Propoetides

In Greek mythology, Propoetides were described as a group of women from the city of Amathus on the island of Cyprus, and were first to prostitute their bodies' charms. A group of women (Propoetides) falled to worship goddess Aphrodite or refused to acknowledge Aphrodite was a goddess. Goddess Aphrodite punished them by robbing their all sense of shame. They lost the power to blush, as the blood hardened in their cheeks. So they began to prostitute themselves.

                                     According to another version,  whenever guests came to visit Propoetides, a group of women, who live in the city of Amathus on the island of Cyprus, turn them (guests) into human sacrifices. Aphrodite, who was the patron goddess of Cyprus, got angry and grows horns on Propoetides heads. But the Propoetides became more mischievous and began to say that Aphrodite was not a goddess. Aphrodite turn them into the world's first prostitutes. Propoetides lost all sense of shame and their reputation in public. In some versions, after some years, Aphrodite turned them into stones.

Index

Hymen

                                          In Greek  mythology , Hymen  was described  as the god of marriage ceremonies, inspiring feast and song. 

Hymen, Aphrodite and Eros................

According  to Greek  mythology,  Hymen  was supposed to attend every wedding. If he did not then the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous. In Greek  art Hymen  was described as a young man wearing a garland of flowers and holding a burning torch in one hand. Hymen  was the son of Apollo and one of the Muses or Dionysus  and Aphrodite. 

Hymen and Eros

                                               According to other version, Hymen  was described as an Athenian youth of such delicate beauty, that he might be taken for a girl. Hymen  fell in love with a beautiful  girl, who refused to listen to him.  So Hymen in the disguise of a girl, followed her to Eleusis to the festival of goddess Demeter. He, together with the other girls, was carried off by pirates into a distant and desolate country. Hymen encouraged the women and plotted strategy with them, and together they killed pirates .
                                  Hymen returned to Athens, requesting the citizens to give him his beloved in marriage, if he restored to them the maidens who had been carried off by the pirates. His request was granted, and his marriage was extremely happy. For this reason he was invoked in the hymeneal songs.

Index......

Laomedon

                               In Greek  mythology, Laomedon was  described  as the king  of Troy  and the son  of Ilus and Eurdice.  Laomedon's son  Ganymede  was kidnapped by Zeus, the king of gods, who had fallen in love with the beautiful boy. Laomedon grived for his son, Zeus send Hermes, the god messenger,  with two magical horses, (the horses could run over water), as compensation. Hermes  also assured Laomedon  that Ganymede  was immortal and would be the cup-bearer for the gods, a position of much distinction. According to other version, Ganymede  was described  as the son of Tros, an early king and grandfather of Laomedon. So Laomedon  was described  as the nephew of Ganymede.

Laomedon with Poseidon and Apollo....

              According  to Greek  legend, Poseidon, the god of sea, and Apollo, the god of music,  revolted against Zeus and were doomed by Zeus to serve king Laomedon  for wage. According  to other version, Poseidon  and Apollo  came to Laomedon  of their own accord, in order to test him. Laomedon  had them built huge walls around the Troy  and was assisted in the building the wall by Aeacus. In other version Poseidon built the walls of Troy, while Apollo  attended to king' flocks on Mt Ida. 

When the two gods had done their work, Laomedon  refused them the reward he had promised them or wage, and expelled them from his kingdom. 
  In vengeance, Poseidon send sea monster  into the territory of Troy , which ravaged the whole country and Apollo  sent a plague. By an oracle advice Laomedon  agreed to sacrifice his daughter  Hesione to Poseidon  in hope of appeasing  him. 
      But it happened that Hercules  was just returning from his expedition against Amazons, along with Oicles and Telamon. Hercules  promised to save Hesione  if Laomedon  would gave him the horses  which Laomedon  had received from Zeus  as a compensation for Ganymede (or Tros had once received from Zeus  as a compensation for Ganymede). 

Hercules......save Hesione....

