Iphigenia in Tauris (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Euripides
- First Published: 414
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Melodrama
- Time of Work: Several years after the Trojan War
- Setting: Tauris, in the present-day Crimea
- Genres: Drama, Melodrama, Tragedy
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, Love or romance, War, Legends, Gods or goddesses, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Rites or ceremonies, Greek or Roman times, Sacrifice, Greece or Greek people, Oracles, Trojan War, Bronze Age, Temples
- Locales: Greece, ancient, Crimea, Tauris
Characters Discussed
Iphigenia (IHF-uh-jih- NI-uh), the daughter of King Agamemnon, sister of Orestes and Electra, and a priestess of Artemis in Tauris. According to her opening monologue, Artemis took pity on her just as she was about to be sacrificed at Aulis, snatched her away from the priest’s knife, and left a deer in her place. Transported to the land of the barbarian Taurians, she became the priestess of Artemis; it is her duty to preside over the sacrificial murder of all strangers captured by the Taurians. She dislikes both her duties and the country, and her longing...
[The entire page is 982 words long]
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