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{{Short description|King of Olympia and brother of Atreus in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=March 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Nosadella Tiestes y Aérope.jpg|thumb|''Thyestes and Aerope'', painting by [[Nosadella]]]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Thyestes''' (pronounced {{IPAc-en|θ|aɪ|ˈ|ɛ|s|t|iː|z|}}, {{langx|el|Θυέστης}}, {{IPA|el|tʰyéstɛːs|}}) was a king of [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]. Thyestes and his brother, [[Atreus]], were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, [[Chrysippus of Elis|Chrysippus]], in their desire for the throne of Olympia. They took refuge in [[Mycenae]], where they ascended the throne upon the absence of King [[Eurystheus]], who was fighting the [[Heracleidae]]. Eurystheus had meant for their lordship to be temporary; it became permanent because of his death in conflict.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atreus {{!}} King of Mycenae, Son of Pelops, Father of Agamemnon {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Atreus#ref287587 |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The most popular representation of Thyestes is that of the play ''Thyestes'' by [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] in 62 AD. This play is one of the originals for the revenge tragedy genre. Although inspired by Greek mythology and legend, Seneca's version is different.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seneca |first=Lucius Annaeus |url=https://archive.org/details/senecastragedies02sene |title=Seneca's tragedies |last2=Miller |first2=Frank Justus |date=1917 |publisher=London : W. Heinemann ; New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons |others=Harold B. Lee Library}}</ref>

== Family ==
Thyestes was the son of [[Pelops]] and [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]], and father of [[Pelopia (daughter of Thyestes)|Pelopia]] and [[Aegisthus]]. His three sons by a [[naiad]], who were killed by [[Atreus]], were named Aglaus, [[Orchomenus (mythology)|Orchomenus]] and Calaeus.<ref>[[John Tzetzes]]. ''[http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#18 Chiliades, 1.18 line 449]''</ref>

== Myth ==
{{unreferenced section|date=April 2016}}
[[Pelops]] and [[Hippodamia (mythology)|Hippodamia]] are parents to Thyestes. However, they were cursed by [[Myrtilus]], a servant of King [[Oenomaus]], the father of Hippodamia. Myrtilus was promised the right to Hippodamia's virginity and half of Pelops' kingdom, but Pelops denied both to him and killed him by throwing him into the sea. With his dying gasp, Myrtilus cursed their line, which is where Thyestes and Atreus come in.

Thyestes' brother and King of Mycenae, [[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 her lover, Thyestes, who then convinced 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 the gods. Zeus sent [[Hermes]] to him, advising him to get Thyestes to agree that should the sun rise in the west and set in the east, Atreus could have his throne back. Atreus did so, and [[Helios]] reversed his normal course, in anger over Thyestes' actions.<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>

Atreus then learned of Thyestes' and Aerope's adultery and plotted revenge. He killed Thyestes' sons and cooked them, save their hands and heads. He served Thyestes his own sons and then taunted him with their hands and heads. This is the source of modern phrase "Thyestean feast", meaning one at which [[human cannibalism|human flesh is served]]. When Thyestes was done with his feast, he released a loud belch, which represents satiety and pleasure and his loss of self-control.

An oracle then advised Thyestes that, if he had a son with his own daughter [[Pelopia (daughter of Thyestes)|Pelopia]], that son would kill Atreus. Thyestes did so by raping Pelopia (his identity hidden from her) and the son, [[Aegisthus]], did kill Atreus. However, when Aegisthus was first born, he was abandoned by his mother, ashamed of the origin of her son. 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 and that Atreus was his uncle. Aegisthus then killed Atreus.

While Thyestes ruled Mycenae, the sons of Atreus, [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaus]], were exiled to [[Sparta]]. There, King [[Tyndareus]] accepted them as the royalty that they were. Shortly after, he helped the brothers return to Mycenae to overthrow Thyestes, forcing him to live in [[Kythira]], where he died.

===Legacy===
As a token of good will and allegiance, King Tyndareus offered his daughters to Agamemnon and Menelaus as wives, [[Clytemnestra]] and [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] respectively.