Laomedon  promised to give them to Hercules but broke his word when Hercules  had killed the monster and saved Hesione. So Hercules sailed with a squadron of six ships against Troy and capture Troy. Hercules  killed Laomedon with all his sons except Podarces (Priam), who saved his own life by giving Hercules a golden veil. In some versions, Tithonus was also described  as Laomedon  son and was said Eos, the goddess of dawn, save life of Podarces and Tithonus. Hercules gave Hesione  to Telamon, as a war prize.
                                           Laomedon  tomb existed in the neighbourhood of the Scaean Gate and it was believed that Troy  would be save so long as the tomb remained uninjured.

Index.....

Cecrops

           In Greek mythology, Cecrops was described as the son of soil (Gaea), with a body of compounded of man and serpent (or dragon). Cecrops married Aglaulus1, daughter of  Actaeus (first king of Greek), and inherited throne. Cecrops was founder of the city of Athens.

Cecrops.........

Cecrops was the first man to offer sacrifices to the goddess Athena following her birth from the head of Zeus. During Cecrops time,  the gods competed with each other to gain the patronage of the cities. In Athens this competition took place between Poseidon and Athena. The two raced ferociously towards the hill of the Acropolis. Athena took Cecrops as her witness while she planted an olive tree on the hill of the Acropolis. Poseidon had no witness that he had created the well or salt sea. When Cecrops was asked to adjudicate, he descided in Athena favour.

Cecrops, Athena and Poseidon

Cecrops was first to acknowledge Zeus as the supreme god and first to set up altars and statues of the gods. Cecrops instituted marriage among the Athenians, who before lives promiscuously.
                          From his wife Agraulus1, Cecrops became father of a son, Erysichthon and three daughters- Agraulus2, Herse and Pandrosus. Cecrops was succeeded on the throne by Athena's foster son Erichthonius  (see Athena and Hephaestus).

Index........

Lysippe

  Lysippe1
                                                 In Greek mythology, Lysippe was described as an Amazon and the mother of Tanais by Berossos. Lysippe son, Tanais, only venerated Ares and was fully devoted to war, neglecting love and marriage. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, cursed him with falling in love with his own mother. Preferring to die rather than give up his chastity, he threw himself into the river Amazonius, which was subsequently renamed Tanais.

Lysippe.....Amazon Queen

                                          Lysippe lost her sorrow in work consolidating her queendom, building the city of Themiscyra and raising temples to worship goddess Artemis. In some version, Lysippe was described to led a force of women that were the first to use cavalry in battle.

Lysippe2
                                          In Greek mythology, Lysippe was described as one of the daughters of Thespius, King of Thespiae, Boeotia. She was one of the forty-nine of his fifty daughters to sleep with Hercules while he was in Thespia. Lysippe bore Hercules a son, Erasippus. (see Thespiades----------Fifty daughters of King Thespius)

Lysippe3
                                   In Greek mythology, Lysippe was described as the mother of Teuthras the Mysian king. Her son killed a sacred boar of goddess Artemis during hunt and was driven mad by the angry goddess. 

Lysippe then went out in the woods, seeking to find out what had happened to her son. Eventually she learned about the goddess' wrath from the seer Polyidus, she then sacrificed to the goddess to propitiate her, and Teuthras' sanity was restored.

Index

Dione

Dione1
 In Greek mythology, Dione was the  Titan goddess of the oracle of Dodona in Thesprotia. Is some versions, Dione was described as the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, an according to other version, the daughter of Oceanus and Gaea. 

Dione

                                        According to some version, Dione was beloved by Zeus, by whom she became the mother of Aphrodite.  In some versions, Dione was described as Zeus wife and in other version, as one of the Zeus's adulterous partners. In one version (perhaps in error), Dione was described as the mother of Dionysus.
                                    In some versions, when goddess Aphrodite was wounded by Diomedes, Dione received her daughter in Olympus, and pronounced the threat respecting the punishment of Diomedes. In some verions, Dione was present, with other divinities, at the birth of Apollo and Artemis in Delos.
Dione2 
                  In greek mythology, Dione  was described as the daughter of Atlas and an Oceanid nymph (either Pleione or Aethra). Dione was one of the Hyades, the rain-bringing nymphs.

