''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι, Īphigéneia en Aulídi; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

. Written between 408, after ''

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness an ...

'', and 406 BC, the year of Euripides' death, the play was first produced the following year in a trilogy with ''

The Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; grc-gre, Βάκχαι, ''Bakchai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. ...

'' and ''

Alcmaeon in Corinth ''Alcmaeon in Corinth'' ( grc, Ἀλκμαίων ὁ διὰ Κορίνθου, ''Alkmaiōn ho dia Korinthou''; also known as ''Alcmaeon at Corinth'', ''Alcmaeon'') is a play by Greek dramatist Euripides. It was first produced posthumously at the ...

'' by his son or nephew, Euripides the Younger, and won first place at the

City Dionysia The Dionysia (, , ; Greek: Διονύσια) was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the s ...

in Athens. The play revolves around

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the ...

, the leader of the Greek coalition before and during the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

, and his decision to sacrifice his daughter,

Iphigenia In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (; grc, Ἰφιγένεια, , ) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting ...

, to appease the goddess

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

and allow his troops to set sail to preserve their honour in battle against

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

. The conflict between Agamemnon and

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

over the fate of the young woman foreshadows a similar conflict between the two at the beginning of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

''. In his depiction of the experiences of the main characters, Euripides frequently uses tragic irony for dramatic effect.

Background

The Greek fleet is waiting at Aulis, Boeotia, with its ships ready to sail for Troy, but is unable to depart due to a strange lack of wind. After consulting the

seer In the United States, the efficiency of air conditioners is often rated by the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) which is defined by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, a trade association, in its 2008 standard AHR ...

Calchas, the Greek leaders learn that this is no mere meteorological abnormality but rather the will of the goddess

, who is withholding the winds because Agamemnon has offended her. Calchas informs the general that in order to appease the goddess, he must sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. Agamemnon, in spite of his horror, must consider this seriously because his assembled troops, who have been waiting on the beach and are increasingly restless, may rebel if their bloodlust is not satisfied. He sends a message to his wife,

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' '' Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...

, telling her to send Iphigenia to Aulis on the pretext that the girl is to be married to the Greek warrior Achilles before he sets off to fight.

Plot

At the start of the play, Agamemnon has second thoughts about going through with the sacrifice and sends a second message to his wife, telling her to ignore the first. Clytemnestra never receives it, however, because it is intercepted by

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of th ...

, Agamemnon's brother, who is enraged over his change of heart. To Menelaus, this is not only a personal blow (for it is his wife, Helen, with whom the Trojan prince

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

ran off, and whose retrieval is the main pretext for the war), it may also lead to mutiny and the downfall of the Greek leaders should the rank and file discover the prophecy and realise that their general has put his family above their pride as soldiers. The brothers debate the matter and, eventually, each seemingly changes the other's mind. Menelaus is apparently convinced that it would be better to disband the Greek army than to have his niece killed, but Agamemnon is now ready to carry out the sacrifice, claiming that the army will storm his palace at Argos and kill his entire family if he does not. By this time, Clytemnestra is already on her way to Aulis with Iphigenia and her baby brother

, making the decision of how to proceed all the more difficult. Bourdon, Sébastien - Le Sacrifice d'Iphigénie - 1653

Iphigenia is thrilled at the prospect of marrying one of the great heroes of the Greek army, but she, her mother, and the ostensible groom-to-be soon discover the truth. Furious at having been used as a prop in Agamemnon's plan, Achilles vows to defend Iphigenia, initially more for the purposes of his own honour than to save the innocent girl. However, when he tries to rally the Greeks against the sacrifice, he finds out that "the entirety of Greece"—including the

Myrmidons In Greek mythology, the Myrmidons (or Myrmidones; el, Μυρμιδόνες) were an ancient Thessalian Greek tribe. In Homer's ''Iliad'', the Myrmidons are the soldiers commanded by Achilles. Their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a king of ...

under his personal command—demand that Agamemnon's wishes be carried out, and he barely escapes being stoned. Clytemnestra and Iphigenia try in vain to persuade Agamemnon to change his mind, but the general believes that he has no choice. As Achilles prepares to defend Iphigenia by force, Iphigenia, realizing that she has no hope of escape, begs Achilles not to throw his life away in a lost cause. Over her mother's protests and to Achilles's admiration, she consents to her sacrifice, declaring that she would rather die heroically, winning renown as the savior of Greece, than be dragged unwilling to the altar. Leading the chorus in a hymn to Artemis, she goes to her death, with her mother Clytemnestra so distraught as to presage her murder of her husband and Orestes's matricide years later. The play as it exists in the manuscripts ends with a messenger reporting that Iphigenia has been replaced on the altar by a deer. It is, however, generally considered that this is not an authentic part of Euripides' original text. " Paley agrees with Porson in regarding the rest of the play after Iphigenia's exit ines 1510 to the end of the playas the work of an interpolator". A fragment of the play may indicate that Artemis appeared to console Clytemnestra and assure her that her daughter had not been sacrificed after all, but if this is a surviving reference to Euripides' original ending, that ending is not extant.