When Agamemnon left Mycenae for the [[Trojan War]], Aegisthus seduced Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, and the couple plotted to kill her husband upon his return. They succeeded, killing Agamemnon and his new concubine, [[Cassandra]]. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus had three children: [[Aletes (son of Aegisthus)|Aletes]], [[Erigone (daughter of Aegisthus)|Erigone]], and Helen who died as an infant.

Seven or eight years after the death of Agamemnon, Agamemnon's son [[Orestes]] returned to Mycenae and, with the help of his cousin [[Pylades]] and his sister [[Electra]], killed both their mother, Clytemnestra, and Aegisthus.

Tired of the bloodshed, the gods exonerated Orestes and declared this the end of the curse on the house of Atreus, as described in [[Aeschylus]]' play ''[[The Eumenides]]''.

However, other stories say that when Aletes and Erigone came of age and became rulers at Mycenae, Orestes returned with an army then killed his half-brother and raped his half-sister, who gave birth to a son, [[Penthilus]].

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef | rows=2 | before=[[Atreus]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=King of [[Mycenae]]}}
{{s-aft | rows=2 | after=[[Agamemnon]]}}
{{s-end}}

==Theatre==
{{Further|Thyestes (Seneca)}}

In the first century AD, [[Seneca the Younger]] wrote a tragedy called ''[[Thyestes (Seneca)|Thyestes]]''. In 1560 [[Jasper Heywood]], then a Fellow of [[All Souls College]], [[Oxford]], published a [[Verse (poetry)|verse]] [[translation]]. [[Shakespeare]]'s tragedy ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'' derives some of its plot elements from the story of Thyestes. In 1681, [[John Crowne]] wrote ''Thyestes, A Tragedy'', based closely on Seneca's Thyestes, but with the incongruous addition of a love story. [[Prosper Jolyot de Crebillon|Prosper Jolyot Crebillon]] (1674–1762) wrote a tragedy "Atree et Thyeste" (1707), which is prominent in two tales of ratiocination by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]. In 1796, [[Ugo Foscolo]] (1778–1827) wrote a tragedy called ''Tieste'' that was first presented in [[Venice]] one year later. [[Caryl Churchill]], a British dramatist, also wrote a rendition of ''Thyestes.'' Churchill's specific translation was performed at the Royal Court Theater Upstairs in London on June 7, 1994.<ref>Seneca; Churchill, Caryl (2014). ''Thyestes''. Nick Hern Books.</ref> In 2004, [[Jan van Vlijmen]] (1935–2004) completed his opera ''Thyeste''. The [[libretto]] was a text in French by [[Hugo Claus]], based on his 20th century play with the same title (in Dutch: ''Thyestes''). Thyestes appears in [[Ford Ainsworth]]'s one-act play, ''Persephone''.

Seneca's influence in literature is reflected through other works. In Arnold's Sonnet on Shakespeare, the influence of Seneca is apparent. "The reminiscence of Atreus' speech in the ''Thyestes'' of Seneca, which might subtend Cleopatra's own passionate, distended rhetoric about Antony" (Edgecombe, 257).<ref name=":0">Edgecombe, Rodney Stenning (2013). "A Debt to Seneca in Arnold's Sonnet on Shakespeare". ''Notes and Queries'' 60.2 (2013): 257. {{doi|10.1093/notesj/gjt038}}.</ref>

==References in literature==
*''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', Epitome 2.10–2.15 
*[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'', 85: Chrysippus, 86: Sons of Pelops, 88: Atreus
*[[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Agamemnon (Aeschylus)|Agamemnon]]''
*[[Edgar Allan Poe]], ''The Purloined Letter'', 140
*Milton, ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', book 10, lines 687–691

==See also==
* [[Child cannibalism]]
* [[Demophon of Elaeus]]
* [[Polytechnus]]
* [[Tereus]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Helios in mythology]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Kings of Mycenae]]
[[Category:Mythological cannibals]]
[[Category:Mythological rapists]]
[[Category:Plays by Caryl Churchill]]
[[Category:Titus Andronicus]]
[[Category:Atreidai]]
[[Category:Mythological people involved in incest]]