CELIA MARIA ARNS.pdf - Universidade Federal do Paraná

took form during several centuries; it is a story com-
pounded of fact and imagination, myth and history,
which reflects the beliefs, philosophy and ethical
values of Hellenic society.
One of the most powerful Greek cities in the
second millennium B.C. was Argos, in the Peloponnese.
Two brothers, Atreus and Thyestes, descendants of Tan-
talaus through Pelops, had quarrelled over the succes-
sion to the throne of Argos. Atreus decided to cause
Thyestes- 1 ruin by inducing him to commit a sacrile-
gious crime which would turn the Argive citizens
against him. So it was. Atreus, in secret, murdered two
of Thyestes' sons and served their flesh to him at a
banquet. Thyestes was sent into exile but he took his
third son Aegisthus with him. Thyestes died and Aegis-
thus was brought up in exile.
Later on, Agamemnon who was Atreus' eldest son
inherited the Argive throne and with it the curse
which had settled on his family. His brother Menelaus,
on the other hand, succeeded his father-in-law Tynda-
reos on the throne of Sparta. Tyndareos' wife, Leda,
had been loved by Zeus and bore twin daughters, Helen
and Clytemnestra. Helen's uncommon beauty attracted
innumerable suitors and they entered into a mutual
pact: each man swore that he would accept Helen's
choice as final and would offer his armed service to
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