Associated myths

The first lines of the Chorus (Women of Chalcis) are: "To the sandy beach of sea-coast Aulis I came after a voyage through the tides of Euripus, leaving Chalcis on its narrow firth, my city which feedeth the waters of far famed Arethusa near the sea,..." About the Arethusa myth: "The Sicilian well Arethusa, ...was believed to have a subterraneous communication with the river Alpheius, in

Peloponnesus The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...

. According to

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, Alpheius was a passionate hunter and fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, but she fled from him to the island of

Ortygia Ortygia (; it, Ortigia; grc-gre, Ὀρτυγία) is a small island which is the historical centre of the city of Syracuse, Sicily. The island, also known as the ''Città Vecchia'' (Old City), contains many historical landmarks. The name origi ...

near Syracuse, and metamorphosed herself into a well, whereupon Alpheius became a river, which flowing from Peloponnesus under the sea to Ortygia, there united its waters with those of the well Arethusa. This story is related somewhat differently by

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

. Arethusa, a fair nymph, once while bathing in the river Alpheius in Arcadia, was surprised and pursued by the god; but

took pity upon her and changed her into a well, which flowed under the earth to the island of Ortygia."

Cultural influence

The play inspired the tragedy '' Iphigénie'' (1674) by

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

and was the basis of several operas in the eighteenth century, using librettos that drew from both Euripedes's and Racine's versions and had various plot variants. The earliest extant libretto is by

Christian Heinrich Postel Christian Heinrich Postel (11 October 1658 – 22 March 1705) was a German jurist, epic poet and opera librettist, who wrote 28 libretti for the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg: set by composers such as Johann Philipp Förtsch, Reinhard Keiser and ...

, ''Die wunderbar errettete Iphigenia'', set by

Reinhard Keiser Reinhard Keiser (9 January 1674 – 12 September 1739) was a German opera composer based in Hamburg. He wrote over a hundred operas. Johann Adolf Scheibe (writing in 1745) considered him an equal to Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel and Georg ...

in 1699. The most popular libretto was Apostolo Zeno's ''Ifigenia in Aulide'' (1718), set by

Antonio Caldara Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, ...

(1718), Giuseppe Maria Orlandini (1732),

Giovanni Porta Giovanni Porta (c. 1677 – 21 June 1755) was an Italian opera composer. His opera '' Argippo'', to a libretto by Domenico Lalli, was premiered in Venice in 1717.Freeman, Daniel E. (1992)''The Opera Theater of Count Franz Anton Von Sporck i ...

(1738), Nicola Porpora (1735),

Girolamo Abos Girolamo Abos, last name also given Avos or d'Avossa and baptized Geronimo Abos (16 November 1715 – May 1760), was a Maltese-Italian composer of both operas and church music. Born in Valletta, Malta, son of Gian Tommaso Abos, whose father was ...

(1752),

Giuseppe Sarti Giuseppe Sarti (also Sardi; baptised 1 December 1729 – 28 July 1802) was an Italian opera composer. Biography He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729. Some earlier sources say he was born o ...

(1777), Angelo Tarchi (1785), and Giuseppe Giordani (1786). Other libretti include ''Ifigenia'' by Matteo Verazi (set by Niccolò Jommelli, 1751), that of Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi (set by

Ferdinando Bertoni Ferdinando Bertoni (15 August 1725 – 1 December 1813) was an Italian composer and organist. Early years He was born in Salò, and began his music studies in Brescia, not far from his birthplace. Around 1740 he went to Bologna, where he studied ...

, 1762 and Carlo Franchi, 1766), that of Luigi Serio (set by

Vicente Martín y Soler Anastasio Martín Ignacio Vicente Tadeo Francisco Pellegrin Martín y Soler (2 May 175430 January or 10 February 1806) was a Spanish composer of opera and ballet. Although relatively obscure now, in his own day he was compared favorably with his ...

