Oresteia

In Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra lures Agamemnon to step down from his chariot onto a pathway of fine tapestries she has laid out for him, bidding him “Come to me now, my dearest, / down from the car of war, but never set the foot / that stamped out Troy on earth again, my great one” (897-899). He steps from his chariot and walks along the tapestries to the house, where he is murdered. In this way, Clytaemnestra severs him from the country he left a decade ago. Murdered upon his homecoming, his return remains incomplete. Agamemnon is initially leery of treading on tapestries, lest it “draw the lightning” of the gods (914). These tapestries are inlaid with silver and very valuable; to treat them as rugs and tread upon them would be too ostentatious for a mortal and might seem boastful before the gods. However, Clytaemnestra appeals to her husband’s ego and convinces him to “Let the red stream flow and bear him home / to the home he never hoped to see” (902-903). This “red stream” foreshadows the king’s bloody murder. The tapestries symbolize Agamemnon’s fate and serve as a warning for mortals to keep their pride in check.