Elektra

                                            Acrylic on canvas           16"H x 20"W  

Elektra was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, King and Queen of ancient Mycenae.  According to Greek myth, she was a key player in the murder of her mother - an act of revenge in the name of Agamemnon, who himself had been murdered by Clytemnestra on his return from the sack of Troy.  Agamemnon surely bears some blame for having started a domino cascade of murders since, before sailing for Troy, he was guilty of agreeing to the sacrifice of his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. This he did as a blood offering to the goddess Artemis, an effort to atone for an offense against the goddess and thereby obtain the release of his ships for the invasion.  Clytemnestra bore a lethal grudge.

Most tellings say that Elektra’s brother, Orestes, was the one who actually did the deed against Clytemnestra. Regardless of whether she actually held the knife, though, Elektra was clearly not someone to fool with.