The stories of Agamemnon and Odysseus both belong to an
epic tradition referred to as the `return cycle`, a narrative tradition concerning the
returns of the heroes from Troy, of which only the Odyssey is preserved in epic form.
Many Greek tragedies are based on return stories.
In the
cases of both Penelope and Clytemnestra, the wife anxiously awaits the hero`s return.
Penelope remains faithful to Odysseus and spurns the suitors; Clytemnestra takes
Aegisthus as a consort and they together kill Agamemnon. Athena advises Odysseus and
Telemachus and helps them. Cassandra gives true advice to Agamemnon but because she was
cursed by Apollo is not believed and thus can avert neither his death nor her own.
Agamemnon has killed his daughter Iphigenia, which alienates Clytemnestra; Odysseus has
never harmed Telemachus.
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