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References

Sources

Ancient

Hesiod

fr. 137b Most [= fr. 194 MW]

137 (194 MW)

137

b Tzetz. Exeg. Il. 1.122 (p. 68.19 Hermann)

b Tzetzes’ commentary on Homer’s Iliad

Agamemnon, and Menelaus likewise, are considered to be children of Atreus’ son Pleisthenes according to Hesiod and Aeschylus, but according to the poet (i.e., Homer) and everyone they were simply sons of Atreus himself. . . . According to Hesiod, Aeschylus, and some others, Pleisthenes was the son of Atreus and Aerope, and the children of Pleisthenes and Dias’ daughter Cleolla were Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Anaxibia. Because Pleisthenes died young, they were brought up by their grandfather Atreus, and so they are considered by many to be Atreids.

Gantz, p. 552

fragmentary lines of that poem [the Ehoiai] just preceding the tale of Alkmene appear to attest that Aerope (not Kleola) is the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaos (and a third son: Anaxibios?), although whether by Atreus or Pleisthenes we cannot tell (Hes fr 195 MW).

Tzetzes

Allegories of the Iliad

Prolegomena

508–511

The Greeks were commanded by two kings:

the famous Agamemnon and Menelaos

sons, according to most authorities, of Atreus and Aerope;

according to others, the children of Pleisthenes and Kleole.

Exegesis in Iliadem

1.122

Hesiod fr. 137b Most

Agamemnon, and Menelaus likewise, are considered to be children of Atreus' son Pleisthenes according to Hesiod and Aeschylus, but according to the poet (i.e. Homer) and everyone they were simply sons of Atreus himself. ... According to Hesiod, Aeschylus, and some others, Pleisthenes was the son of Atreus and Aerope, and the children of Pleisthenes and Dias' daughter Cleolla were Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Anaxibia. Because Pleisthenes died young, they were brought up by their grandfather Atreus, and so they are considered by many to be Atreids.

(Evelyn-White pp. 202–203)

Agamemnon and Menelaus likewise according to Hesiod and Aeschylus are regarded as the sons of Pleisthenes, Atreus' son. And according to Hesiod, Pleisthenes was a son of Atreus and Aerope, and Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia were the children of Pleisthenes and Cleolla the daughter of Dias.

Gantz, p. 552

Tzetzes (in his Exegesis in Iliadem) explains further what we will have already guessed, that in this version Pleisthenes is the son of Atreus. He goes on to say that for Hesiod, Aischylos, and others, Pleisthenes is born of Aerope, and that this Pleisthenes, wed to Kleola, daughter of Atreus' brother Dias (she is thus his own first cousin), begets Agamemnon and Menelaos, and Anaxibia (pp. 68-69 Hermann, reproduced in part as Hes fr. 194 MW).^{23 [Pelops' children here (which in fact match perfectly those reported by Σ Or 4) are in part omitted by Merkelbach and West. For the form "Kleolla" actually reported by Tzetzes, see West 1985.111-12.]}

Modern

Brill's New Pauly

s.v. Pleisthenes

Pleisthenes ... or the son of Atreus and Cleola born in exile in Macestus (Triphylia), father of Agamemnon and Menelaus [1] (schol. Eur. Or. 4),

Fowler

p. 435

The scholion on Eur. Or. 4, which we saw in the last section might derive from Hellanikos, ... goes on to say that Atreus married Kleola daughter of Dias, another son of Pelops, and fathered Pleisthenes, who had a weak constitution; Pleisthenes married Eriphyle (unknown) and had Agamemnon, Menelaos, and a daughter Anabixia; when Pleisthenes died the children reverted to Atreus' care.^{28 [Cf. Hes. fr. 194, schol. Il. 2.249. The story above is a typical attempt to accomodate the shadowy Pleisthenes (below, n. 44).}

p. 437

The most comprehensive list of the latter [sons of Pelops] is found in a scholion to Euripides' Orestes, l. 4; the next longest are the scholia to Pindar, Ol. 1.144c-e ...

Schol. Eur. Or. 4 Schol. Pind. Ol. 1.144c-e

Dias Dias

Gantz

p. 552

Tzetzes (in his Exegesis in Iliadem) explains further what we will have already guessed, that in this version Pleisthenes is the son of Atreus. He goes on to say that for Hesiod, Aischylos, and others, Pleisthenes is born of Aerope, and that this Pleisthenes, wed to Kleola, daughter of Atreus' brother Dias (she is thus his own first cousin), begets Agamemnon and Menelaos, and Anaxibia (pp. 68-69 Hermann, reproduced in part as Hes fr. 194 MW).^{23 [Pelops' children here (which in fact match perfectly those reported by Σ Or 4) are in part omitted by Merkelbach and West. For the form "Kleolla" actually reported by Tzetzes, see West 1985.111-12.]} ...

We should note here (as likely happens in Euripides) that a father adopting [cont.]

p. 553

his sons' children might possibly marry the mother as well; thus it would be no surprise to find Aerope (or even Kleola) in some accounts married first to Pleisthenes then Atreus. But in the scholia to the Orestes (where Dias is again a brother of Atreus), we find just the opposite: here Atreus marries Kleola, daughter of Dias, she who was the wife of Pleisthenes in Tzetzes, the two of them become the parents of the (infirm of body) Pleisthenes (Σ Or 4). We might suppose that the roles of Aerope and Kleola have simply been reversed, were it not that Pleisthenes marries someone quite new, one Eriphyle by whom he becomes the father of Agamemnon, Menelaos, and Anaxibia. But it remains possible that Atreus was wed to Kleola and Pleisthenes to Aerope in the Ehoiai, and that

Grimal

s.v. Dias

(Δίας) In one variant of the complicated traditions about the origins of the Atrides, Dias was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, and hence the brother of Atreus and Thyestes. He had a daughter Cleola, who married Atreus and gave him a son Pleisthenes. Pleisthenes was the father of Agamemnon, Menelaus, and their sister Anaxibia. According to another tradition, Dias' daughter Cleola was Pleithenes' wife and Atreus' daughter-in-law, and it was she who was the mother of Menelaus, Anaxibia, and Agamemnon. (Table 2).

p. 481

Dias Etymol. Magn. s.v. Δίας, schol on Euripides, Or. 5; Tzetzes on Hom Il. 68,20.

p. 526

TABLE 2

Hard

p. 508

Agamemnon and Menelaos are sometimes described as the sons of PLEISTHENES, son of Atreus, rather than as sons of Atreus himself.^{178 [Hes. fr. 194, 195.]} It is stated in this connection that Atreus was married to his niece Kleola or Kleolla, a daughter of Dias, son of Pelops, while Pleisthenes was married to Aerope; or else the pattern is inverted and Atreus is said to have married Aerope as usual while Pleisthenes married Kleola.^{179 [Aerope seems to be the mother of Menelaos in the papyrus fragment in Hes. fr. 195, even if Tzetzes (under fr. 194) quotes 'Hesiod' as saying that Menelaos and Agamemnon were chidren of Pleisthenes and Kleolla. According to Apollod. 3.2.2, Nauplios married Aerope to Pleisthenes, who fathers A. and M. by her (a story probably derived from Euripides, see schol. Soph. Ajax 1297).]} This makes little difference since Pleisthenes is a shadowy figure who is said to have died prematurely, leaving his sons to be reared by Atreus.^{180 [Schol. Il. 2.249.]}

Parada

s.v. Cleolla

Κλεόλλα

•Dias ∞

••Plisthenes 1.

•••Agamemnon, Menelaus, Anaxibia 4.

•-••-•••Hes.CWE.69 [= Tzetzes, Exeg 68. 19 H]