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{{Short description|King of Mycenae, father of Agamemnon and Menelaus}}
{{Redirect2|Atreidae|Atreidai|the royal house in Frank Herbert's ''Dune'' universe|House Atreides}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox dynasty
| name = Atreidae
| other_names = Atreid dynasty
| native_name = {{lang|grc|Ἀτρείδαι}}
| type    = [[Royal house]]
| country = [[Mycenaean Greece]]
| founder = [[Tantalus]]<br/>Atreus <small>(first ruler)</small>
| final_ruler = [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]]
| seat = [[Mycenae]]
| members = [[Tantalus]], [[Niobe]], [[Pelops]], Atreus (eponym), [[Thyestes]],  [[Aegisthus]], [[Menelaus]], [[Agamemnon]], [[Aletes of Mycenae|Aletes]], [[Iphigenia]], [[Electra]], [[Orestes]], [[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]]
| titles = [[Mycenae#Kings of Mycenae|King of Mycenae]]
}}
[[File:Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae- Atreus Farnese MET DP870243.jpg|thumb|The Farnese Atreus (1574 engraving by [[Antonio Lafreri]] and [[Cornelis Cort]]) depicts Atreus and one of the sons of [[Thyestes]], whom Atreus is about to kill]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Atreus'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|t|r|i|ə|s}} {{respell|AY|tri|əs}}, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|eɪ|t|r|uː|s}} {{respell|AY|trooss}};<ref>{{cite web|title=Atreus|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Atreus|website=Merriam-Webster.com|publisher=Merriam-Webster|access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref>}} ({{langx|grc|Ἀτρεύς}}, {{ipa|grc|a.trěu̯s|}} {{lit|fearless}}){{efn|From [[privative]] ἀ- (''a-''), "no, not" and {{lang|grc|τρέω}} (''treō''), "to tremble"}} was a king of [[Mycenae]] in the [[Peloponnese]], the son of [[Pelops]] and [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]], and the father of [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaus]]. His descendants became known collectively as the '''Atreidae''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀτρείδαι}} ''Atreidai'').

Atreus and his brother [[Thyestes]] were exiled by their father for murdering their half-brother [[Chrysippus of Elis|Chrysippus]] in their desire for the throne of [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]].  They took refuge in [[Mycenae]], where they ascended to the throne in the absence of King [[Eurystheus]], who was fighting the [[Heracleidae]]. Eurystheus had meant for their stewardship to be temporary, but it became permanent after his death in battle, which ended the rule of the [[Perseid dynasty]] in Mycenae.

According to most ancient sources, Atreus was the father of [[Pleisthenes]], but in some lyric poets ([[Ibycus]], [[Bacchylides]]) Pleisthenides (son of Pleisthenes) is used as an alternative name for Atreus himself.

==Nomenclature==
'Atreides' ({{lang|grc|Ἀτρείδης}}) is a [[patronymic]] form of Atreus which refers to one of his sons—[[Agamemnon]] or [[Menelaus]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Atreus |title=Atreus |author=((The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)) |access-date=21 June 2018 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]]}}</ref> The plural forms, deriving from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|Atreidae}}, itself from [[Ancient Greek]] 'Atreidai' ({{lang|grc|Ἀτρεῖδαι}}), refer to both sons collectively. 'Atreides' is commonly used to translate both the singular and plural form to English. The term can also be used for the more distant descendants of Atreus, also known as the 'House of Atreus' or the 'Atreid dynasty'. It has been suggested that the name ''[[Attarsiya]]'', belonging to an [[Ahhiyawa]]n king of 1400 BC, may be the [[Hittite language|Hittite]] rendition of the Greek name.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bryce|first=Trevor|title=The Kingdom of the Hittites|page=402|year=1999|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-924010-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Agg5-lpVI2MC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Strauss|first=Barry|title=The Trojan War: A New History|year=2007|location=New York|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-6442-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFYrk7VXOtMC|page=35}}</ref>

