Infedeltà e gelosia: variazioni sul personaggio di Clitemestra nelle tragedie del V secolo

The legend of Agamemnon’s murder has been often reproposed and variated in ancient Greek theatre. This paper focuses on the role of Cassandra, with the aim of determining how it was involved in the plot and when a consideration for Clytemnestra’s jealousy developed. A lexical analysis of Aesch. Ag. 1438–1447 shows that the jealousy-theme lies beneath the scene, but the betrayal is not the main charge against Agamemnon. Euripides’ approach is different: Cassandra is self-aware of her responsibility in causing Agamemnon’s ruin (e.g. Tr. 356–360) and Clytemnestra points to Agamemnon’s infidelity as one of the main reasons for killing him (El. 1032–1040). Clytemnestra’s jealousy also belonged to another mythical plot, namely Nauplios’ revenge on the Atreides, and this subject was probably familiar to the 5th century tragedians. As a result of an increased focus on Clytemestra’s feelings, Lycophron combines all previous mythical accounts and defines her explicitly as ‘jealous’ (Alex. 1117).