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Electra[ilek´tru] Pronunciation Key, in Greek mythology. 1 Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After her mother and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon, Electra, eager for revenge, longed only for the return of her brother, Orestes. The reunion and vengeance of the brother and sister were dramatized by the three great tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. However, only in the work of Euripides did Electra take an active part in the killing of Clytemnestra. It is said that she later married Pylades, Orestes' friend, and bore him two sons. 2 One of the Pleiades. She was the daughter of Atlas and Pleione and mother by Zeus of Dardanus, the founder of what was to become the house of Troy. According to one legend she was the lost Pleiad, disappearing in grief after the destruction of Troy. 3 A sea nymph, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and mother by Thaumus of Iris, the rainbow, and the Harpies.
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