"But the death-cry of Cassandra, Priam’s daughter –
the most pitiful thing I heard! My treacherous queen,
Clytemnestra, killed her over my body, yes, and I,
lifting my fists, beat them down on the ground,
dying, dying, writhing around the sword.
But she, that whore, she turned her back on me,
well on my way to Death – she even lacked the heart
to seal my eyes with her hand or close my jaws."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 476-483. The ghost of Agamemnon tells Odysseus that his treacherous wife Clytemnestra killed Trojan princess Cassandra over his body as he lay dying. While Penelope stands as a symbol of loyalty in the epic poem, Clytemnestra is the very opposite. After helping her lover kill her husband, she then cut down Cassandra, lover of Agamemnon.