The Iliad 2.99–109

ceasing from their clamour. Then among them lord Agamemnon uprose, bearing in his hands the sceptre which Hephaestus had wrought with toil. Hephaestus gave it to king Zeus, son of Cronos, and Zeus gave it to the messenger Argeïphontes; and Hermes, the lord, gave it to Pelops, driver of horses, and Pelops in turn gave it to Atreus, shepherd of the host; and Atreus at his death left it to Thyestes, rich in flocks, and Thyestes again left it to Agamemnon to bear, that so he might be lord of many isles and of all Argos.

σπουδῇ δʼ ἕζετο λαός, ἐρήτυθεν δὲ καθʼ ἕδρας παυσάμενοι κλαγγῆς· ἀνὰ δὲ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων ἔστη σκῆπτρον ἔχων τὸ μὲν Ἥφαιστος κάμε τεύχων. Ἥφαιστος μὲν δῶκε Διὶ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι, αὐτὰρ ἄρα Ζεὺς δῶκε διακτόρῳ ἀργεϊφόντῃ· Ἑρμείας δὲ ἄναξ δῶκεν Πέλοπι πληξίππῳ, αὐτὰρ ὃ αὖτε Πέλοψ δῶκʼ Ἀτρέϊ ποιμένι λαῶν, Ἀτρεὺς δὲ θνῄσκων ἔλιπεν πολύαρνι Θυέστῃ, αὐτὰρ ὃ αὖτε Θυέστʼ Ἀγαμέμνονι λεῖπε φορῆναι, πολλῇσιν νήσοισι καὶ Ἄργεϊ παντὶ ἀνάσσειν. τῷ ὅ γʼ ἐρεισάμενος ἔπεʼ Ἀργείοισι μετηύδα·

Lattimore commentary

Although the other kings have just been described as all “sceptered,” the poet singles out the ancestral scepter of the leader Agamemnon for genealogical digression that increases his stature and ties him to divinity (since the gods made it). The history of the scepter hints at a darker side through the mention of Agamemnon’s family. His father Atreus won the kingship of Mykenai after a dispute with his brother Thyestes; after learning that Thyestes had seduced his wife, Atreus killed, cooked, and served to Thyestes his own children. The son of Thyestes, Aigisthos, will kill Agamemnon (with the aid of Agamemnon’s wife Klytaimestra) on his arrival home. Although none of this sad history is narrated, an audience aware of the myths might think the scepter’s description ironic. Since Agamemnon can lean on the implement (109), it must be long, like a staff or shepherd’s crook: appropriately Atreus has just been named with the formula “shepherd of the people” (105), and Thyestes is called “of the rich flocks” (106).

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