Electra
heroDaughter of Agamemnon who plotted with her brother Orestes to avenge their father's murder by killing their mother Clytemnestra.
The Myth
Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces at Troy. When Agamemnon returned victorious, his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murdered him. Electra's grief and rage defined her life.
She smuggled her young brother Orestes out of Mycenae and spent years in humiliation, waiting for the day he would return. When Orestes came of age, they killed Aegisthus and Clytemnestra together.
The aftermath was devastating — Orestes was pursued by the Erinyes for matricide. But Electra's devotion to justice through vengeance made her one of tragedy's most compelling figures.
Parents
Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
Symbols
Fun Fact
Carl Jung named the "Electra complex" after this myth, as a female counterpart to Freud's Oedipus complex.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: