Atreus

First appears: Apollodorus, Library 2.4

🌐 Also appears in: The Iliad (as Atreus) · The Odyssey (as Atreus) · Greek Tragedy — The Same Myth, Three Voices (as Atreus)

Atreus was a son of Pelops and sibling of Thyestes and Pittheus. After Sthenelus seized Mycenae and Tiryns and banished Amphitryon, he entrusted Midea to Atreus and Thyestes. Atreus married Aerope, daughter of Catreus, and became the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus.

Atreus and Thyestes later became rivals over the kingdom. With Zeus sending Hermes to him, Atreus arranged that he should rule if the sun went backward; when it did, he took the kingdom and banished Thyestes. Afterwards, having lured Thyestes by a pretence of friendship, Atreus slaughtered Aglaus, Callileon, and Orchomenus, served their cooked remains to their father, and expelled him from the country.

When Aegisthus grew to manhood and learned that he was a son of Thyestes, he killed Atreus and restored the kingdom to Thyestes.