# Zeus — Agamemnon character guide

> Zeus in Agamemnon by Aeschylus.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Many Men, Zeus the Guide, Zeus of Hell, Zeus Most High

**First appearance:** 0002-i

## Snapshot

King of the gods whose will and justice the Chorus invoke as the one fixed point in a world of blood and retribution.

## Who they are

Zeus presides over the play's moral architecture, the god to whom the Watchman prays, the altar at the palace's center, and the Chorus's great hymn on the law that the one who suffers shall learn. Aeschylus's Zeus is bound up with the old pattern of sin, vengeance, and salvation, the third figure who may save where earlier rulers destroyed. He matters because the tragedy's deepest argument, about whether suffering teaches or merely repeats, is conducted in his name, and the Chorus returns to him whenever human justice fails.

## Relationships

### [Cassandra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/characters/cassandra)

_psychological_

Cassandra appeals to Zeus as a divine witness to her suffering and the injustice of her fate.

### [Clytemnestra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/characters/clytemnestra)

_psychological_

Clytemnestra invokes Zeus to justify her revenge for the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia.

### [Helen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/characters/helen)

_family_

Helen is the daughter of Zeus, but her role as the cause of the Trojan War brings divine judgment.

### [Agamemnon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/characters/agamemnon)

_psychological_

Agamemnon sees himself as an instrument of Zeus's will, yet is trapped by divine justice and fate.

## In the story

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/chapters/endnotes)

The conception of Zeus as the Saviour Third is discussed; he is invoked as 'Zeus, whate'er He be' and as the fulfiller of prayers.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/characters/zeus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/agamemnon_se/characters