Return to Mycenae
A Klytaimnestra Saga
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Beschreibung zu „Return to Mycenae“
Once again, I traverse through time. I return to Mycenae. Questions lingered unanswered. I seek answers for them. Here and now, I will not find them. I must embark on the journey once again, to where the past remains unchanged, untouched by knowledge and fashion.
There, I want to see and hear the people whose fate I can only imagine at best.
Names come to mind: Clytemnestra - murderer of her husband, adulteress! Other names follow: Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes, and Agamemnon as well. We have heard their stories, and fragments are readily available, eager to be dismissed. These stories are old. They are often and repeatedly told in the same way: the axe murderer, her lover, and the daughter in inconsolable grief.
Why is it so? Why do we not know them differently? Here and now, I want to tell their stories, perhaps more faithfully to reality. I cannot be certain. I must hope.
Excerpt Klytaimnestra:
"But what remained for me but to act in such a way? What was left for me but to decide for my children, for myself, and for Mycenae? I acted not without contemplation and not without weighing the consequences. What Iphigenia stirred in me and what he threatened me with forced me to make a decision. What I fought for myself, not without resistance, had to be protected. I took away the children's father, that is true. But what kind of father was he? What kind of man was Agamemnon, and what kind of husband was he to me? No one asks anymore. No one wants to know what and how he truly was. They turned him into my sacrifice, and even if it's true, it remains only a part of the truth. It seems that no one wants to know how he ruled over us and Mycenae.
Later, blind rage and groundless hatred were attributed to me. Time conceals his part. At best, they allow me to be a grieving mother who avenged her child. Half-truths are also half-lies. One should not speak ill of the dead. Don't gossip about those who can no longer respond. Those who journeyed to the realm of shadows should be safe from slander forever. But what about me? When did I lose this right?
How would he respond if I asked him questions? Would he still lie now, as he often did in his lifetime? I am sure of it. He had no choice back then in Aulis. No choice? Were it not his decisions that ultimately led us here? That forced us, no, me, to take these steps? Would he rebuke me again, as his obedient wife, as he often did? Even if he knew he was in the wrong, he contradicted me or forbade me to speak. Surely he would do that again. He always did.
He was protected by his older brother Menelaus, but always only second to him. That had undoubtedly corrupted his character over the years. Growing up in the shadow of his brother, he often adorned himself with deeds accomplished by others. Like declaring himself the victor over Troy, as a great military leader, even though everyone knew it was Odysseus's cunning that ultimately brought victory. After all the unsuccessful battles and wars in the years before, he lost esteem among the Greeks. Battles that brought death to countless men. Great heroes were lost on both sides because of him. Led into battle senselessly by the greed for power, gold, and fame. Victory came just in time for him, saving his reputation at the last moment.
He had to content himself with the place his brother assigned him and follow him in everything. In return, his brother protected him against all doubts. Although he could call himself a commander, his brother was also his king even before Troy. This affected the man who would gladly be first at any cost and any lie. It spoiled him over the years, made him forget good manners, and increased his fear that he would not be seen as manly."
There, I want to see and hear the people whose fate I can only imagine at best.
Names come to mind: Clytemnestra - murderer of her husband, adulteress! Other names follow: Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes, and Agamemnon as well. We have heard their stories, and fragments are readily available, eager to be dismissed. These stories are old. They are often and repeatedly told in the same way: the axe murderer, her lover, and the daughter in inconsolable grief.
Why is it so? Why do we not know them differently? Here and now, I want to tell their stories, perhaps more faithfully to reality. I cannot be certain. I must hope.
Excerpt Klytaimnestra:
"But what remained for me but to act in such a way? What was left for me but to decide for my children, for myself, and for Mycenae? I acted not without contemplation and not without weighing the consequences. What Iphigenia stirred in me and what he threatened me with forced me to make a decision. What I fought for myself, not without resistance, had to be protected. I took away the children's father, that is true. But what kind of father was he? What kind of man was Agamemnon, and what kind of husband was he to me? No one asks anymore. No one wants to know what and how he truly was. They turned him into my sacrifice, and even if it's true, it remains only a part of the truth. It seems that no one wants to know how he ruled over us and Mycenae.
Later, blind rage and groundless hatred were attributed to me. Time conceals his part. At best, they allow me to be a grieving mother who avenged her child. Half-truths are also half-lies. One should not speak ill of the dead. Don't gossip about those who can no longer respond. Those who journeyed to the realm of shadows should be safe from slander forever. But what about me? When did I lose this right?
How would he respond if I asked him questions? Would he still lie now, as he often did in his lifetime? I am sure of it. He had no choice back then in Aulis. No choice? Were it not his decisions that ultimately led us here? That forced us, no, me, to take these steps? Would he rebuke me again, as his obedient wife, as he often did? Even if he knew he was in the wrong, he contradicted me or forbade me to speak. Surely he would do that again. He always did.
He was protected by his older brother Menelaus, but always only second to him. That had undoubtedly corrupted his character over the years. Growing up in the shadow of his brother, he often adorned himself with deeds accomplished by others. Like declaring himself the victor over Troy, as a great military leader, even though everyone knew it was Odysseus's cunning that ultimately brought victory. After all the unsuccessful battles and wars in the years before, he lost esteem among the Greeks. Battles that brought death to countless men. Great heroes were lost on both sides because of him. Led into battle senselessly by the greed for power, gold, and fame. Victory came just in time for him, saving his reputation at the last moment.
He had to content himself with the place his brother assigned him and follow him in everything. In return, his brother protected him against all doubts. Although he could call himself a commander, his brother was also his king even before Troy. This affected the man who would gladly be first at any cost and any lie. It spoiled him over the years, made him forget good manners, and increased his fear that he would not be seen as manly."