As a young woman, Iphigenia was sent to live in Tauris and serve as a priestess of the goddess Artemis. Her father, Agamemnon, had been ready to sacrifice her to the goddess Artemis in exchange for fair winds as the Greek army made ready to leave Aulis for Troy, but Artemis had intervened at the last moment, replacing Iphigenia on the altar with a deer and spiriting her off to Tauris. Denied any news of her family, and despite having been nearly killed by her own father, Iphigenia nonetheless remains committed to her family’s importance. Soon after she dreams that her brother, Orestes, is dead, he arrives in Tauris along with his friend Pylades, but he neither recognizes her nor reveals his identity. When she learns who he is, although she should have sacrificed him to Artemis according to the laws of Tauris, instead she helps him and Pylades escape. The siblings narrowly escape death when their devotion to each other inspires the goddess Athena to come to their aid.

The limited ability of human beings to exercise their own will is emphasized throughout the play. Iphigenia is a devoted servant of Artemis. She fulfills the requirements of her position in sacrificing any foreigners who arrive in Tauris, but she does not do the killing herself. Orestes is punished by the Furies for his role in the death of his mother, Clytemnestra—he murdered her in vengeance after she helped to murder his father, Agamemnon. Nevertheless, he is offered an opportunity to end the Furies’ persecution if he does their bidding by stealing the statue of Artemis. For a while it seems that the gods have bad ends in store for the siblings, but Athena’s intervention alters their course.

Several transgressions by family members that precede the play’s action had resulted in reward or punishment by the gods. Iphigenia lived because Artemis intervened when she was due to be ritually sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon. She has since served Artemis faithfully, despite her distaste for blood sacrifice. This devotion is rewarded when she survives and continues as a temple priestess of Artemis in Greece. Despite the risk of losing his life, Orestes perseveres in seeking the statue of Artemis, as the gods mandated through the oracle, as evidence of his devotion to the god Apollo as well as being controlled by the Furies. Enlisting his sister’s aid, he is able to complete his mission. That devotion to Apollo is rewarded, saving not only his life but that of his friend Pylades and his sister.