Note 580 — Chapter XVII · GOVERNMENT IN THE HEROIC AGE.

The passage suggests that the σκῆπτρον is regarded as a symbol of authority. Thyestes here appears between Atreus and Agamemnon. In Od. IV 517 f. Aigisthos is said to have dwelt where Thyestes had formerly dwelt, though unfortunately the locality is not stated. The two passages however are not necessarily inconsistent, for it does not follow that Agamemnon, when he took the imperium, would deprive his relative of the estate on which he lived. For the method of succession—which was of course extremely liable to produce strife—many Teutonic parallels might be cited. We may refer to the events which took place on the death of Alfred the Great.