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Thyestes felt he had been deprived of the Mycenean throne unfairly by his brother, Atreus. The two battled back and forth several times. In addition, Thyestes had an affair with Atreus' wife, Aerope. In revenge, Atreus killed Thyestes' sons and served them to him unknowingly. After eating his own sons' corpses, Thyestes asked an oracle how best to gain revenge. The advice was to father a son with his own daughter, Pelopia, and that son would kill Atreus.

When Aegisthus was born, his mother was ashamed of her incestuous act. She abandoned him and he was raised by shepherds and suckled by a goat. Atreus, not knowing the baby's origin, took Aegisthus in and raised him as his own. Upon reaching adulthood, Thyestes revealed Aegisthus' true parentage, that he was both father and uncle to Aegisthus, who then killed Atreus and seized the throne.

Aegisthus and Thyestes ruled over Mycenae jointly, exiling Atreus' sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus to Sparta, where King Tyndareus gave the pair their wives, his daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen. When Tyndareus died, he gave his throne to Menelaus, who then helped Agamemnon overthrow Aegisthus and Thyestes.

When Agamemnon left Mycenae for the Trojan War, Aegisthus seduced his wife, Clytemnestra (daughter: ErigoneIn Greek mythology, Erigone was the daughter of Icarius. Icarius was from Athens. He was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog,), and plotted to kill her husband upon his return. They succeeded, killing Agamemnon and his new concubine, CassandraCassandra was a pseudonym of William Connor, long standing British journalist In Greek mythology, Cassandra ("she who entangles men") (also known as Alexandra was a daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen Hecuba, who captured the eye of Apollo and so. Eight years later, Agamemnon's son, OrestesOrestes in Greek legend, was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. According to the Homeric story Orestes was absent from Mycenae when his father returned from the Trojan War and was murdered by his wife's lover Aegisthus. Eight years later Orestes retur, and his daughter, ElectraThis article is about the Greek mythological personalities, for other meanings see Electra (disambiguation). In Greek mythology, several persons were named Electra (also spelled Elektra : # Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, mother of Dardanus, Iasion and Ha, returned to Mycenae and killed both their mother, Clytemnestra, and Aegisthus.

Much later, when Orestes was visiting Iphigenia in CrimeaThe Crimea (officially Autonomous Republic of Crimea Ukrainian transliteration: Avtonomna Respublika Krym Ukrainian: Russian: is a peninsula and an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It was called Tauric or Scythian Che, Aegisthus' son, Alete, took over Mycenae. Orestes killed him upon his return.