# Agamemnon — The Libation Bearers character guide

> Agamemnon in The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** the Agamemnon

**First appearance:** 0001-the-libation-bearers

## Snapshot

The murdered king of Argos, whose unquiet grave becomes the stage where his children swear, weep, and summon his anger.

## Who they are

Agamemnon lies under a mound of earth in a desolate expanse, a lord slain whose reverence has gone from the land and whose hearthstone is wet with tears. He is absent and yet everywhere: the tress laid on his grave, the offerings poured for his peace, the oath sworn in his memory. The prophets say his anger is what drives the house's terror, and the play's central invocation scene treats his grave as a door that can be forced open. He matters because the dead king's silence is the loudest voice in the first half of the story.

## Relationships

### [Orestes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/orestes)

_family_

Dead father whose murder drives Orestes' quest for vengeance.

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

_family_

Husband and wife, but Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon in betrayal.

### [Electra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/electra)

_family_

Father and daughter; Electra mourns Agamemnon and seeks his vengeance.

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

_social_

Agamemnon brings Cassandra home as a war prize, leading to both their deaths.

## In the story

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

His mutilated body is the focus of the invocation; the dead are awakened by human suffering and love.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/agamemnon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters