Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra was the daughter of Tyndareos and Leda, and the sister of Helen and the Dioscuri. She was the wife of Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War; according to some accounts, Agamemnon acquired his bride by killing her first husband and her son. Clytemnestra had several children by Agamemnon, including a son, Orestes, and two daughters, Electra and Iphigenia.

While Agamemnon was away at the Trojan War, Clytemnestra became the lover of his cousin and rival, Aegisthos. When Agamemnon returned home, she welcomed him with lavish hospitality; then she and Aegisthos murdered him, along with his concubine, Cassandra. Agamemnon's children, Orestes and Electra, later avenged their father's death by killing Clytemnestra and Aegisthos.

Various motives were given for Clytemnestra's murder of her husband. In some accounts, she was led astray by lust and by the evil plotting of Aegisthos. In others, she was outraged because Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia, to Artemis during the voyage to Troy, and because Agamemnon had been unfaithful to her with Cassandra.