View source for Cassandra

{{Short description|Mythological prophetess and princess of Troy}}
{{About|the Greek mythological prophet}}
[[File:Cassandra1.jpeg|thumb|''Cassandra'' by [[Evelyn De Morgan]] (1898, London); Cassandra in front of the burning city of Troy, depicted with disheveled hair denoting the insanity ascribed to her by the Trojans<ref>[[John Lemprière]], Lemprière’s Classical Dictionary, first published 1788, London</ref>]]
[[File:Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar) MET DT369516.jpg|thumb|"Cassandra and Ajax" depicted on a terracotta [[amphora]], ''circa'' 450 BC]]
'''Cassandra''' or '''Kassandra''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|'|s|æ|n|d|r|ə}};<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newcenturyclassi00aver/page/258/mode/2up |page=258 |title=New Century Classical Handbook |first=Catherine B. |last=Avery |publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts |location=New York |year=1962}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Κασσάνδρα}}, {{IPA|el|kas:ándra|pron}}, sometimes referred to as '''Alexandra'''; {{lang|grc|Ἀλεξάνδρα}})<ref>[[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/496/mode/2up 30]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.19 3.19], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.26 3.26].</ref> in [[Greek mythology]] was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god [[Apollo]] and fated by him to utter true [[prophecy|prophecies]] but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is employed as a rhetorical device to indicate a person whose accurate prophecies, generally of impending disaster, are not believed.

Cassandra was [[List of children of Priam|a daughter]] of King [[Priam]] and Queen [[Hecuba]] of [[Troy]]. Her elder brother was [[Hector]], the hero of the Greek-[[Trojan War]]. The older and most common versions of the myth state that she was admired by the god Apollo, who sought to win her love by means of the gift of seeing the future. According to [[Aeschylus]], she promised him her favours, but after receiving the gift, she went back on her word. As the enraged Apollo could not revoke a divine power, he added to it the curse that nobody would believe her prophecies. In other sources, such as [[Fabulae|Hyginus]] and [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], Cassandra broke no promise to Apollo, but rather the power of foresight was given to her as an enticement to enter into a romantic engagement, the curse being added only when it failed to produce the result desired by the god.

Later versions on the contrary describe her falling asleep in a temple, where snakes licked (or whispered into) her ears which enabled her to hear the future.{{Efn|A snake as a source of knowledge is a recurring theme in Greek mythology, though sometimes the snake brings understanding of the language of animals rather than an ability to know the future. Likewise, prophets without honor in their own country reflect a standard narrative trope.}}

==Etymology==
[[Hjalmar Frisk]] (''Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch'', Heidelberg, 1960–1970) notes "unexplained etymology", citing "various hypotheses" found in Wilhelm Schulze,<ref>Wilhelm Schulze, ''Kleine Schriften'' (1966), 698, J. B. Hoffmann, ''Glotta'' '''28''', 52</ref> [[Edgar Howard Sturtevant]],<ref>[[Edgar Howard Sturtevant]], ''Class. Phil.'' '''21''', 248ff.</ref> J. Davreux,<ref>J. Davreux, ''La légende de la prophétesse Cassandre'' (Paris, 1942) 90ff.</ref> and {{ill|Albert Carnoy|fr|Albert Carnoy|lt=Albert Carnoy.}}<ref>[[:fr:Albert Carnoy|Albert Carnoy]], ''Les ét. class.'' '''22''', 344</ref> [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]]<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p.&nbsp;654</ref> cites García Ramón's derivation of the name from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root *''(s)kend-'' "raise". The Online Etymology Dictionary states "though the second element looks like a fem. form of Greek ''andros'' "of man, male human being." Watkins suggests PIE ''*(s)kand-'' "to shine" as source of second element. The name also has been connected to ''kekasmai'' "to surpass, excel.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/cassandra|url-status=live|access-date=November 27, 2021|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501165946/https://www.etymonline.com/word/cassandra |archive-date=2019-05-01 }}</ref>"

