Who was Aerope in Greek Mythology

Aerope was the daughter of Catreus, son of Minos. Her father, because according to an oracle she would be killed by one of his children, handed her and Klymene over to the son of Poseidon, Nauplius, in order to sell them in a foreign country.

According to another version of the myth, her father only handed Aerope over to him, only to throw her into the sea because she had had an affair with a servant. But Nafplius took pity on her, brought her to Argos, where he married her to King Pleisthenes.

According to the prevailing version of the myth (and according to Homer), Aerope married the king of Mycenae, Atreus, and had Agamemnon and Menelaus. However, his twin brother, Thyestes, seduced her and secretly made her his mistress.

Then Aerope gave him the golden ram of Atreus, the possession of which ensured the throne of Mycenae. This myth was also dealt with by Sophocles in his lost tragedy Atreus or Mycenae and by Euripides in the tragedy of Crissai.

Then the people of Mycenae appointed Atreus as their king, putting an end to the Persian dynasty. From this moment the adventure of the house of Atreides begins. The beginning is made by Aerope who becomes the lover of her brother-in-law Thyestes and decides with him to take the kingdom away from Atreus. And here’s how:

Atreus had a golden lamb, a gift from Hermes, which in this way avenged the death of his son Myrtilus, who had been killed by Pelops. And he had said that whoever was the owner of the lamb would also be the owner of the throne. Hence the discord of the sons of Pelops.

Thyestes, with the help of Aerope, stole the lamb and declared that he was the rightful owner of the throne. Zeus, in order to uncover him, caused the sun to retrograde. Atreus, revealing the double betrayal, threw Aerope into the sea and banished Thyestes.

Later, ostensibly for reconciliation, he called him back and prepared a table for him, offering him his own children, Tantalus and Plesthenes, cooked. Then she revealed to him the heinous crime.

Then the sun – out of awe at this horrible incident – changed its course and the earth became dark and Thyestes left cursing the generation of Tantalus, whose adventures inspired the tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.