Plisthĕnes

, a son of Atreus king of Argos, father of Menelaus and Agamemnon, according to Hesiod and others. Homer, however, calls Menelaus and Agamemnon sons of Atreus, though they were in reality the children of Plisthenes. The father died very young, and the two children were left in the house of their grandfather, who took care of them and instructed them. From his attention to them, therefore, it seems probable that Atreus was universally acknowledged their protector and father, and thence their surname of Atridæ . Ovid , Remedia Amoris , li. 778 .— Dictys Cretensis , bk. 1 .— Homer , Iliad .