== Description ==
Cassandra was described by the chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "shortish, round-faced, white, mannish figure, good nose, good eyes, dark pupils, blondish, curly, good neck, bulky breasts, small feet, calm, noble, priestly, an accurate prophet foreseeing everything, practicing hard, virgin".<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' [https://topostext.org/work/793#5.106 5.106] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813024349/https://topostext.org/work/793#5.106 |date=2022-08-13 }}</ref> Meanwhile, in the account of [[Dares Phrygius|Dares the Phrygian]], she was illustrated as ". . .of moderate stature, round-mouthed, and [[Auburn hair|auburn-haired]]. Her eyes flashed. She knew the future."<ref>[[Dares Phrygius]], ''History of the Fall of Troy'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html 12] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407120900/http://www.theoi.com/Text/DaresPhrygius.html |date=2023-04-07 }}</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:Woodcut illustration of Cassandra's prophecy of the fall of Troy (at left) and her death (at right) - Penn Provenance Project.jpg|thumb|Woodcut illustration of Cassandra's prophecy of the fall of Troy (at left) and her death (at right), from an [[Incunable]] German translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of [[Giovanni Boccaccio]]'s ''[[De mulieribus claris]]'', printed by {{Interlanguage link|Johann Zainer|de}} at Ulm ca. 1474.]]

Cassandra was one of the many children born to the king and queen of Troy, [[Priam]] and [[Hecuba]]. She is the [[fraternal twin]] sister of [[Helenus of Troy|Helenus]], as well as the sister to [[Hector]] and [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 12, section 5|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.12.5&lang=original|access-date=2021-11-10|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|archive-date=2022-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616054853/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%203.12.5&lang=original|url-status=live}}</ref> One of the oldest and most common versions of her myth states that Cassandra was admired for her beauty and intelligence by the god Apollo, who sought to win her with the gift to see the future. According to [[Aeschylus]], Cassandra promised Apollo favors, but, after receiving the gift, went back on her word and refused Apollo. Since the enraged Apollo could not revoke a divine power, he added a curse that nobody would believe Cassandra's prophecies.

==Mythology==
Cassandra appears in texts written by [[Homer]], [[Virgil]], [[Aeschylus]] and [[Euripides]].  Each author depicts her prophetic powers differently.

In Homer's work, Cassandra is mentioned a total of four times "as a virgin daughter of Priam, as bewailing Hector's death, as chosen by [[Agamemnon]] as his slave mistress after the sack of Troy, and is killed by [[Clytemnestra]] over Agamemnon's corpse after Clytemnestra murders him on his return home.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dillion|first=Matthew|title=Kassandra: Mantic, Maenadic or Manic? Gender and the Nature of Prophetic Experience in Ancient Greece|url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-27|website=openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205001927/https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/ |archive-date=2017-02-05 }}</ref>"

In Virgil's work, Cassandra appears in  book two of his epic poem titled ''[[Aeneid]]'', with her powers of prophecy restored. In Book 2 of the Aeneid, unlike Homer, Virgil presents Cassandra as having fallen into a mantic state<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Trinacty|first=Christopher V.|title=Catastrophe in Dialogue|date=2016|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/90001703|journal=Vergilius|volume=62|pages=108|jstor=90001703|issn=0506-7294|archive-date=2021-11-28|access-date=2021-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128010449/https://www.jstor.org/stable/90001703|url-status=live}}</ref> and her prophecies reflect it. 
Likewise [[Seneca the Younger]], in his play [[Agamemnon (Seneca)|''Agamemnon'']], has her prophesy why Agamemnon deserves his recorded death:<blockquote>''Quid me vocatis sospitem solam e meis, umbrae meorum? te sequor, tota pater Troia sepulte; frater, auxilium Phrygum terrorque Danaum, non ego antiquum decus video aut calentes ratibus ambustis manus, sed lacera membra et saucios vinclo gravi illos lacertos. te sequor… (Ag. 741–747)''<br><br>
''Why do you call me, the lone survivor of my family, My shades? I follow you, father buried with all of Troy; Brother, bulwark of Trojans, terrorizer of Greeks, I do not see your beauty of old or hands warmed by burnt ships, But your lacerated limbs and those famous shoulders savaged By heavy chains. I follow you...''<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Later on in Seneca's work, this behavior is reflected in acts 4 and 5 as "Her mantic vision in act 4 will be supplemented by a further (in)sight into what is going on inside the palace in act 5 when she becomes a quasi-messenger and provides a meticulous account of Agamemnon's murder in the bath: 'I see and I am there and I enjoy it, no false vision deceives my eyes: let's watch' (''video et intersum et fruor, / imago visus dubia non fallit meos: / spectemus''.)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Trinacty|first=Christopher V.|title=Catastrophe in Dialogue|date=2016|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/90001703|journal=Vergilius|volume=62|pages=110–111|jstor=90001703|issn=0506-7294|archive-date=2021-11-28|access-date=2021-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128010449/https://www.jstor.org/stable/90001703|url-status=live}}</ref>"

