person
Agamemnon
also: regum rex, king of kings
Mythological king of Mycenae and commander-in-chief of the Greek host at Troy, the 'king of kings' of the Iliad; a stock exemplum of supreme command who relied on the counsel of the aged Nestor. Cicero invokes him in Fam. 9.14 to flatter Dolabella while casting himself as Nestor.
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 9.14 §2 it was an honor to Agamemnon himself, the king of kings
Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks at Troy, is the 'king of kings' (Homer's anax andron); Cicero's flattery casts himself as the aged counsellor Nestor to Dolabella's commander, a stock Homeric pairing of seasoned wisdom advising vigorous youth.
- Tusculan Disputations §3.62 that Agamemnon of Homer's, the same in Accius too
Agamemnon, the Greek commander at Troy, depicted tearing his hair in grief both in Homer and in Accius's Latin tragedy. He illustrates the conventional, self-inflicted gestures of mourning.