Iphigenia Among the Taurians
The story was taken entirely from two plays of Euripides, the fifth-century tragic poet. No other writer tells the story in full. The happy end brought about by a divinity, the deus ex machine, is a common device with Euripides alone of the three tragic poets.
According to our ideas it is a weakness, and certainly it is necessary in this case, where the same end could have been secured by merely omitting the head-wind. Athena，s appearance, in point of fact, harms a good plot. A possible reason for this lapse on the part of one of the greatest poets the world has known is that the Athenians, who were suffering greatly at the time from the war with Sparta, were eager for miracles and that Euripides chose to humor them.
The Greeks, as has been said, did not like stories in which human beings were offered up, whether to appease angry gods or to make Mother Earth bear a good harvest or to bring about anything whatsoever. They thought about such sacrifices as we do. It was inevitable therefore that another story should grow up about the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis. There are two statements about the story. According to the old account, she was killed because one of the wild animals Artemis loved had been stain by the Greek and the guilt hunters could win back the goddess，s favor only by the death of a young girl.
When the Greek soldiers at Aulis came to get Iphigenia where she was waiting for the summons to death, her mother besides her, she forbade Clytemnestra to go with her to the alter. “It is better so for me as well as for you,”she said. The mother was left alone. At least she saw a man approaching. He was running and she wondered why anyone should hasten to bring her the tiding he must bear. Her daughter had not been sacrificed, he said. That was certain, but exactly what had happened to her no one knew. But a cry came from the priest and they looked up to see a marvel hardly to be believed. The girl had vanished, but on the ground beside the altar lay a deer, its throat cut.
“She will not have her altar stained with human blood. She has herself furnished the victim and she receives the sacrifice.”
Artemis had taken her to the land of the Taurians on the shore of the Unfriendly Sea－ a fierce people whose savage custom it was to sacrifice to the goddess any Greek found in the country. Artemis took care that Iphigenia should be safe; she made her priestess of her temple. But as such it was her terrible task to conduct the sacrifices, not actually herself kill her countrymen, but consecrate them by long-established rites and deliver them over to those who would kill them.
She had been serving the goddess thus for many years when a Greek galley put in at the inhospitable shore, not under stern necessity, storm-driven, but voluntarily. And yet it was known everywhere what the Taurians did to the Greeks they captured. An overwhelmingly strong motive made the ship anchor there. From it in the early dawn two young men came and stealthily found their way to the temple. Both were clearly of exalted birth; they looked like the sons of kings, but the face of one was deeply marked with lines of pain. It was he who whispered to his friend, “Do not you think this is the temple, Pylades？” “Yes, Orestes,”the other answered. “It must be that bloodstained spot.”
Orestes here and his faithful friend？ What were they doing in a country so perilous to Greeks？ Did this happen before or after Orestes had been absolved of the guilt of his mother，s murder？ It was some time after. Although Athena had pronounced him clear of guilt, in this story all the Erinyes had not accepted the verdict. Some of them continued to pursue him, or else Orestes thought that they did. Even the acquittal pronounced by Athena had not restored to him his peace of mind. His pursuers were fewer, but they were still with him.
In his despair he went to Delphi. If he could not find help there, in the holiest place of Greece, he could find it no-where.
The story was taken entirely from two plays of Euripides, the fifth-century tragic poet. No other writer tells the story in full. The happy end brought about by a divinity, the deus ex machine, is a common device with Euripides alone of the three tragic poets.
According to our ideas it is a weakness, and certainly it is necessary in this case, where the same end could have been secured by merely omitting the head-wind. Athena，s appearance, in point of fact, harms a good plot. A possible reason for this lapse on the part of one of the greatest poets the world has known is that the Athenians, who were suffering greatly at the time from the war with Sparta, were eager for miracles and that Euripides chose to humor them.
The Greeks, as has been said, did not like stories in which human beings were offered up, whether to appease angry gods or to make Mother Earth bear a good harvest or to bring about anything whatsoever. They thought about such sacrifices as we do. It was inevitable therefore that another story should grow up about the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis. There are two statements about the story. According to the old account, she was killed because one of the wild animals Artemis loved had been stain by the Greek and the guilt hunters could win back the goddess，s favor only by the death of a young girl.
When the Greek soldiers at Aulis came to get Iphigenia where she was waiting for the summons to death, her mother besides her, she forbade Clytemnestra to go with her to the alter. “It is better so for me as well as for you,”she said. The mother was left alone. At least she saw a man approaching. He was running and she wondered why anyone should hasten to bring her the tiding he must bear. Her daughter had not been sacrificed, he said. That was certain, but exactly what had happened to her no one knew. But a cry came from the priest and they looked up to see a marvel hardly to be believed. The girl had vanished, but on the ground beside the altar lay a deer, its throat cut.
“She will not have her altar stained with human blood. She has herself furnished the victim and she receives the sacrifice.”
Artemis had taken her to the land of the Taurians on the shore of the Unfriendly Sea－ a fierce people whose savage custom it was to sacrifice to the goddess any Greek found in the country. Artemis took care that Iphigenia should be safe; she made her priestess of her temple. But as such it was her terrible task to conduct the sacrifices, not actually herself kill her countrymen, but consecrate them by long-established rites and deliver them over to those who would kill them.
She had been serving the goddess thus for many years when a Greek galley put in at the inhospitable shore, not under stern necessity, storm-driven, but voluntarily. And yet it was known everywhere what the Taurians did to the Greeks they captured. An overwhelmingly strong motive made the ship anchor there. From it in the early dawn two young men came and stealthily found their way to the temple. Both were clearly of exalted birth; they looked like the sons of kings, but the face of one was deeply marked with lines of pain. It was he who whispered to his friend, “Do not you think this is the temple, Pylades？” “Yes, Orestes,”the other answered. “It must be that bloodstained spot.”
Orestes here and his faithful friend？ What were they doing in a country so perilous to Greeks？ Did this happen before or after Orestes had been absolved of the guilt of his mother，s murder？ It was some time after. Although Athena had pronounced him clear of guilt, in this story all the Erinyes had not accepted the verdict. Some of them continued to pursue him, or else Orestes thought that they did. Even the acquittal pronounced by Athena had not restored to him his peace of mind. His pursuers were fewer, but they were still with him.
In his despair he went to Delphi. If he could not find help there, in the holiest place of Greece, he could find it no-where.
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