Dione

 Dione became the wife of king Tantalus, and they had two sons, Pelops and Broteas, and a daughter, Niobe2.

Index

Ananke

In Greek mythology, Ananke ( or Anance) was the primeval goddess of necessity, compulsion, and inevitability. According to some versions, Ananke was described as the daughter of Hydrus and Gaea.
             

Ananke

                                     Ananke was the powerful deity that rules compulsion, constraint, restraint, or coercion, and presides over all forms of slavery and bonds, starting with the basic necessities of life. Consequently, when someone was cast into prison, or fastened by chains, her name was evoked. For she was behind all bonds, and had a share even in the ties of kinship, friendship and love. She was called Necessity, since once the attachment was established there can not but follow what necessarily was derived from it, her might allowing no resistance.
               Ananke's dominion was mainly experienced in the physical world, and therefore she had been held responsible for the ugliness of all violent dealings deriving from her compelling power. Accordingly, her rule was, not seldom, fought against violently by ignorance. And when this occurs new necessary bonds may appear as a result.
                               Ananke was seen as the most powerful dictator of all fate and circumstance which meant that mortals, as well as the Gods, respected her and paid homage. According to some versions, Ananke was described as the mother of  Fates (Moirai). In one version, Ananke was described as the mother of Nemesis.
                               
Index

Anchises

In Greek mythology, Anchises was described as the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite.  Anchises was a member of the junior branch of the royal family of Troy, son of  Capys and Themiste.
                                                                             
                                                    According to Greek legend, when Anchises was tending cattle on Mount Ida, the goddess of love, Aphrodite, saw him, and was seized by desire. Aphrodite went immediately to her homeland Paphos, in Cyprus, where the Graces bathed  her with heavenly oil. Aphrodite, goddess of love, put on rich clothes and decked herself with gold, she returned to Ida, flying among the clouds. In some versions, it was described that wolves, lions, bears, leopards, and deer came and seeing them,  Aphrodite, goddess of love, put desire in their breasts so that they all mated.

Anchises and goddess Aphrodite pretended to be a Phrygian princess

                                 When  Aphrodite came to Anchises, appeared before him with the looks and height of a mortal woman, but still wearing a robe of gold enriched with all kinds of needlework, twisted brooches, earrings in the form of flowers and several necklaces round her throat. 
Anchises saw her and known she was a goddess. But Aphrodite denied being a goddess, saying that she was a mortal woman and the daughter of Otreus, princess from Phrygia (Turkey). She explained to the Anchises, that she spoke his language because she had been brought up by a Trojan nurse, and that it had been god Hermes who told her to become Anchises's wedded wife. This was how Anchises, not knowing what he did, lay with an immortal goddess. In some version, Aphrodite pretended to be a Phrygian princess and seduced Anchises for nearly two weeks of lovemaking.

Anchises and goddess Aphrodite

                                             After the love making, when Aphrodite revealed her true identity, Anchises feared the gods would destroy him for having slept with one of the immortals. But Aphrodite, who herself grieved for having laid in the bed of a mortal man, assured him that he was dear to the gods and nothing would happen to him, provided he would say their child was the offspring of a Nymph, for Aphrodite disposed that the Nymphs would rear Aeneas and that, as soon as he was a boy, he would be restored to his father. In some versions, Aphrodite bore him two sons Aeneas and Lyros.

                     According to other version, Anchises learned that his lover was a goddess only nine months later, when she revealed herself and presented him with the infant Aeneas. Aphrodite had warned him that if he boasted of the affair, he would be blasted by the thunderbolt of Zeus. 

