#I am an Agamemnon Hater™ and I think Clytemnestra was Valid but also. He’s thinking of his daughter too

[specialagentartemis]

Reading Euripides’s “Hecuba” and it’s fascinating that he has Agamemnon, specifically, oppose sacrificing Hecuba’s daughter Polyxena after the war to appease/honor the demanding ghost of Achilles. The Athenian leaders, Neoptolemus, and, very prominently, Odysseus, convince the Greek forces to sacrifice Polyxena; Agamemnon seems to be the major voice opposing it.

Iphigenia’s name doesn’t come up, but Agamemnon’s resistance to sacrificing Polyxena even though Achilles demands it, Polyxena’s dignity in going to her sacrifice—it all evokes Iphigenia so strongly. A sacrifice of a noble daughter to begin and to end the war. Agamemnon’s sympathy and even kindness to Hecuba after Polyxena’s death makes me think he’s thinking of his own daughter sacrificed at the beginning of the war—and after ten years of this, ending right back where he started, in a way. His sympathy to Hecuba is extremely personal. He knows. He’s sorry.

#I mean he is still also explicitly named as going to Cassandra’s bed so he is also keeping Hecuba’s other daughter as a sex slave #So like. Agamemnon. He contains multitudes. #But one of those things is just Normal Stuff That Happens To Losers Of A War #And the other is a call for unnecessary blood spilled based on a ghost’s pride #I mean Euripides is also 100% sympathetic to Hecuba and Polyxena and casting the Greeks as being cruel here #whole passages about the cruelty of war-captive slavery as an institution #But. This was fascinating and striking to me! #I am an Agamemnon Hater™ and I think Clytemnestra was Valid but also. He’s thinking of his daughter too #The Trojan War is a tragedy for everybody. There’s a reason no one but Nestor had a happy and easy homecoming after everything they’d done #but it’s interesting to see Euripides clearly thinking that Agamemnon uniquely feels what Hecuba is feeling #And is kind to her in her grief #tagamemnon #Euripides