Agamemnon

American  

[ag-uh-mem-non, -nuhn] / ˌæg əˈmɛm nɒn, -nən /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a king of Mycenae, a son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus. He led the Greeks in the Trojan War and was murdered by Clytemnestra, his wife, upon his return from Troy.

2. (italics) a tragedy (458 b.c.) by Aeschylus.

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Agamemnon British  

/ ˌæɡəˈmɛmnɒn /

noun

1. Greek myth a king of Mycenae who led the Greeks at the siege of Troy. On his return home he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus See also Menelaus

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Agamemnon Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the king who led the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). To obtain favorable winds for the Greek fleet sailing to Troy, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis and so came under a curse. After he returned home victorious, he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus.

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Etymology

Origin of Agamemnon

< Greek Agamémnon- (stem of Agamémnōn ), < *Agaménmon-, equivalent to aga- great + men- (truncation of Menelaus, meaning king) + -mon- suffix used in shortened names

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Agamemnon

Like Homer’s King Agamemnon, who was doomed to die by the actions of his wife, Clytemnestra, Adam discovers that Eve has, in his absence, yielded to the lies of a seducer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Then we have Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae, whom Odysseus follows to Troy and, ultimately, his cursed fate.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

In the Astute series, HMS Agamemnon, was launched last October and another is under construction which will take the number of submarines in this class to seven.

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2025

Ritsa becomes a kind of babysitter to King Priam’s daughter Cassandra, as Agamemnon takes them all back to Greece.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 30, 2024

Then at last he left the tent in which he had sat so long, and went down to where the Greeks were gathered, a wretched company, Diomedes grievously wounded, Odysseus, Agamemnon, and many another.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton