Ancient tradition said that Mycenae was founded by the Perseid dynasty and that the Atreids (Pelops, Atreus, Agamemnon) were outsiders.

While in the Oresteia sacrifice operated as a metaphor for the intrafamilial murders of the Atreids, among the Taurians the metaphor takes on materiality.

The family history of the Atreids is so complicated you'd need a flow chart to get it; what's more, that chart would flow with the blood of doomed family members. Situated in Mycenae, the Atreids were a brutal and competitive bunch; they worked hard to outdo each other with generation after generation of heinous crimes.

Atreid

Meaning

Noun