==The House of Atreus==

=== Tantalus ===
The 'House of Atreus' begins with [[Tantalus]]. Tantalus, the son of Zeus and the maiden [[Pluto (mother of Tantalus)|Pluto]], enjoyed cordial relations with the gods until he decided to slay his son [[Pelops]] and feed him to the gods as a test of their omniscience. Most of the gods, as they sat down to dinner with Tantalus, immediately understood what had happened, and, because they knew the nature of the meat they were served, were appalled and did not partake. But [[Demeter]], who was distracted due to the abduction by [[Hades]] of her daughter [[Persephone]], obliviously ate Pelops's shoulder. The gods threw Tantalus into the [[Greek underworld|underworld]] to spend eternity standing in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reaches for the fruit, the branches raise his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bends down to get a drink, the water recedes before he can drink. Thus is derived the word "[[wikt:tantalizing|tantalizing]]" in English. The gods brought Pelops back to life, replacing the bone in his shoulder with a bit of ivory with the help of Hephaestus, thus marking the family forever afterwards.

=== Pelops and Hippodamia ===
[[File:Pelops cropped.svg|thumb|Pelops]]

Pelops married [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]] after winning a chariot race against her father, King [[Oenomaus]], by arranging for the sabotage of his would-be-father-in-law's chariot which resulted in his death, at which point the story diverges into multiple versions. The sabotage was arranged by [[Myrtilus]], a servant of the king who was killed by Pelops for one of three reasons: 1) because he had been promised the right to take Hippodamia's virginity, which Pelops retracted; 2) because he attempted to rape her, or; 3) because Pelops did not wish to share the credit for the victory. As Myrtilus died, he cursed Pelops and his line, further adding to the house's curse.

=== Atreus and Thyestes ===
[[File:V.J.-Nosecký-a-M.W.-Halbax,-Hostina-Átrea-a-Thyestese,-Zámek-Zákupy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Atreus and Thyestes]]
[[Image:Treasury of Atreus Entrance Mycenae.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Entrance to the [[Beehive tomb|tholos]] known as the "[[Treasury of Atreus]]", built around [[1250 BC]].]]

Pelops and Hippodamia had many sons; two of them were Atreus and [[Thyestes]]. Depending on myth versions, they murdered Chrysippus, who was their half-brother. Because of the murder, Hippodamia, Atreus, and Thyestes were banished to [[Mycenae]], where Hippodamia is said to have hanged herself.

Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, [[Aerope]], to hide from the goddess. She gave it to Thyestes, her lover and Atreus' brother, who then persuaded Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne.

Atreus retook the throne using advice he received from [[Zeus]], who sent [[Hermes]] to him, advising him to make Thyestes agree that if the sun rose in the west and set in the east, the throne of the kingdom should be given back to Atreus. Thyestes agreed, but then [[Helios]] did exactly that, rising where he usually set and setting where he usually rose, not standing the injustice of Thyestes' usurpation.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D12 E.2.12]; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#18 1.18.30]</ref> The people then bowed to the man who had managed to reverse the circuit of the Sun.<ref>[[Sophocles]] frag [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-fragments_not_assignable_any_play/1996/pb_LCL483.347.xml?result=4&rskey=AtCCM0 738] [=[[Achilles Tatius]], ''Introduction to Aratus'' 1].</ref>

[[File:Urbino, atreo e tieste, 1540-50 ca..JPG|thumb|Atreus and Thyestes]]
Atreus then learned of Thyestes' and Aerope's adultery and plotted revenge. He killed Thyestes' sons and cooked them, save their hands and feet. He tricked Thyestes into eating the flesh of his own sons and then taunted him with their hands and feet.{{efn|This story can be found in ''[[The Libation Bearers]]'', the second play of Aeschylus's ''[[Oresteia]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aeschylus |title=Oresteia |editor-last=Meineck |editor-first=Peter |editor-link=Peter Meineck |editor2-last=Foley |editor2-first=Helene P. |editor2-link=Helene P. Foley |date=1998 |publisher=Hackett |isbn=978-0-87220-391-4 |location=Indianapolis, IN}}</ref>}} Thyestes was forced into exile for [[human cannibalism|eating human flesh]]. Thyestes responded by asking an oracle what to do, who advised him to have a son by his daughter, [[Pelopia (daughter of Thyestes)|Pelopia]], who would then kill Atreus. However, when their son [[Aegisthus]] was first born, he was abandoned by his mother, who was ashamed of the incestuous act. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to Atreus, who raised him as his own son. Only as he entered adulthood did Thyestes reveal the truth to Aegisthus, that he was both father and grandfather to the boy. Aegisthus then killed Atreus, although not before Atreus and Aerope had two sons, [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaus]], and a daughter [[Anaxibia]].