               According to some versions,  Zeus sought to punish  Aphrodite, goddess of love, with a lowly mate for causing the gods to fall in love with an endless string of mortal women.
                                         Later, Anchises got drunk and started boasting to friends that he was loved by the goddess Aphrodite herself.  When Zeus, the king of the gods, found out about his arrogance, he became very annoyed. Angrily, he struck Anchises with his thunderbolt and Anchises was scorched and/or crippled.

Aeneas carrying his old father, Anchises .....burning Troy...

                                     After the defeat of Troy in the Trojan War, the elderly Anchises was carried from the burning city by his son Aeneas, accompanied by Aeneas' wife Creusa, who died in the escape attempt, and small son Ascanius.  Anchises himself died and was buried in Sicily many years later. Aeneas later visited Hades and saw his father again in the Elysian Fields.

Index

Aegisthus

   In Greek mythology, Aegisthus was described as the son of Thyestes and his daughter. Pelopia. 

Aegisthus

                                 Thyestes had been fighting with his brother, Atreus, for the throne of Mycenae for some time, as well as having an affair with Atreus' wife, Aerope. 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.  Thyestes was forced into exile for eating the flesh of a human. 
                             Thyestes  visited the Oracle of Delphi, asking how he could have vengeance on his brother, and the Oracle answered that he must lie with his daughter Pelopia  and beget a son who would avenge him. Thyestes raped Pelopia after she performed a sacrifice, hiding his identity from her.But while  Thyestes stole her virginity, Pelopia stole his sword. Soon after that, Atreus came to Sicyon in search of his brother, met Pelopia in the court, and believing that she was Thesprotus's daughter, asked the king that she be given to him in marriage. The king granted Atreus' wish, Atreus married Pelopia, and she afterward bore Aegisthus. Atreus believed this child to be his own, but Aegisthus was in fact the son of Thyestes. 
                            According to other version, when Aegisthus was born, his mother abandoned him, ashamed of his origin, and he was raised by shepherds and suckled by a goat, hence his name Aegisthus.  Atreus, not knowing the baby's origin, took Aegisthus in and raised him as his own son. 
                                       After many years, Thyestes was captured by Agamemnon and Menelaus at Delphi and brought to Atreus, who ordered Aegisthus to kill him.   Aegisthus came to the prison to carry out Atreus' order, but he appeared in front of the prisoner wearing the sword that Thyestes had lost when he ravished his own daughter Pelopia. When Thyestes asked him where he had got it, Aegisthus replied that his mother Pelopia had given it to him. They then summoned Pelopia, who declared that she had stolen it from the unknown man who had raped her by night, the same who was Aegisthus' father. This is how father and son learned who they were, but Pelopia, realising who the father of her son was, snatched the sword and plunged it in her breast. Aegisthus then killed Atreus and restored the kingdom to Thyestes.
                                               During this period Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta. There they respectively married Tyndareus' daughters Clytemnestra and Helen. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia, Electra3 and Chrysothemis. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brother's assistance, drove out Aegisthus and Thyestes to recover his father's kingdom. He extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece.

                               Later, when Trojan War began, Agamemnon left Mycenae for the Trojan War, Aegisthus returned to Mycenae. Agamemnon had left Clytemnestra with a minstrel (singer), to guard his wife during his absence. As long as the minstrel (singer) was present, Clytemnestra resisted Aegisthus. Aegisthus tricked minstrel (singer), took him to a deserted island, and leave him to be the prey of birds. Aegisthus seduced Clytaemnestra and made her his mistress. When Agamemnon return from Trojan war, after the ten-years, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon. 

