Also known as Iphigenia amongst the Taurians, Iphigenia Taurica, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις. It was first performed between 414 and 412 BC.
Iphigenia was supposedly sacrificed by Agamemnon at Aulis, but was at the last moment substituted for by a deer [stag] and rescued by the goddess Artemis [Diana]. She was taken by Artemis to Tauris [Tauris (Greek: Ταυρική), Taurica in Latin] and appointed by her to become the priestess of the temple dedicated to the goddess there. Those sacrificing Iphigenia at Aulis had no idea this "rescue" had taken place. They had been deceived by Artemis that they had sacrificed the real Iphigenia herself (and their fleet bound for Troy which had been becalmed by the goddess had even been allowed to set sail from Aulis).
Tauris itself is identified as a kingdom on the western shores of the Crimean peninsula, on the far side of the Black Sea from Greece. The Greeks considered its people as barbarians. A cult had grown up around this temple whereby any Greek or foreign sailor shipwrecked on the shores of Tauris and rescued was to be taken to the temple to be sacrificed to Artemis. The story to this effect is that as told by Herodotus in his Histories.
Setting:
In front of the temple dedicated to Artemis in Tauris. The temple is represent by the skene.
Dramatis Personae:
Iphigenia [eldest daughter of Agamemnon, King of Argos, supposedly having been sacrificed by him to the goddess Artemis at Aulis.]
Orestes [her brother; pursued and tormented by the Furies [Erinyes] for killing his mother, Clytemnestra, who herself had murdered her husband, Agamemnon.]
Pylades [Prince of Phocis, friend to Orestes. Phocis was the kingdom to which Orestes had been sent to in exile after the murder of this mother ]
Thoas [King of Taurica, a country of barbarians beyond the Symplegades (Clashing Rocks).]
A Herdsman [messenger].
A Messenger [member of Thoas' guard].
Chorus of Captive Greek Women, handmaidens to Iphigenia.
The goddess, Pallas Athena.
Allocation of Actors:
Protagonist: Iphigenia, Athena
Deuterogonist: Orestes, Herdsman, Messenger
Tritagonist: Pylades, Thoas
Summary:
Prologue [Lines 1-122]
[1-66] Enter Iphigenia
Dressed as a priestess, Iphigenia relates her story how she had come to the land of the barbarian Taurians. When the Greek fleet was on it way to Troy it had been becalmed at Aulis, because Agamemnon had offended Artemis by killing one of her sacred deer during a hunt. He was told he had to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess as compensatory retribution for his transgression. Now as Artemis' priestess she had to sacrifice on the altar of her temple any foreigner who came to Taurica. In a dream she had been convinced that Orestes, her brother, is dead. Exit Iphigenia, into the temple.
After Iphigenia leaves the stage, Orestes and his friend Pylades enter. They cautiously approach the temple. Orestes explains that he has been ordered by the Delphic oracle to come to Tauris to seize the sacred effigy of Artemis from her temple and give it to the Athenians. He has been told this will release him from the torment of the Furies [Erinyes] who have continued to hound him since the murder of his mother and also would be expiation for his crime of matricide. Daunted by the difficulty of the task, Orestes speaks of fleeing back to their ship, which lies anchored nearby, but Pylades emboldens him, proposing that they instead hide in a cave until night falls. Exeunt.
Parodos [Lines 123-235]
Enter the Chorus of Captive Greek Women. and Enter Iphigenia.
The Chorus explains that they are captive Greek women who serve at the temple and its priestess. Iphigenia herself laments the imagined death of her brother. She pours libations and performs a rite in his memory. The Chorus of Captive Women assist her. She laments her losses.
First Episode [Lines 236-391]
A Herdsman enters. He delivers a messenger speech. He reports two young Greek men have been captured by the seashore by Taurian guards. He explains one has been seized with a fit of madness and the other, named Pylades, was caring for him. He says that they have been taken before Thoas, the king of Taurica.
First Stasimon [Lines 392-466]
The Chorus sings of the hope that Iphigenia’s wish will come true. Rather than witnessing Helen’s throat cut being by the hands of their mistress, they sing of welcoming some Greek sailor coming and brave enough to end to their wretched slavery in exile and to take them back home again.
Second Episode [Lines 467-642]
The two Greek captives are now brought before Iphigenia for sacrifice. She resolves to be merciless before her attendants, the Chorus. However she feels an immediate kinship with the strangers, asking them where they have come from.
Orestes refuses to answer her questions as he is about to die.
But he does say that Pylades and he are brothers in friendship and not brothers by birth. Unwittingly he reveals the name of his hometown, Argos, and it is, of course, the same as Iphigenia’s. A long discussion between Orestes and Iphigenia follows. Iphigenia enquires about the fates of various Greeks under Troy (Helen, Odysseus, Achilles, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra) and finds out that both of her parents are dead, and that her sister Electra is now the only one living in their home.
Kommos [Lines 643-657]
Amoibaion [Lines 827-899]
Second Stasimon [Lines 1089-1152]
The Chorus sing an ode of wishing to escape from Taurica, and their longing to return to Greece and nostalgia for the places they visited in their childhood.
Third Episode (1153–1233]
Thoas, king of the Taurians, enters: he has come to see if the rites have been performed on the strangers who have landed on the shores of his kingdom. He is surprised to find that Iphigenia is lifting up the effigy of Artemis and moving it from its pedestal. Iphigenia explains why: the moment the strangers entered the temple the statue had moved by itself, and closed its eyes because they were "polluted", unclean. Thoas asked what were the Greeks guilty of. Iphigenia explains how they had killed their mother. Apollo, who has entered in disguise, shrieks: "No barbarian would have dared to do this!"
