The Children of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra – Scarce Sources and a Seemingly Living Tradition

Abstract

There is very little mention of the children of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra in contemporary sources, although there is evidence that a living tradition existed regarding them. Sophocles alludes to it (Sophocles: Electra 589, 673–674), and Euripides explicitly states (Euripides: Electra 62–63), that several children were born from the marriage of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. We know the names of two children, Aletes and Erigone. The Marmor Parium mentions among the historical events of Athens the trial against Orestes during the reign of Demophon, according to which the accuser was Erigone, daughter of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra (Marmor Parium A/25). The name of Aletes, son of Aegisthus, appears in Hyginus among the kings descended from the ancient Tantalid house, as reigning after Orestes, son of Agamemnon, and before Tisamenes, son of Orestes (Hyginus: Fabulae 124). The study collects the mythological material about the descendants of Aegisthus and integrates it into the data of the tradition related to Agamemnon’s family. It also attempts to answer the question of whether the extreme scarcity of surviving texts are a result of accidental destruction, or whether the myths related to them were intentionally avoided in contemporary literature for some reason.