View Single Post
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 03-06-2008, 04:06 PM
universitystudent universitystudent is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 6
Rep Power: 0
universitystudent has a spectacular aura about
Greek mythology? Re Leda and the Swan, Agamemnon and his wife?

I'm writing a paper, re Yeats' "Leda and the Swan". I just need some mythology background, and am having a hard time getting a straight story. I know that Leda winds up having 4 babies from that day when Zeus comes as a swan and rapes her. The important ones for me are Helen and Clytemnestra. Helen is abducted by the Trojans? So Agamemnon, king of Argos, goes to help his bro (Helen's husband). Sacrifices his daughter to get a favourable wind. So, trojan war is 10 yrs, he comes back to Argos, where wife Clytemnestra is queen. She kills him for sacrificing their daughter. That's the version Yeats deals with. This is where i'm stuck. What happens after Agamemnon dies? Does Argos fall? Is it kind of an end for a great city and civilization? The paper asks to discuss how the rape was a turning pt in history (obviously Clytemnestra's conception). Just need to know what happens after.
Reply With Quote