new concubine, [[Cassandra]]. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus had three children: [[Aletes (son of Aegisthus)|Aletes]], [[Erigone (daughter of Aegisthus)|Erigone]], and Helen who died as an infant.

Seven or eight years after the death of Agamemnon, Agamemnon's son [[Orestes]] returned to Mycenae and, with the help of his cousin [[Pylades]] and his sister [[Electra]], killed both their mother, Clytemnestra, and Aegisthus.

Tired of the bloodshed, the gods exonerated Orestes and declared this the end of the curse on the house of Atreus, as described in [[Aeschylus]]' play ''[[The Eumenides]]''.

However, other stories say that when Aletes and Erigone came of age and became rulers at Mycenae, Orestes returned with an army then killed his half-brother and raped his half-sister, who gave birth to a son, [[Penthilus]].

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{{s-bef | rows=2 | before=[[Atreus]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=King of [[Mycenae]]}}
{{s-aft | rows=2 | after=[[Agamemnon]]}}
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