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Greece: Golden funeral mask also known as the Agamemnon Mask. Found in Tomb V in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, 16th century BCE. Photo by DieBuche (CC BY-SA 3.0 License)

Greece: Golden funeral mask also known as the Agamemnon Mask. Found in Tomb V in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, 16th century BCE. Photo by DieBuche (CC BY-SA 3.0 License)

Greece: Golden funeral mask also known as the Agamemnon Mask. Found in Tomb V in Mycenae by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, 16th century BCE. Photo by DieBuche (CC BY-SA 3.0 License).

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope; the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra; mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon was the commander of the Greeks in the ensuing Trojan War. Upon Agamemnon's return from Troy he was murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife Clytemnestra. The so-called 'Agamemnon Mask' is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

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