Atreus
（
Ἀτρεύς). The son of Pelops and Hippodamia, grandson of
Tantalus, and brother of Thyestes and Nicippé. He was first married to Cleola, by
whom he became the father of Plisthenes; then to Aeropé, the widow of his son
Plisthenes, who was the mother of Agamemnon, Menelaüs, and Anaxibia, either by
Plisthenes or by Atreus; and lastly to Pelopia, the daughter of his brother Thyestes. The
awful fate of the house of Pelops afforded materials to the tragic poets of Greece. In
consequence of the murder of their half-brother Chrysippus, Atreus and Thyestes were obliged
to take to flight. They were hospitably received at Mycenae; and, after the death of
Eurystheus, Atreus became king of Mycenae. Thyestes seduced Aeropé, the wife of
Atreus, and was in consequence banished by his brother. From his place of exile he sent
Plisthenes, the son of Atreus, whom he had brought up as his own child, with orders to slay
Atreus; but Plisthenes fell by the hands of Atreus, who did not know that he was his own son.
In order to take revenge, Atreus, pretending to be reconciled to Thyestes, recalled him to
Mycenae, killed his two sons, and placed their flesh before their father at a banquet, who
unwittingly partook of the dreadful meal. Thyestes fled with horror, and the gods cursed
Atreus and his house. The kingdom of Atreus was now visited by famine, and the oracle advised
Atreus to call back Thyestes. Atreus, who went out in search of him, came to King Thesprotus,
where he married his third wife, Pelopia, the daughter of Thyestes, whom Atreus believed to be
a daughter of Thesprotus. Pelopia was at the time with child by her own father. This child,
Aegisthus, afterwards slew Atreus, because the latter had commanded him to slay his own
father, Thyestes. The oldest accounts of the Pelopidae do not mention the horrible stories
that are generally connected with them. See
Aegisthus;
Agamemnon;
Pelopidae.
