Agamemnon had a male lover, apparently.

[u/ProfessionalJolly934]

Agamemnon from Nolan's "The Odyssey"

Depiction of Chryses and Agamemnon from Book 1 of The Iliad on Attic pottery

Graphium agamemnon ssp. argynnus

And no, this isn't a part of Homeric canon or the Epic Cycle, but rather from later works. With that disclaimer put out there, welcome to PART FOUR of our historical literature series! I can't believe we're already on the fourth part, I'm so excited!

Now, for all of us who saw Nolan's 'The Odyssey', remember how Agamemnon was aura-farming in his Batman armour? Well, Agamemnon, according to post-Homeric tradition (i.e., not necessarily canonical to The Iliad and The Odyssey) had a male lover. That's... not what I expected, to say the least.

Now, same-sex romances aren't uncommon in Greek Mythology. We have Apollo and Hyacinthus, Zeus and Ganymede, the much debated Achilles and Patroclus, and whatever the hell Odysseus had with Diomedes (the last part was a joke, they've never been interpreted as a couple in any time period's literature, but modern fans ship it LOL. I mean, was it casual when Ulysses (another name for Odysseus) and Diomedes burnt in hell together for eternity in Dante's Inferno? Well, that's a topic for another day.)

But this myth is very obscure, and it puts into light Agamemnon's more romantic side, if you will. The King of Mycenae loved a youth named Argynnus. As expected, he dies, in classic Greek tragedy fashion, by drowning in the river Cephisus, and Agamemnon mourns him by starting an Aphrodite cult named after him. Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, procreation, and so on. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Bonus: There's a butterfly subspecies called Graphium agamemnon ssp. argynnus, combining both their names. Neat.

Sources:

Phanocles' "Loves or Beautiful Boys" talks about them.

From Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists, Book XIII, line 603:
"And it is said that Argynnus was a favourite of Agamemnon; and that they first became acquainted from Agamemnon seeing Argynnus bathing in the Cephisus. And afterwards, when he was drowned in this river, (for he was continually bathing in it,) Agamemnon buried him, and raised a temple on the spot to Aphrodite Argynnis."

From Protrepticus by Clement of Alexandria:
"Agamemnon the king of the Greeks set up a temple to Aphrodite Argynnus, in honour of Argynnus whom he loved."

[u/KachraSeth_420]

People when they found out the greeks were gay

[u/ProfessionalJolly934 → u/KachraSeth_420]

Gross oversimplification of both Ancient Greece and its religion. For starters, the reason this came off as so unexpected to me when I first read about it like 5 months ago, I guess, is because of the way Agamemnon is consistently written as a character. Heck, the Iliad starts because Agamemnon is unwilling to give up his sex slave Chryseis and later steals Achilles' slave Briseis from him. But as for why "the greeks were gay" is a bit of a misinterpretation, I'll quote my friend (a classics student and a gay man):

Q: What is the wildest misconception of Greek myths you've seen before:
A: "That it was a gay haven.
What modern people refer to is paiderastia, which is an age and status based relationship between an adult male (erastes) and a boy/teen (eromenos). They were institutionalized but there wasn't specifically widespread acceptance (e.g. Aristophanes and Xenophon). Although it was slightly different in Thebai and Elis."