Cassandra and Aegisthus plotting to kill Agamemnon

                 According to some versions, Clytemnestra is driven to murder Agamemnon partly to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom Agamemnon had sacrificed for the sake of success in the war, partly because of her adulterous love for Aegisthus and partly as an agent for the curse on Agamemnon’s family, the House of Atreus. 
                                           Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra, also killed his prisoner and concubine Cassandra. In some versions, Cassandra's sons by Agamemnon, the babes Teledamus  and Pelops , were killed by Aegisthus.     After the murders, Aegisthus replaced Agamemnon as king and ruled for seven years with Clytemnestra as his queen. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra had three children: a son Aletes, and daughters Erigone1 and Helen2. According to some version,  when Aegisthus was drunk, he used to jump on Agamemnon's grave, shouting insults against the dead king and his children.
                          After seven years of reign, Agamemnon's son Orestes, following the instructions he received in the Oracle at Delphi, returned to Mycenae, with the help of his sister Electra3 and his friend Pylades, avenged his father by killing both Aegisthus and his own mother. In some versions,  the royal guard, had recognized the son of Agamemnon, did not intervene but instead applauded the usurper's murderer.

Orestes slaying Aegisthus and Clytemnestra

                                          In some versions, when Aegisthus was trapped, Orestes led him to the place in the palace where Aegisthus had murdered Agamemnon, killing him on that same spot.   

Index                                                                    

    

Aerope

Aerope1
In Greek mythology, Aerope was described as the daughter of  Catreus, the king of Crete (son of Minos) and sister of Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes.

Aerope

                     According to some versions, Catreus caught his daughter, Aerope, in bed with a slave and handed her over to Nauplius (son of Clytoneusson) to be drowned, but Nauplius spared Aerope's life and she married Atreus (or Pleisthenes, son of Atreus), the son of Pelops, and king of Mycenae.

                         According to some versions, Catreus received an oracle saying that he would be killed by one of his children, so Catreus gave Aerope and her sister Clymene to Nauplius to be sold off in foreign lands. Aerope another sister, Apemone, and her brother, Aethemenes, who had heard of the oracle, had fled from Crete and went to Rhodes. Nauplius kept Clymene for himself and Aerope was sold to Atreus or Atreus' son Pleisthenes. 
                                                                    In some version, Aerope married Pleisthenes, by whom she became the mother of Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia. Because Pleisthenes was sickly, he died young, and so Atreus decided to marry his daughter-in-law and adopt his grandchildren. In other version, by Atreus,  Aerope became mother of Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia.

Aerope and Thyestes

                                                 Later Aerope had secret love affair with her husband brother, Thyestes.  
  Atreus, the king of Mycenae, vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to goddess Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, Aerope, to hide from the goddess. Thyestes, then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Aerope stole the golden lamb from her husband Atreus and gave it to Thyestes, so that the Myceneans would choose Thyestes as their king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne.
                             But Zeus sent Hermes to instruct Atreus to make a new agreement with Thyestes by which Atreus should be king if the sun should go backwards. And when Thyestes  agreed to this impossibility, the sun set in the east, as nothing was impossible for Zeus, the king of gods.
                                             Atreus retook the throne and banished 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. Thyestes was forced into exile for eating the flesh of a human. 

   In some versions, Aerope was the mother by Thyestes of two sons, Tantalus and Plisthenes. According to some version, it may have been these children that Atreus famously fed to Thyestes.
                                      According to some versions, Atreus cast Aerope into the sea in revenge for her adultery and theft of the golden lamb.

Aerope2
In Greek mythology, Aerope was described as the daughter of Cepheus of Arcadia. She was loved by Ares, god of war, and had by him a son Aeropus, but herself died in labor. By the will of Ares, Aerope's dead body was still able to produce an abundance of breastmilk to feed the newborn Aeropus.
Index

Thyestes

                     In Greek mythology, Thyestes was described as the son of  Pelops and his wife, Hippodamia1, and and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus.

