Iphigenia in Tauris (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Euripides
- First Published: 414
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Melodrama
- Time of Work: Several years after the Trojan War
- Setting: Tauris, in the present-day Crimea
- Principal Characters: Iphigenia, Orestes, Pylades, Thoas, Athena
- 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
The Story:
When the Greek invasion force, destined for Ilium, was unable to sail from Aulis because of a lack of wind, Agamemnon, the Greek commander, appealed to Calchas, a Greek seer, for aid. Calchas said that unless Agamemnon gave Iphigenia, his oldest daughter, as a sacrifice to Artemis, the Greek fleet would never sail. By trickery Agamemnon succeeded in bringing Clytemnestra, his queen, and Iphigenia to Aulis, where the maiden was offered up to propitiate the goddess. At the last moment, however, Artemis substituted a calf in Iphigenia’s place and spirited the maiden...
[The entire page is 2440 words long]
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See Also:
Euripides (Cyclopedia of World Authors)Euripides (Drama)Euripides (Encyclopedia of the Ancient World)
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