The Myth of Agamemnon | The Odyssey: Agamemnon's Relationships with Achilles and Helen, His Death and Ending Explained

At the very heart of the Trojan camp, Agamemnon stands in the position of leading the entire Greek army. His fleet gathered to win back Helen, yet Helen's husband is not Agamemnon but his brother Menelaus. From this very position, the choices Agamemnon makes and the price he pays for them run through his entire story.

The Commander's Brother, and His Actual Relationship with Helen

It is common to mistake Agamemnon and Helen for a married couple. Book 3 of The Odyssey introduces Agamemnon as Menelaus's brother and the "king of heroes" in the homecoming story, while Book 4 shows Helen living in Sparta as Menelaus's wife after the war ends.

Placing these two passages side by side makes the relationship clear. Helen's husband is Menelaus, and through that marriage Helen becomes the sister-in-law of his brother Agamemnon. The misconception that the two were a couple is simply an illusion that arises when this brotherly relationship is unknown. If you follow the flow of the entire homecoming narrative in the The Odyssey Plot Summary, you can see more clearly at which point this family structure appears.

The Choice Over Briseis, and Its Price

On the battlefield of Troy, Agamemnon was the supreme commander, but that position did not automatically earn the obedience of every warrior. Book 1 of The Iliad opens with a scene in which Agamemnon and Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors, clash head-on over the captive Briseis and command authority.

Agamemnon's choice to uphold his authority as commander immediately led to the price of conflict with the mightiest warrior. This quarrel is a separate matter from Helen or family relationships, and the key point is that it is a conflict over how command authority was exercised. In the Achilles Myth Explained, you can continue to see what this conflict meant from Achilles' side.

The Ending That Awaited the Commander Who Returned Home

Even a commander who led the war to victory was not guaranteed safety in his homeland. In Book 11 of The Odyssey, Agamemnon's shade tells Odysseus, who has descended to the underworld, firsthand about what he endured. It is the story of how, after returning from Troy, he lost his life to his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.

The mere fact of returning home did not ward off death. What makes this scene even heavier is that this account is conveyed not through anyone else's mouth but through Agamemnon's own recollection.