Iphigenia in Aulis

Iphigenia in Aulis
Anger of Achilles by Jacques-Louis David
Written by	Euripides
Chorus	Greek Women
Characters	Agamemnon Menelaus Clytemnestra Iphigenia Achilles attendant
Setting	Port of Aulis

Iphigenia in Aulis (Greek: Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Αὐλίδι Iphigeneia en Aulidi; variously translated, including the Latin Iphigenia in Aulide) is the last extant work of the playwright Euripides. Written between 408, after the Orestes, and 406 BC, the date of Euripides' death, the play was first produced the following year^[1] by his son or nephew, Euripides the Younger,^[2] and won the first place at the Athenian city Dionysia.

The play revolves around Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek coalition before and during the Trojan War, and his decision to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia to allow his troops to set sail, and preserve their honour by doing battle against Troy. The conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles over the fate of the young woman presages a similar conflict between the two at the beginning of the Iliad.

Background

The Greek force is waiting at Aulis, Boeotia, with its ships ready to sail for Troy, but it is unable to depart due to a strange lack of wind. After consulting the seer Calchas, the Greek leaders learn that this is no mere meteorological abnormality but rather the will of the goddess Artemis, who has checked the winds because Agamemnon has caused her offense.

Calchas informs the general that, in order to placate her, 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 at port and are increasingly restless, may rebel if their bloodlust is not satisfied. He sends a message to his wife, Clytemnestra, telling her to bring 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, Agamemnon's brother, who is enraged that he should have changed his mind.

To Menelaus, this is not only a personal blow (for it is his wife, Helen, with whom the Trojan prince Paris ran off, 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. By this time, Clytemnestra is already on her way to Aulis with Iphigenia and her baby brother Orestes, making the decision of how to proceed all the more difficult.

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. Achilles is furious at having been used as a prop in Agamemnon's plan and 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 entire Greece"—including the Myrmidons under his personal command—demand that Agamemnon's wishes are 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 the young woman by force, she has a sudden change of heart, deciding that the heroic thing to do would be to let herself be sacrificed. She is led off to die, with her mother Clytemnestra so distraught as to presage Orestes' matricide.

Cultural influence

Iphigenia in Aulis has had a significant influence on modern art. Greek director Michael Cacoyannis based his 1977 film Iphigenia (starring Irene Papas as Clytemnestra) on Euripides's script. The play also formed the basis for the 2003 novel The Songs of the Kings by Barry Unsworth, 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 Juarez and the murders of the Women of Juarez.

Translations

• Jane Lumley (1537–1578), ca. 1555
• Robert Potter, 1781 - verse
• Edward P. Coleridge, 1891 - prose: full text
• Arthur S. Way, 1912 - verse
• Florence M. Stawell, 1929 - verse
• Charles R. Walker, 1958 - verse
• W.S. Merwin and George E. Dimock, Jr. 1978 - verse
• Paul Roche, 1998 - verse (Euripides: Ten Plays (Signet))
• James Morwood, 2002 - verse
• T.A.Buckley 1892 [1] full text
• G.Theodoridis 2007 [2] full text
• Edward Einhorn excerpt
• Don Taylor

References

External links

• Text at The Internet Classics Archive
• Text at The Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University

v • d • e Plays by Euripides Cyclops · Alcestis · Medea · Herakles' Children · Hippolytus · Andromache · Hecuba · The Suppliants · Electra · Herakles · The Trojan Women · Iphigenia in Tauris · Ion · Helen · Phoenician Women · Orestes · Bacchae · Iphigenia in Aulis · Rhesus · Archelaos (fragmentary)  · Bellerophon (fragmentary)