===Gift of prophecy===
Cassandra was given the gift of prophecy, but was also cursed by the god Apollo so that her true prophecies would not be believed. Many versions of the myth relate that she incurred the god's wrath by refusing him sexual favours after promising herself to him in exchange for the power of prophecy. In Aeschylus' ''Agamemnon'', she bemoans her relationship with Apollo:
<blockquote><poem>Apollo, Apollo!
God of all ways, but only Death's to me,
Once and again, O thou, Destroyer named,
Thou hast destroyed me, thou, my love of old!</poem></blockquote>

And she acknowledges her fault:
<blockquote><poem>I consented [marriage] to Loxias [Apollo] but broke my word. ... Ever since that fault I could persuade no one of anything.<ref>[[Aeschylus]], [[Agamemnon (play)|''Agamemnon'']] [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg005.perseus-eng1:1202-1241 1208&ndash;1212].</ref></poem></blockquote>

Latin author [[Fabulae|Hyginus]] in [[Fabulae]] says:<ref name="Cassandra at Stanford">{{cite web | url=http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/cassandra.html | title=Cassandra | work=Mortal Women of the Trojan War | publisher=Stanford University | access-date=March 24, 2014 | archive-date=November 7, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107131205/http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/cassandra.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Cassandra, daughter of the king and queen, in the temple of Apollo, exhausted from practising, is said to have fallen asleep; whom, when Apollo wished to embrace her, she did not afford the opportunity of her body. On account of which thing, when she prophesied true things, she was not believed.}}

[[Louise Bogan]], an American poet, writes that another way Cassandra, as well as her twin brother Helenus, had earned their prophetic powers: "''she and her brother Helenus were left overnight in the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo. No reason has been advanced for this night in the temple; perhaps it was a ritual routinely performed by everyone. When their parents looked in on them the next morning, the children were entwined with serpents, which flicked their tongues into the children's ears. This enabled Cassandra and Helenus to divine the future.''" It would not be until Cassandra is much older that Apollo appears in the same temple and tried to seduce Cassandra, who rejects his advances, and curses her by making her prophecies not be believed.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|last=Bogan|first=Louise|title=Cassandra in the Classical World|url=http://maps-legacy.org/poets/a_f/bogan/classical.htm|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-28|website=maps-legacy.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128004209/http://maps-legacy.org/poets/a_f/bogan/classical.htm |archive-date=2021-11-28 }}</ref>

Her cursed gift from Apollo became an endless pain and frustration to her. She was seen as a liar and a madwoman by her family and by the Trojan people. Because of this, her father, Priam, had locked her away in a chamber and guarded her like the madwoman she was believed to be.<ref name=":02" />  Though Cassandra made many predictions that went unbelieved, the one prophecy that was believed was that of Paris being her abandoned brother.<ref name="Cassandra">{{Cite web|title=Cassandra|url=http://www.maicar.com/GML/Cassandra.html|url-status=live|access-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218172455/http://www.maicar.com:80/GML/Cassandra.html |archive-date=2007-02-18 }}</ref>[[File:Ajax drags Cassandra from Palladium.jpg|thumb|[[Menelaus]] captures [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] in Troy, [[Ajax the Lesser]] drags Cassandra from [[Palladium (classical antiquity)|Palladium]] before eyes of [[Priam]], Roman mural from the [[Casa del Menandro]], [[Pompeii]]]]

===Cassandra and the Fall of Troy===

====Before the fall of Troy====
Before the fall of Troy took place, Cassandra foresaw that if Paris went to [[Sparta]] and brought [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] back as his wife, the arrival of Helen would spark the downfall and destruction of Troy during the Trojan War. Despite the prophecy and ignoring Cassandra's warning, Paris still went to Sparta and returned with Helen. While the people of Troy rejoiced, Cassandra, angry with Helen's arrival, furiously snatched away Helen's golden [[veil]] and tore at her hair.<ref name="Cassandra" />[[File:Aias und Kassandra (Tischbein).jpg|thumb|left|''Ajax and Cassandra'' by [[Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein]], 1806]]

In Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid,  Cassandra warned the Trojans about the Greeks hiding inside the [[Trojan Horse]], [[Agamemnon]]'s death, her own demise at the hands of [[Aegisthus]] and [[Clytemnestra]], her mother Hecuba's fate, [[Odysseus]]'s ten-year wanderings before returning to his home, and the murder of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra by the latter's children [[Electra]] and [[Orestes]]. Cassandra predicted that her cousin [[Aeneas]] would escape during the fall of Troy and found a new nation in Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Internet Classics Archive {{!}} The Aeneid by Virgil|url=http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.html|access-date=2021-11-28|website=classics.mit.edu|archive-date=2014-02-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213175320/http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====During the fall of Troy====
[[Coroebus]] and [[Othronus]] came to the aid of Troy during the Trojan War out of love for Cassandra and in exchange for her hand in marriage, but both were killed.<ref name="illinois1">{{cite web|title=Cassandra in the Classical World|url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bogan/classical.htm|access-date=2014-03-24|publisher=English.illinois.edu|archive-date=2019-05-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511232901/http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bogan/classical.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to one account, Priam offered Cassandra to [[Telephus]]'s son [[Eurypylus (son of Telephus)|Eurypylus]], in order to induce Eurypylus to fight on the side of the Trojans.<ref>[[Dictys Cretensis]] 4.14 (Frazer, p. 95).</ref> Cassandra was also the first to see the body of her brother [[Hector]] being brought back to the city.[[File:Jérome Martin Langlois the Younger – Cassandra Imploring the Vengeance of Minerva against Ajax.jpeg|thumb|Cassandra imploring [[Athena]] for revenge against Ajax, by [[Jérôme-Martin Langlois|Jerome-Martin Langlois]], 1810–1838.]]In ''The Fall of Troy'', told by [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], Cassandra attempted to warn the Trojan people that Greek warriors were hiding in the Trojan Horse while they were celebrating their victory over the Greeks with feasting. Disbelieving Cassandra, the Trojans resorted to calling her names and hurling insults at her. Attempting to prove herself right, Cassandra took an axe in one hand and a burning torch in the other, and ran towards the Trojan Horse, intent on destroying the Greeks herself, but the Trojans stopped her. The Greeks hiding inside the Horse were relieved, but alarmed by how clearly she had divined their plan.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Smyrnaeus|first=Quintus|title=THE FALL OF TROY BOOK 12|url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/QuintusSmyrnaeus12.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-28|website=www.theoi.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061120145727/http://www.theoi.com/Text/QuintusSmyrnaeus12.html |archive-date=2006-11-20 }}</ref>
[[File:Solomon Ajax and Cassandra.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Ajax and Cassandra]]'' by [[Solomon Joseph Solomon|Solomon J. Solomon]], 1886.]]
At the fall of Troy, Cassandra sought shelter in the temple of [[Athena]]. There she embraced the wooden statue of Athena in supplication for her protection, but was abducted and brutally raped by [[Ajax the Lesser]]. Cassandra clung so tightly to the statue of the goddess that Ajax knocked it from its stand as he dragged her away. The actions of Ajax were a sacrilege because Cassandra was a supplicant at the sanctuary under the protection of the goddess Athena, and Ajax further defiled the temple by raping Cassandra.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cassandra, Ancient Princess of Troy, Priestess and Prophetess|url=http://www.rwaag.org/cassandra|access-date=2021-11-28|website=The Role of Women in the Art of Ancient Greece|language=en-US|archive-date=2019-11-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105083032/http://www.rwaag.org/cassandra|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Apollodorus chapter 6, section 6, Ajax's death comes at the hands of both Athena and [[Poseidon]]: "Athena threw a thunderbolt at the ship of Ajax; and when the ship went to pieces he made his way safe to a rock, and declared that he was saved in spite of the intention of Athena. But Poseidon smote the rock with his trident and split it, and Ajax fell into the sea and perished; and his body, being washed up, was buried by [[Thetis]] in [[Myconos]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 6, section 6|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Epitome:book=E:chapter=6:section=6|access-date=2021-11-28|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|archive-date=2021-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128052149/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Epitome:book=E:chapter=6:section=6|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Cassandre se met sous la protection de Pallas, Aimé Millet (1819-1891), Jardin des Tuileries, Paris.jpg|alt=Cassandra puts herself under the protection of Pallas, Aimé Millet (1819–1891), Tuileries Garden, Paris|thumb|266x266px|''Cassandra puts herself under the protection of Pallas'', [[Aimé Millet]] (1819–1891), [[Tuileries Garden]], [[Paris]]]]
In some versions, Cassandra intentionally left a chest behind in Troy, with a curse on whichever Greek opened it first.<ref name="maicar1">{{cite web|title=Cassandra – Greek Mythology Link|url=http://www.maicar.com/GML/Cassandra.html|access-date=2014-03-24|publisher=Maicar.com|archive-date=2019-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423095106/http://www.maicar.com/GML/Cassandra.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Inside the chest was an image of [[Dionysus]], made by [[Hephaestus]] and presented to the Trojans by [[Zeus]]. It was given to the Greek leader [[Eurypylus (king of Thessaly)|Eurypylus]] as a part of his share of the victory spoils of Troy. When he opened the chest and saw the image of the god, he went mad.<ref name="maicar1" />