Thyestes

                                      Thyestes and his brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father (Pelops)  for having murdered their half-brother, 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, and it became permanent because of his death in conflict.
                                               Atreus, Thyestes' brother became the king of Mycenae, vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to goddess Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, Aerope, to hide from the goddess. But Atreus' wife, Aerope, had secret love affair with Thyestes, gave golden lamp to Thyestes. 
                                    Thyestes, then convinced Atreus to agree that whoever had the lamb should be king. Thyestes produced the lamb and claimed the throne.
                             But Zeus sent Hermes to instruct Atreus to make a new agreement with Thyestes by which Atreus should be king if the sun should go backwards. And when Thyestes  agreed to this impossibility, the sun set in the east, as nothing was impossible for Zeus, the king of gods.
                 Atreus again became the king, but Atreus couldn't let it go at that. He was still very angry at his wife and Thyestes. So he pretended to be friendly and invited Thyestes to come over for a special dinner according to family tradition,  (one resembling the dinner that his grandfather Tantalus had once offered to the gods).  Atreus  slaughtered two or three of Thyestes's sons, and cutting them limb from limb, boiled them and served them up to Thyestes, except the extremities, which he showed to Thyestes, once the latter had eaten what he thought to be a delicious meal. Thyestes was forced into exile for eating the flesh of a human. 

Pelopia..........

                                                                               Thyestes  visited the Oracle of Delphi, asking how he could have vengeance on his brother, and the Oracle answered that he must lie with his daughter Pelopia  and beget a son who would avenge him. Later, when Thyestes  came to Sicyon, he found that they were sacrificing to goddess Athena by night, and fearing to profane the rites, he hid in a grove. Pelopia, who happened to lead the dancing groups during the sacrifice, slipped and stained her clothes with the blood of the slain victim, and when she went to a nearby stream to wash off the blood, she was raped by her own father who suddenly came out of the grove. But while he stole her virginity, she stole his sword.

                                                              Soon after that, Atreus came to Sicyon in search of his brother, met Pelopia in the court, and believing that she was Thesprotus's daughter, asked the king that she be given to him in marriage. The king granted Atreus' wish, Atreus married Pelopia, and she afterward bore Aegisthus. Atreus believed this child to be his own, but Aegisthus was in fact the son of Thyestes. 
                            In other version, when Aegisthus was  born, he was abandoned by his mother. He was suckled by a she-goat and survived. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to Atreus, who raised him as his own son.
                                                     After many years, Thyestes was captured by Agamemnon and Menelaus at Delphi and brought to Atreus, who ordered Aegisthus to kill him.   Aegisthus came to the prison to carry out Atreus' order, but he appeared in front of the prisoner wearing the sword that Thyestes had lost when he ravished his own daughter Pelopia. When Thyestes asked him where he had got it, Aegisthus replied that his mother Pelopia had given it to him. They then summoned Pelopia, who declared that she had stolen it from the unknown man who had raped her by night, the same who was Aegisthus' father. This is how father and son learned who they were, but Pelopia, realising who the father of her son was, snatched the sword and plunged it in her breast. Aegisthus then killed Atreus and restored the kingdom to Thyestes.
                             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 Cytheria. As a token of good will and allegiance, King Tyndareus offered his daughters to Agamemnon and Menelaus as wives, Clytemnestra and Helen respectively.

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Atreus

   In Greek mythology, Atreus was described as the son of Pelops and his wife, Hippodamia1.  

Atreus

                      Atreus and his brother Thyestes murdered Chrysippus (son of Pelops and the nymph Axioche), who was their half-brother.They had been sent by their mother, Hippodamia, who feared Chrysippus would inherit Pelops's throne instead of her sons. Atreus and Thyestes, together with their mother, were banished by Pelops and took refuge in Mycenae. There Hippodamia hung herself.
                                       In some version, Alcathous,Atreus and Thyestes murdered Chrysippus. After the crime the three brothers fled, Alcathous went to Megara, and Atreus and Thyestes stopped at Mycenae.
                                       In any case, Atreus became king of Mycenae. Atreus vowed to sacrifice his best lamb to goddess Artemis. Upon searching his flock, however, Atreus discovered a golden lamb which he gave to his wife, Aerope, to hide from the goddess. Atreus and Aerope had had two sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, and a daughter Anaxibia. Aerope had an extramarital affair with her husband brother,Thyestes, gave golden lamb to Thyestes. 
                   Thyestes 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 Hermes. Thyestes agreed to give the kingdom back when the sun moved backwards in the sky, a feat that Zeus accomplished. Atreus retook the throne and banished 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. Thyestes was forced into exile for eating the flesh of a human. 