Agamemnon married [[Clytemnestra]], and Menelaus married [[Helen of Troy|Helen]], her famously attractive sister. Helen later left Sparta with [[Paris of Troy]], and Menelaus called on all of his wife's former suitors to help him take her back.

=== Agamemnon, Iphigenia, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, Orestes and Electra ===
[[File:Murder Aegisthus Louvre K320.jpg|thumb|The murdering of [[Aegisthus]] by [[Orestes]] and [[Pylades]]]]

Prior to sailing off to war against Troy, Agamemnon had angered the goddess [[Artemis]] because he had killed a sacred deer in a sacred grove, and had then boasted that he was a better hunter than she was. When the time came, Artemis stilled the winds so that Agamemnon's fleet could not sail. A prophet named [[Calchas]] told him that in order to appease Artemis, Agamemnon would have to sacrifice the most precious thing that had come to his possession in the year he killed the sacred deer. This was his first-born daughter, [[Iphigenia]]. He sent word home for her to come (in some versions of the story on the pretense that she was to be married to [[Achilles]]). Iphigenia accepted her father's choice and was honored to be a part of the war. Clytemnestra tried to stop Iphigenia but was sent away. After doing the deed, Agamemnon's fleet was able to get under way.

While he was fighting the Trojans, his wife Clytemnestra, enraged by the murder of her daughter, began an affair with Aegisthus. When Agamemnon returned home he brought with him a new concubine, the doomed prophetess, [[Cassandra]]. Upon his arrival that evening, before the great banquet she had prepared, Clytemnestra drew a bath for him and when he came out of the bath, she put the royal purple robe on him which had no opening for his head. He was confused and tangled up. Clytemnestra then stabbed him to death.

Agamemnon's only son, [[Orestes]], was quite young when his mother killed his father. He was sent into exile.  In some versions he was sent away by Clytemnestra to avoid having him present during the murder of Agamemnon; in others his sister [[Electra]] herself rescued the infant Orestes and sent him away to protect him from their mother. In both versions he was the legitimate heir apparent and as such a potential danger to his usurper uncle.

Goaded by his sister Electra, Orestes swore revenge. He knew it was his duty to avenge his father's death, but saw also that in doing so he would have to kill his mother. He was torn between avenging his father and sparing his mother. 'It was a son's duty to kill his father's murderers, a duty that came before all others. But a son who killed his mother was abhorrent to gods and to men'.

When he prayed to [[Apollo]], the god advised him to kill his mother. Orestes realized that he must work out the curse on his house, exact vengeance and pay with his own ruin. After Orestes murdered Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, he wandered the land with guilt in his heart. After many years, with Apollo by his side, he pleaded to Athena. No descendant of Atreus had ever done so noble an act and 'neither he nor any descendant of his would ever again be driven into evil by the irresistible power of the past.' Thus Orestes ended the curse of the House of Atreus.

This story is the major plot line of [[Aeschylus]]'s trilogy ''[[Oresteia|The Oresteia]]''.

=== Family tree ===
{{chart top|House of Atreus}}
{{tree chart/start|align=center|summary=Family Tree (Simplified)}}
{{tree chart| | |TAN  |     |    |TAN=[[Tantalus]] }}
{{tree chart| | | |!|     |    | }}
{{tree chart| | |PEL  |y|HIP     |    |PEL=[[Pelops]]|HIP=[[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]]
|boxstyle_HIP =background-color: #f2e0ce; }}
{{tree chart| |,|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|.| }}
{{tree chart|THY |  | | | | |ATR| |THY=[[Thyestes]]|ATR='''Atreus''' }}
{{tree chart| |!| |      | |,|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|.| }}
{{tree chart|AEG | |AGA|y|CLE| |MEN|y|HEL|AEG=[[Aegisthus]]| MEN=[[Menelaus]]| HEL=[[Helen of Troy|Helen]] | AGA=[[Agamemnon]]| CLE=[[Clytaemnestra]]
|boxstyle_CLE =background-color: #f2e0ce;
|boxstyle_HEL =background-color: #f2e0ce; }}
{{tree chart| | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | |! }}
{{tree chart| | |IGA| |ELE | |ORE   |IGA=[[Iphigeneia]]|ELE=[[Electra]]|ORE=[[Orestes]]  
|boxstyle_IGA =background-color: #f2e0ce;
|boxstyle_ELE =background-color: #f2e0ce; |~|HER|HER=[[Hermione (mythology)|Hermione]]|boxstyle_HER=background-color: #f2e0ce;}}{{tree chart|8=+}}{{tree chart|3=|7=TIS|TIS=[[Tisamenus (son of Orestes)|Tisamenus]]}}{{tree chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

