Iphigeneia at Aulis

"Iphigenia in Aulis" was the last play written by Euripides and represents his most cynical depiction of the great heroes of Greek mythology. The subject of the play is the sacrifice of Iphigenia, ordered by her father King Agamemnon, to appease the goddess Artemis, so that the Achaen fleet can have fair winds to sail to Troy and bring back Helen. Of course is will be ten long years before Agamemnon returns, to be murdered in his royal home by his wife Clytemnestra, who spent those long years of separation waiting for the day she could avenge her daughter's death. I have used "Iphigenia in Aulis" as part of large unit on the Trojan War right before proceeding on to Homer's epic poem the "Iliad." Not only does the play come at that point in terms of the chronology of the war, but it clearly foreshadows the initial confrontation in the "Iliad" between Agamemnon and Achilles over Briseis of the lovely arms. To get his daughter to come to Aulis and be executed, Agamemnon says she is to marry Achilles. This lie not only makes Achilles angry when he learns about it, but the prospect of her daughter's marriage brings Clytemnestra to Aulis as well and foreshadows the tragedy "Agamemnon" by Aeschylus, the first part of the famed Orestia, as well.But it is the contrast with Homer's epic that is most manifest here. Euripides invests the beginning of Homer's saga with painful irony as Agamemnon rejects the pleas of Briseis's father; after all, has the Achean leader really forgotten the pain of sacrificing his daughter ten years earlier? In Euripides's play it becomes clear that Agamemnon does not care for his daughter; she is but a bargaining chip in his ploy for power. As her father and ruler Agamemnon could simply order his daughter to come to Aulis, but instead he concocts a fake marriage to Achilles, the most eligible of the young Achean heroes. When Achilles finds out he has been a pawn in this deadly little game he is incensed and promises to safe the maiden, but in the end he turns out to be as foolish and as wicked as the rest of the characters. All of the sympathy goes towards Iphigenia, the only true hero in the drama since she alone acts selflessly. For the greater glory of the Achean host she will accept her fate and thus be fondly remembered. Any one teaching the "Iliad" should at least provide the gist of "Iphigenia at Aulis" as background material, along with the story of the judgment of Paris. The same would apply to the study of either the entire "Orestia" or just the first play in the trilogy, "Agamemnon." As for the "true" fate of Iphigenia as realized by Euripides in "Iphigenia at Taurus," which is certainly the least tragic of his tragedies, that can be briefly mentioned as well to bring the whole grand tale to a happy ending of sorts.

Of the half dozen or so plays I've read in Oxford University Press's "Greek Tragedy in New Translations" series, this is the best. An excellent synopsis and analysis of the play precedes a beautiful translation, smoothing the way for students. The play is one of the keys to understanding the Trojan War -- in addition to recapping the beef the Greeks have with Troy, there is much foreshadowing of what will happen ten years down the road.After reading Iphigeneia at Aulis, it's difficult to cut any of those Greek heroes any slack. If the situation weren't so horrible and tragic, the interactions and reactions of some of the characters would be funny: Achilles, for example, extremely annoyed that Agamemnon would take his name in vain when tricking Iphigeneia into coming to Aulis -- if Agamemnon had asked him for his help first, then tricking the girl into coming to be sacrificed would have been okay. Or Menelaos, coming around to Agamemnon's way of thinking (that it would, after all, be wrong to kill Iphigeneia), and suggesting that only he, Agamemnon and Kalchas the priest know about the need for a sacrifice to get a fair wind to Troy, and that Kalchas won't tell: "Not if he's dead."This play, and this translation, are probably one of the best introductions a student could have to Greek tragedy.

Will Agamemnon sacrifice his oldest daughter so that they can set sail for Troy? Clytemnestra (his wife) begs and pleads with him not to go through with it, but the brave Iphigenia accepts the fate her father has meted out for her. Will he go through with it? Will he be stopped? Will he have a change of heart?Read the book. It is very easy to understand. If you know a little about the Greek gods and heroes, it helps even more.

A brilliant translation of one of Euripides' finest, excellently capturing the mood and spirit of the text. A prose translation, Rudall's effort has done great service to Euripides. The characterisations are good, and the language is almost always fluid and idiomatic, with only a few clumsy exceptions. Excellent!

This is Euripides' last play, it being incomplete at his death. His son, and perhaps a few others, added to it. Agamemnon, King of Argos, is forced by the army he is leading (in the war against Troy) to offer his daughter, Iphigenia, up for sacrifice so that the army can finally set sail for Troy. His wife, Clytemnestra, pleads for mercy even to Achilles but to no avail. Euripides displays all of the "heroes" with little honor: the unconscious shame of the great. Only Iphigenia is noble. Euripides also continues his scathing criticism of the Greek gods and their lack of honor and morals.