====The aftermath of Troy and Cassandra's death====
Once Troy had fallen, Cassandra was taken as a ''[[pallake]]'' (concubine) by [[King Agamemnon]] of [[Mycenae]].  While he was away at war, Agamemnon's wife, [[Clytemnestra]], had taken [[Aegisthus]] as her lover.  Cassandra and Agamemnon were later killed by either Clytemnestra or Aegisthus.  Various sources state that Cassandra and Agamemnon had twin boys, Teledamus and Pelops, who were murdered by Aegisthus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Corinth, chapter 16, section 6|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=16:section=6|access-date=2021-11-28|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|archive-date=2021-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128052148/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=16:section=6|url-status=live}}</ref>

The final resting place of Cassandra is either in [[Amyclae]] or [[Mycenae]].  Statues of Cassandra exist both in Amyclae and across the [[Peloponnese]] peninsula from Mycenae to [[Leuctra]]. In Mycenae, German business man and pioneer archeologist [[Heinrich Schliemann]] discovered in [[Grave Circle A, Mycenae|Grave Circle A]] the graves of Cassandra and Agamemnon and telegraphed back to King [[George I of Greece]]:<blockquote>''With great joy I announce to Your Majesty that I have discovered the tombs which the tradition proclaimed by Pausanias indicates to be the graves of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon and their companions, all slain at a banquet by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthos.''</blockquote>However, it was later discovered that the graves predated the Trojan War by at least 300 years.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harrington|first=Spencer P.M.|date=July–August 1999|title=Behind the Mask of Agamemnon|url=https://archive.archaeology.org/9907/etc/mask.html|journal=Archaeological Institute of America|volume=52|archive-date=2013-03-17|access-date=2021-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317095640/http://archive.archaeology.org/9907/etc/mask.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==''Agamemnon'' by Aeschylus==
[[Image:Attic red-figure cup with Ajax and Cassandra Louvre G 458.jpg|thumb|Ajax taking Cassandra, tondo of a [[red-figure]] [[kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]] by the {{Interlanguage link|Kodros Painter|el|3=Ζωγράφος του Κόδρου}}, c. 440–430 BC, [[Louvre]]]]

The play ''[[Oresteia#Agamemnon|Agamemnon]]'' from Aeschylus's trilogy ''[[Oresteia]]'' depicts the king treading the scarlet cloth laid down for him, and walking offstage to his death.<ref name="Agamemnon"/>{{rp|ln. 972}} After the chorus's ode of foreboding, time is suspended in Cassandra's "[[mad scene]]".<ref name="The Cassandra Scene in Aeschylus' 'Agamemnon'">{{Cite journal |first=Seth L. |last=Schein |title=The Cassandra Scene in Aeschylus' 'Agamemnon' |journal=Greece & Rome |series=Second Series |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=11–16 |year=1982  |doi=10.1017/S0017383500028278|s2cid=162149807 }}</ref>{{rp|p. 11–16}} She has been onstage, silent and ignored. Her madness that is unleashed now is not the physical torment of other characters in [[Greek tragedy]], such as in [[Euripides]]' ''Heracles'' or [[Sophocles]]' ''Ajax''.

According to author Seth Schein, two further familiar descriptions of her madness are that of [[Heracles]] in ''[[The Women of Trachis]]'' or [[Io (mythology)|Io]] in ''[[Prometheus Bound]]''.<ref name="The Cassandra Scene in Aeschylus' 'Agamemnon'"/>{{rp|p. 11}} He specifies that her madness is not the type that uses language to descriptive physical agony or other physical symptoms. Instead, she speaks, disconnectedly and transcendent, in the grip of her [[spirit possession|psychic possession]] by Apollo,<ref name="Agamemnon">{{cite book | title=Agamemnon | type=play script | language=el | quote=The chorus find her to be "crazed in mind and transported by a god"}}</ref>{{rp|ln. 1140}} witnessing past and future events. Schein says, "She evokes the same awe, horror and pity as do [[schizophrenics]]".<ref name="The Cassandra Scene in Aeschylus' 'Agamemnon'"/>{{rp|p. 12}} Cassandra is one of those "who often combine deep, true insight with utter helplessness, and who retreat into madness."