 Then Thyestes visited the Oracle of Delphi, asking how he could have vengeance on his brother, and the Oracle answered that he should have a son by his daughter, Pelopia, who would then kill Atreus. Pelopia, at the time was staying in Sicyon at the court of king Thesprotus,  came to the bank of a river to wash her clothes that had been stained with blood during a sacrificial rite, Thyestes, covering his face, attacked and raped her. She managed to pull out his sword and kept it so she could recognize her offender.

Atreus and Pelopia.....

                 Soon after that, Atreus came to Sicyon in search of his brother, Atreus thought that Pelopia was daughter of king Thesprotus. Atreus married Pelopia, and she afterward bore Aegisthus. Atreus believed this child to be his own, but Aegisthus was in fact the son of Thyestes.
                                In other version, when Aegisthus was  born, he was abandoned by his mother. He was suckled by a she-goat and survived. A shepherd found the infant Aegisthus and gave him to Atreus, who raised him as his own son.
                      Later, Thyestes was captured by Agamemnon and Menelaus at Delphi and brought to Atreus, who sent Aegisthus to kill him. Aegisthus happened to be carrying the sword that once belonged to Thyestes and was later given to him by Pelopia. Thyestes recognized the sword and asked Aegisthus about it. Aegisthus called for Pelopia, who told him how the weapon had got to her. Upon recognizing Thyestes and the fact that he was the rapist, Pelopia stabbed herself with her father's sword.  While Atreus was sacrificing on the shore, Aegisthus slew him and restored his father to the throne, forcing Agamemnon and Menelaus to go into exile to the court of King Polyphides of Sicyon. But the Atrides returned after some years, Agamemnon reigning in Mycenae and Menelaus in Sparta, and Atreus was buried in Mycenae, along with the treasures that he and his children stored in underground chambers.


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Erigone

Erigone1
    In Greek mythology, Erigone  was described as the daughter of  Aegisthus (son of Thyestes and his daughter, Pelopia) and Clytemnestra  (daughter of Leda and Tyndareus) , rulers of Mycenae.

Erigone 

                      According to some versions, Erigone was seduced by her half-brother, Orestes (son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon) and became the mother of  Penthilus. Erigone would have been slain by Orestes along with her brother Aletes if not for the intervention of goddess Artemis, who rescued her and made her a priestess in Attica.
            In some versions, Erigone  hangs herself after the child was born. According to others, Hermione (daughter of Menelaus, king of Sparta and his wife, Helen of Troy) and Orestes were married, and she gave birth to his heir Tisamenus.  After Hermione died, Erigone was married Orestes and gave birth to Penthilus.
In some version, Erigone  sued Orestes to murder of her parents.
Erigone2
             In Greek mythology,  Erigone  was described as the daughter of Icarius, an Athenian.  Icarius hospitably received Dionysus on his arrival in Athena. The god of wine, Dionysus showed him his gratitude by teaching him the cultivation of the vine (grape plant),  make wine and giving him bags filled with wine. Icarius  gave some wine to several shepherds, who became intoxicated. Their companions, thinking they had been poisoned, killed Icarius and buried him under a tree or threw his body into the well Anygrus.His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Maera, found his body. Erigone hanged herself over her father's grave. Maera jumped into a well and drowned.

Dionysus, Erigone and Icarius..

Dionysus was angry and punished Athens with a plague, inflicting insanity on all the unmarried women, who all hung themselves like Erigone did. Icarius, Erigone, and Maera were set among the stars as Bootes (or Arcturus), Virgo, and Procyon. The plague did not cease until the Athenians introduced honorific rites for Icarius and Erigone.

Erigone 

                        In some version, Dionysus was attracted towards  Erigone beauty.  Dionysus in the form of bunches of false grapes deceived and seduced Erigone.  
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