, 1779 and Alessio Prati, 1784), and that of Ferdinando Moretti (set by

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli (; 4 April 1752 – 5 May 1837) was an Italian composer, chiefly of opera. Life Early career Zingarelli was born in Naples, where he studied (from the age of 7) at the Santa Maria di Loreto Conservatory under Fena ...

, 1787 and Luigi Cherubini, 1788). However, the best-known opera today is Christoph Willibald Gluck's ''

Iphigénie en Aulide ''Iphigénie en Aulide'' ('' Iphigeneia in Aulis'') is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was based on Jean ...

'' (1774). ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' has had a significant influence on modern art. Greek director Michael Cacoyannis based his 1977 film ''

'' (starring

Irene Papas Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...

as Clytemnestra) on Euripides's script. The play also formed the basis for the 2003 novel '' The Songs of the Kings'' by

Barry Unsworth Barry Unsworth FRSL (10 August 19304 June 2012) was an English writer known for his historical fiction. He published 17 novels, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, winning once for the 1992 novel '' Sacred Hunger''. Biograph ...

, as well as the P. D. Q. Bach cantata ''Iphigenia in Brooklyn.'' Neil LaBute drew heavily on the story of Iphigenia for his short play '' Iphigenia in Orem'', one of his Bash series. US Latina playwright Caridad Svich's 2004 multimedia play ''Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart (a rave fable)'' is published in the international theatre journal TheatreForum, and also in the anthology ''Divine Fire: Eight Contemporary Plays Inspired by the Greeks'' published in 2005 by BackStage Books. The play re-sets Iphigenia's story in and around Ciudad Juárez and the murders of the Women of Juárez. Charles L. Mee, an American playwright, adapted the text for the modern theatre through his project, "The Re-Making Project". Mee's "Iphigenia 2.0," which was inspired by Euripides's ''Iphigenia in Aulis'', incorporates some texts from Alan Stuart-Smyth, Jim Graves, Jim Morris, Gaby Bashan, Richard Holmes, Richard Heckler, Dave Grossman, Wilfred Owen, and Anthony Swofford. The New York World Premiere of this version of "Iphigenia 2.0" was originally produced by Signature Theatre Company, New York City, and was described in the ''New York Times'' review as a "proudly unfaithful and rather tedious version of Euripides' "Iphigenia at Aulis." " Greek director

Yorgos Lanthimos Georgios "Yorgos" Lanthimos ( el, Γιώργος Λάνθιμος, Giórgos Lánthimos, ; born 23 September 1973) is a Greek film director, film producer, screenwriter, photographer, theatre director and former professional basketball player. Sin ...

based his 2017 film '' The Killing of a Sacred Deer'' loosely on the story of Agamemnon. Image Comics plans a graphic novel version of the script to be released in May 2022, written by

Edward Einhorn Edward Einhorn (born September 6, 1970) is an American playwright, theater director, and novelist, noted for the comic absurdism of his drama and the imaginative richness of his literary works. A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Einhorn graduated ...

and with art by Eric Shanower.

Translations

* Jane Lumley (1537–1578), ca. 1555 (first published in 1909) * Robert Potter, 1781 – verse * T. A. Buckley, 1850 – pros
full text
* , 1891 – prose
full text
* Arthur Way, 1912 – verse * Florence M. Stawell, 1929 – verse * Charles R. Walker, 1958
available for digital loan
*

W. S. Merwin William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thema ...

and George E. Dimock Jr., 1978 – verse *

Paul Roche Donald Robert Paul Roche (26 September 1916 – 30 October 2007) was a British poet, novelist, and professor of English, a critically acclaimed translator of Greek and Latin classics, notably the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristop ...

, 1998 – verse (Euripides: Ten Plays (Signet)) * Mary-Kay Gamel, 1999 – prose *

James Morwood James Henry Weldon Morwood (25 November 1943 – 10 September 2017) was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics,Harrow School Register 2002 8th edition edited by S W Bellringer & published by T ...

, 2002 – verse * Don Taylor, 2004 * George Theodoridis, 2007 �
full text
*

, 2013 �
full text
* Anne Lill, 2013 - Estonian, received Alexander Kurtna Award * Nicolas Billon & Roger Beck, 2010 * Christopher Collard &

, 2017 – verse * Andy Hinds, with Martine Cuypers 2017 �
here
* Brian Vinero 2018 – vers
here
* Rachel Hadas 2018 - vers

References

External links

Text at The Internet Classics ArchiveText at The Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University
* {{Authority control Iphigenia Plays by Euripides Trojan War literature Boeotian mythology Plays set in ancient Greece Greek plays adapted into films Plays adapted into operas Agamemnon