[[Eduard Fraenkel]] remarked<ref name="The Cassandra Scene in Aeschylus' 'Agamemnon'"/>{{rp|p. 11, note 6}}<ref name="Kleine Beiträge zur klassische Philologie">{{ cite book | title=Kleine Beiträge zur klassische Philologie | first=Eduard | last=Fraenkel | volume=I | location=Rome | year=1964 | series=Storia e letteratura | language=de | type=book | oclc=644504522 }}</ref> on the powerful contrasts between declaimed and sung dialogue in this scene. The frightened and respectful chorus are unable to comprehend her. She goes to her inevitable offstage murder by [[Clytemnestra]] with full knowledge of what is to befall her.<ref>[[Bernard Knox]] ''Word and Action: Essays on the Ancient theatre'' (Baltimore and London: Penguin) 1979</ref>{{rp|pp. 42–55}}<ref>Anne Lebeck, ''The Oresteia: A study in language and structure'' (Washington) 1971</ref>{{rp|pp. 52–58}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths}}
* [[Apollo archetype]]
* [[Novikov self-consistency principle]]
* [[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]]
* [[Tiresias]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Primary sources==
* [[Homer]]. ''[[Iliad]]'' XXIV, 697–706; ''[[Odyssey]]'' XI, 405–434;
* [[Aeschylus]]. ''[[Oresteia#Agamemnon|Agamemnon]]''
* [[Euripides]]. ''[[The Trojan Women]]''; ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]''
* ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' III, xii, 5; ''[[Epitome]]'' V, 17–22; VI, 23
* [[Virgil]]. ''[[Aeneid]]'' II, 246–247, 341–346, 403–408
* [[Lycophron]]. ''Alexandra''
* [[Triphiodorus]]: ''The Sack of Troy''
* [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]]: ''[[Posthomerica]]''

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last1=Calafiore |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Pallaracci |first2=Lucia |last3=Vitali |first3=Giulia |title=_immaginari letterari e figurativi |date=2023 |publisher=Giorgio Bretschneider Editore |location=Rome |isbn=9788876893421}}
* Clarke, Lindsay. ''The Return from Troy.'' HarperCollins (2005). {{ISBN|0-00-715027-X}}.
* Marion Zimmer Bradley. ''The Firebrand.'' {{ISBN|0-451-45924-5}}
* Patacsil, Par. ''Cassandra.'' In ''The Likhaan Book of Plays 1997–2003''. Villanueva and Nadera, eds. University of the Philippines Press (2006). {{ISBN|971-542-507-0}}
* Passfield, John. [https://rocksmillspress.com/shop/ols/products/john-and-cassandra-fair-is-fair-john-passfield John and Cassandra: Fair is Fair] (Rock's Mills Press) Fiction. {{ISBN|978-1-77244-319-6}}
* Ukrainka, Lesya. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070206111152/http://www.utoronto.ca/elul/English/Ukrainka/Ukrainka-Cassandra.pdf "Cassandra".] Original Publication: ''Lesya Ukrainka. Life and work by Constantine Bida. Selected works'', translated by Vera Rich. Toronto: Published for the Women's Council of the Ukrainian Canadian Committee by University of Toronto Press (1968). pp.&nbsp;181–239
* Schapira, Laurie L. [http://www.innercitybooks.net/book.php?id=36 ''The Cassandra Complex: Living with Disbelief: A Modern Perspective on Hysteria''.] Toronto: [http://www.innercitybooks.net/index.html Inner City Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818134903/http://innercitybooks.net/index.html |date=2011-08-18 }} (1988). {{ISBN|0-919123-35-X}}.

{{Characters in the Iliad}}
{{Aeneid}}
{{Sister bar|auto=1}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cassandra| ]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek seers]]
[[Category:Greek mythological priestesses]]
[[Category:Mythological rape victims]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Trojans]]
[[Category:Children of Priam]]
[[Category:Women of Apollo]]
[[Category:Women of the Trojan war]]
[[Category:Characters in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Greek mythological slaves]]
[[Category:Slave concubines]]