4.4 What are the origins of House Atreides?
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This article is from the Dune FAQ, by Alan Schwartz with numerous contributions by others.
4.4 What are the origins of House Atreides?
(BEGIN "CHILDREN OF DUNE" SPOILER) In "Children of Dune", just before
Alia becomes overwhelmed by the Baron, and the voices yell at her, one
is described in particular: "I, Agamemnon, your ancestor, demand
audience!" (END "CHILDREN OF DUNE" SPOILER). This confirms the suspicion
that the Atreides of Caladan are descendants of the Ancient Greek House
Atreides of Mycenae. The founder of House Atreides is Atreus (Atreides
in Greek means "son/descendant of Atreus") and his son, Agamemnon
Atreides, led the Greeks in the Trojan War, whose tale is told in
Homer's "Iliad_. The "Iliad" is a great epic poem (modern printings take
up large books), which was passed down through oral tradition. It was
written about half a century after the Trojan war, and is more fantasy
than history, but the archaeological excavations of Heinrich Schliemann
both in the now-Turkish hill of Hisarlik and what he found to be Mycenae
have proved that the Trojan War did take place, and that the fabled
"Golden Mycenae" was indeed a historical city state, which was at that
time the major superpower in Greece.
Agamemnon is also a historical figure, and his tomb still exists in the
archaeological site of Mycenae in Pelloponese in Greece. Mycenae, a
complete ancient city-state excavated and revealed, is a popular tourist
attraction and open to the public, as it was the center of Greece at its
time (which was accordingly named the Mycenean Era). Dune fans visiting
the area should take the time to pay tribute to the place where it all
started, or at least pick up a book or tourist guide from the area. :)
Answer courtesy of Stephanos Piperoglou.
(Note: Some inaccuracies in the above account have been pointed out.
Pre-historic Greece, the Trojan War and Homer are the subject of much
archaeological research, and very little is known for certain. This is
only intended to be a brief description as it relates to Dune.)
It has been argued (with reference to "The Dune Encyclopedia_) that the
Agamemnon appearing before Alia is not necessarily the original
Agamemnon. However, in "God Emperor of Dune", Leto II writes: "My
paternal Grandfather was Leto Atreides, descendant of the House of
Atreus and tracing his ancestry directly back to the Greek original."
Reference courtesy of Jim Ware.
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