Gender Feminine
Usage Greek Mythology
Scripts Ἀερόπη(Ancient Greek)
Other Forms FormsAërope, Aeriope
Meaning & History
Feminine form of Greek Ἀέροπος (Aeropos) (see Aeropus). In Greek myth Aerope was a daughter of King Catreus of Crete, granddaughter of Minos and wife of Atreus (to whom she was married after the death of his son and her first husband Pleisthenes). Her sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus, were generally believed to be Atreus' sons. However, Aerope was faithless to Atreus, being seduced by his brother Thyestes. She gave Thyestes the golden lamb (or the fleece) which made him king of Mycenae.