Clytaemnestra
(
Κλυταιμνήστρα). A daughter of Tyndarus, king of Sparta,
by Leda. She was born, together with her brother Castor, from one of the eggs which her mother
brought forth after her amour with Zeus under the form of a swan. She married Agamemnon, king
of Mycenae, and when this monarch went to the Trojan War, he left his wife and family, and all
his affairs, to the care of his relation Aegisthus. But the latter proved unfaithful to his
trust, corrupted Clytaemnestra, and usurped the throne. Agamemnon, on his
return home, was murdered by his guilty wife, who was herself afterwards slain, along with
Aegisthus, by Orestes, son of the deceased monarch. For a more detailed account, see the
articles
Agamemnon and
Orestes.