Thoas then gives permission to Iphigenia to take the effigy and the two strangers from the temple to the seashore to be washed of the "pollution" and their sins. Iphigenia leaves with Orestes and Pylades, as she does so she asks Thoas to cleanse the temple with fire, and to take as long as he needs to do this task. She tells him to send a messenger to the city to tell the inhabitants to stay indoors so as not to become polluted.
Third Stasimon [Lines 1234 - 1283]
The Chorus sings an ode about Artemis’ brother, the god Apollo, relating the story of his capture of the Delphic oracle from Themis and the monstrous children of Gaea.
Exodos and Finale [Lines 1284-1499]
Scene 1 [Lines 1284-1306].
Messenger and Chorus.
Scene 2 [Lines 1307-1434.]
Messenger and Thoas. Scene 3 [Lines 1435-99].
Soon after Iphigenia, Orestes, and Pylades have left the stage with the effigy a messenger [one of Thoas’ soldiers who were guarding them to the seashore] rushes in before the temple to report some urgent news to Thoas. He tells Thoas that the they had managed to elude the guards and Thoas, himself, has been deceived. The Greeks are in fact Orestes, Iphigenia's brother, and his friend, Pylades. And instead of cleansing the pollution, they have boarded Orestes ship with the effigy, and started to set sail. The guards tried stopping them, but were outnumbered. However stormy winds blew up and the ship could not leave. The guard tells Thoas that there is still time to stop them. Thoas started to give orders to pursue the Greeks. He called upon the people of his land immediately to head to the shore and capture the ship and the effigy.
Thoas and Athena (Deus ex Machina), with final short choric song [Lines].
At that moment the goddess Athena appears.
Iphigenia in Tauris - Wikipedia
Cult of Artemis at Brauron - Wikipedia
Artemis - Wikipedia
Orestes - Wikipedia
Erinyes - Wikipedia
The Erinnyes
ATHENA (Athene) - Greek Goddess of Wisdom, War & Crafts - Theoi
History of Crimea - Wikipedia
Tauri - Wikipedia
Euripides: Iphigenia among the Taurians (Ἰϕιγένεια ἐν Tαύροις) - Wiley Online Library
Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides - GreekMythology.com
Herodotus Histories Hdt. 4.103
Poulheria Kyriakou (14 February 2012). A Commentary on Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-092660-6.Edith Hall (10 January 2013). Adventures with Iphigenia in Tauris: A Cultural History of Euripides' Black Sea Tragedy. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0-19-539289-0.
Euripides and the Iphigenia Legend
A. O. Hulton
Mnemosyne
Fourth Series, Vol. 15, Fasc. 4 (1962), pp. 364-368 (5 pages)
Published by: Brill
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4428688
Notes on Euripides, "Iphigenia in Tauris"
MARTIN CROPP
Illinois Classical Studies
Vol. 22 (1997), pp. 25-41 (17 pages)
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23065326
Euripides (2000). Martin Cropp (ed.). Iphigenia in Tauris. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-85668-652-8.
Sansone, David. "A PROBLEM IN EURIPIDES’ IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS." Rheinisches Museum Für Philologie 121, no. 1 (1978): 35-47.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41244925.
(PDF) Iphigeneia in Colchis | David Sansone - Academia.edu
Strachan, J. C. G. "Iphigenia and Human Sacrifice in Euripides' Iphigenia Taurica." Classical Philology 71, no. 2 (1976): 131-40.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/269336
Campbell, A. Y. "Notes on Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris." The Classical Quarterly 32, no. 3/4 (1938): 135-36. http://www.jstor.org/stable/636948.
Trieschnigg, Caroline P. "Iphigenia's Dream in Euripides' "Iphigenia Taurica"." The Classical Quarterly 58, no. 2 (2008): 461-78.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/27564177.
Greek Versions
Iphigenia in Tauris : Euripides - Internet Archive Teubner
Euripidis Fabulae : Euripides ΙΦΙΓΕΝΕΙΑ Η ΕΝ ΤΑΤΡΟΙΣ Internet Archive
The Iphigenia in Tauris : Euripides, author, Paley editor- Internet Archive
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris [ed. Gilbert Murray]
Euripides (1984). Euripides: Iphigenia in Tauris. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86292-038-8.
Iphigenia in Tauris (1885 edition) | Open Library
Euripides Iphigenia Among the Taurians - Google Books
The Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides - Project Gutenberg
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris Perseus Digital Library
Euripides (2000). Iphigenia in Tauris. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-85668-652-8.
The Iphigenia in Tauris of Euripides (1910 edition) - Open Library
Greek tragedies (1960 edition) - Open Library David Grene
The Internet Classics Archive - Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides
Euripides, (12 June 2008). Bacchae and Other Plays. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-954052-5.
Euripides (1998). Ten Plays. Signet Classic. ISBN 978-0-451-52700-4.
Euripides (27 June 2002). Heracles and Other Plays. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 138–. ISBN 978-0-14-044725-5.
Audio-Visual
https://youtu.be/Vq3qGE4xT1M
https://youtu.be/fz899S_Yf2U
https://youtu.be/SAjas-3kAdM
Map of Crimea
No comments:
Post a Comment