Iphigenia in Aulis (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Euripides
- First Published: 405
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Beginning of the Trojan War
- Setting: Aulis, on the west coast of Euboea
- Principal Characters: Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, Achilles, Menelaus
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: War, Kings, queens, or royalty, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Greek or Roman times, Sacrifice, Greece or Greek people, Oracles, Trojan War, Bronze Age
- Locales: Greece, ancient, Euboea, Aulis
The Story:
At Aulis, on the west coast of Euboea, part of Greece, the Greek host had assembled for the invasion of Ilium. The war had been declared to rescue Helen, wife of King Menelaus, after her abduction by Paris, a prince of Troy. Lack of wind, however, prevented the sailing of the great fleet.
While the ships lay becalmed, Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces, consulted Calchas, a seer. The oracle prophesied that all would go well if Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s oldest daughter, were sacrificed to the goddess Artemis. At first, Agamemnon was reluctant to see his...
[The entire page is 2160 words long]
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