== Classical references ==
[[Plato]] in his dialogue ''[[Statesman (dialogue)|The Statesman]]'' tells a "famous tale" that "the sun and the stars once rose in the west, and set in the east, and that the god reversed their motion, and gave them that which they now have as a testimony to the right of Atreus."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/stateman.html |title=Plato, The Statesman |publisher=Classics.mit.edu |access-date=2013-02-04}}</ref>  [[Virgil]], in book IV of the ''[[Aeneid]]'', refers to the House of Atreus and specifically [[Orestes]] in describing the death of [[Dido (Queen of Carthage)|Dido]].<ref>[http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidIV.htm Kline, A. S.]</ref>

==Hittite records==
{{Main|Attarsiya}}

There is a possible reference to Atreus in a [[Hittites|Hittite]] text known as the "Indictment of [[Madduwatta]]". The indictment describes several army clashes between the Greeks and the Hittites which took place around the late 15th or early 14th centuries BC. The Greek leader was a man called Attarsiya, and some scholars have speculated that Attarsiya or Attarissiya was the Hittite way of writing the Greek name Atreus.<ref>Bryce, Trevor R., "The Trojan War: Is There Truth Behind the Legend?", ''Near Eastern Archaeology'', Vol. 65, No. 3. (Sep. 2002), p. 193. {{doi|10.2307/3210883}}. {{JSTOR|3210883}}.</ref><ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 158.</ref>  Other scholars argue that even though the name is probably Greek (since the man is described as an [[Ahhiyawa]]) and related to Atreus, the person carrying the name is not necessarily identical to the famous Atreus.<ref>[[M. L. West]], "Atreus and Attarissiyas",  ''Glotta'', vol. 77 (2004), pp. 262–266. {{JSTOR|40267129}}. He suggests that ''Atreus'' is a secondary form based on the [[patronymic]] ''Atreïdēs'', which is in turn derived from the Mycenaean *''Atrehiās''.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Child cannibalism]]
* [[House Atreides]], a fictional Great House in Frank Herbert's ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' who claim to be descendants of this line<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herbert |first1=Frank |title=God Emperor of Dune |date=2019 |publisher=ACE/Berkley |location=New York |isbn=9780593098257 |page=17 |edition=Ace premium}}</ref>
* [[Treasury of Atreus]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography  ==
{{EB9 Poster|Atreus}}
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]] (1972). ''[[Homo Necans]]''. pp.&nbsp;103–108.
*{{cite book |last1=Carrara |first1=Laura |last2=Ferri |first2=Rolando |last3=Medda |first3=Enrico |title=Il mito degli Atridi dal teatro antico all'epoca contemporanea |date=2023 |publisher=Edizioni Ca'Foscari |location=Venice |isbn=978-88-6969-736-4}}
* [[Euripides]]. [[Electra (Euripides)|''Electra'']].
* Pseudo-Apollodorus. ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', [[Epitome]] II, 10–16.
* [[Sophocles]]. ''Fragments.'' Edited and translated by Hugh Lloyd-Jones. [[Loeb Classical Library]] 483. Cambridge, MA: [[Harvard University Press]], 1996.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Atreus}}
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000353 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Atreus)]

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef | rows=1 | before=[[Eurystheus]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=King of [[Mycenae]]}}
{{s-aft | rows=1 | after=[[Thyestes]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Atreidai]]
[[Category:Child sacrifice]]
[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Helios in mythology]]
[[Category:Incidents of cannibalism]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Kings of Mycenae]]
[[Category:Progenitors in Greek mythology]]