Aulis

According to Greek myth, Agamemnon killed his daughter Iphigenia to obtain a favorable wind from the goddess Artemis to sail to Troy . This is said to have happened here in Aulis, a port city in Boeotia, on the east coast of mainland Greece opposite Euboea.

After the victory over Troy, Agamemnon returns to Mycenae as a victorious general, but no triumph awaits him in his own palace, only judgment for the blood he has shed. His wife, Clytemnestra, has never forgiven him for having their daughter Iphigenia sacrificed to obtain a favorable wind for the journey to Troy. During Agamemnon's absence, Clytemnestra has also begun an affair with Aegisthus , a hostile branch of the family, who still have an old vengeance to settle against Agamemnon's lineage. Together they hatch a plan to eliminate the king as soon as he sets foot in Mycenae again. When Agamemnon returns, Clytemnestra ostensibly presents herself as the forgiving wife: she receives him with pomp and circumstance, red carpets, and sweet words, as if to crown his triumph. In reality, she lures him into the palace, away from the public, under the pretext of a ritual bath and rest after the campaign. Agamemnon is murdered in the privacy of the palace: Clytemnestra entangles him in a robe or net so he can't defend himself and then bludgeons him to death with multiple axe blows.

Pascal Brackman