Aerope- Greek FigureMortal"Wife of Atreus"

The Golden Lamb

Aerope was a Cretan princess, daughter of King Catreus and granddaughter of Minos. An oracle warned Catreus that one of his children would cause his death, so he gave Aerope and her sister Clymene to Nauplius, a sea captain, with orders to sell them abroad. Nauplius married Clymene himself and gave Aerope to Atreus, prince of Mycenae. She bore Atreus two sons — Agamemnon and Menelaus.

Atreus possessed a golden lamb whose fleece proved his right to rule Mycenae. He and his brother Thyestes had agreed that whoever held the lamb would be king. But Aerope had become Thyestes's lover in secret, and she stole the golden lamb from Atreus and gave it to his brother. Thyestes produced it before the Mycenaeans and claimed the throne. Only the intervention of Zeus, who reversed the course of the sun as a sign favoring Atreus, restored the kingship and exposed the conspiracy.

The Feast of Atreus

When Atreus discovered the adultery and the theft, he banished Thyestes from Mycenae. After a time he sent word of reconciliation and invited his brother back. Thyestes returned with his sons. At the feast of reunion, Atreus served his brother meat and wine. When Thyestes had eaten his fill and asked to see his children, Atreus brought out their heads and hands on a platter. What Thyestes had taken for a meal was his own sons' flesh.

Aerope's fate is less certain. Some sources say Atreus killed her for her part in the betrayal; others that he had her thrown into the sea.