Agamemnon - Aeschylus - A Short Summary and Review
Agamemnon - Aeschylus - A Short Summary and Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary:
Agamemnon opens at the end of the Trojan War, when the victorious king finally returns home to Argos. He arrives crowned with glory, wealth, and the appearance of triumph, but the past has not been settled. Sacrifices made for victory, especially the death of his daughter Iphigenia, have set forces in motion that no conquest can outrun.
Told through choral odes and tense dialogue, the play traces how pride, power, and bloodshed accumulate consequences. Agamemnon’s household is thick with memory, resentment, and expectation. His return marks not the end of conflict, but its transformation—from battlefield violence to domestic reckoning.
Yes, karma is involved, but in Greek tragedy, it is not moral bookkeeping. It is inheritance, momentum, and inevitability.
My favorite Aeschylus quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while reading:
My review:
Agamemnon offers a sobering counterpoint to the heroic narratives of the Trojan saga. Where epic poetry celebrates victory and endurance, Aeschylus interrogates the cost of those victories, especially when leaders believe triumph places them beyond judgment.
This is ancient literature at its most disciplined and powerful. The language is formal, weighty, and unflinching. There are no easy heroes here, only characters trapped in cycles of obligation, vengeance, and pride. Even justice arrives wearing the mask of cruelty.
For readers interested in history and mythology, Agamemnon is essential precisely because it refuses comfort. It reminds us that war’s consequences do not end with the ceasefire, and that authority does not absolve responsibility. The play still resonates because it understands something timeless: power does not cancel moral debt, it compounds it.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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