Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides

Iphigenia in Aulis is set in the Greek camp at Aulis, where the fleet gathered for Troy is held back by lack of wind. Agamemnon has learned from the seer Calchas that the expedition will sail only if he sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis (Iphigenia in Aulis 89–93, 358–360). He first ordered the army disbanded, then let his brother Menelaus talk him round, and wrote to his wife Clytemnestra to send the girl to Aulis on the pretext of a marriage to Achilles (94–105). At the opening of the play he regrets this and sends an old servant to Argos with a second letter cancelling the first (115–163). Menelaus seizes the letter and quarrels with his brother (303–414); a messenger then announces that Iphigenia and Clytemnestra have already arrived (414–439). Agamemnon is crushed, Menelaus relents, and Agamemnon then explains why it is too late: the army and Odysseus will insist on the sacrifice (440–542). Clytemnestra and Achilles discover the deception when they meet (801–855), and the Old Man tells them the truth (855–899). Achilles promises to protect the girl, but Agamemnon refuses to give way, and when Achilles reports that the whole army, his own Myrmidons included, is demanding the sacrifice, Iphigenia herself chooses to die for Greece (1368–1401). A messenger describes the sacrifice, in which a deer lies on the altar in her place (1532–1612).

Date and Historical Background

Iphigenia in Aulis belongs to the end of Euripides’ career. In his last years he went to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedon, and he died and was buried in Macedonia (Pausanias 1.2.2; Lucian, The Parasite 35). According to an ancient note (scholion) on Aristophanes’ Frogs 67, which cites the official records of the dramatic contests, the play was staged after his death by his son, also called Euripides, at the City Dionysia, together with Alcmaeon and Bacchae. No ancient source gives the exact year of that production. The Suda, a Byzantine lexicon, records that one of Euripides’ five victories came after his death, when a play of his was staged by his nephew, also called Euripides; it does not name the plays.

The transmitted text is clearly disturbed. The opening is the clearest case: the long iambic speech in which Agamemnon tells the story (49–114) and the anapaestic dialogue with the Old Man (1–48, 115–163) do not join smoothly, and the manuscripts disagree about the order. Other passages, among them part of the parodos (164–302), parts of the second stasimon (751–800) and the closing messenger scene (1532–1629), read differently from the rest and are doubted in modern editions. Not every line printed in the play is therefore certainly by Euripides, and the doubtful sections are noted below.

Read next · stories with Iphigenia in Aulis

Characters and Setting

Characters

Agamemnon, king of Argos and Mycenae and commander of the Greek forces, husband of Clytemnestra, father of Iphigenia and Orestes, brother of Menelaus
Menelaus, king of Sparta and husband of Helen; brother of Agamemnon
Clytemnestra, daughter of Tyndareus, sister of Helen, wife of Agamemnon
An Old Man, a servant of Clytemnestra who came to Argos as part of her dowry from Tyndareus (Iphigenia in Aulis 46–48, 867–871)
Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
Achilles, the son of Peleus and the sea-goddess Thetis, leader of the Myrmidons from Phthia
First Messenger, who goes ahead of the women to announce their arrival (414–439)
Second Messenger, who reports the sacrifice (1532–1612)
Chorus of women of Chalcis, the city across the Euripus from Aulis, who have crossed the strait to see the army and its ships (164–184)

Setting

The setting is the Greek camp at Aulis, by the narrow strait of the Euripus, with the tent of Agamemnon in front of the audience. The play begins before dawn: Agamemnon calls the Old Man out while the birds, the sea and the winds are still, and the Old Man says that the sentries are not yet awake (6–11, 140–163). The wind has stopped, and the fleet is held in port.

Summary of Iphigenia in Aulis

Prologue

The play opens with Agamemnon calling the Old Man out of his tent in the last hours of the night. The Old Man has seen the lamp burning and the king writing and erasing the same letter, and he asks what is wrong (Iphigenia in Aulis 1–48). The long speech in which Agamemnon explains himself (49–114) is the most doubtful passage in the prologue, and the order of this opening is uncertain, as noted above. In it Agamemnon tells how Tyndareus, when many suitors came for his daughter Helen, made them swear to defend her chosen husband against anyone who might take her away (55–71), how Helen chose Menelaus, and how Paris carried her off to Ida (72–79). The Greeks then came to Aulis, and Agamemnon was made their commander for the sake of his brother (80–85). Becalmed, they asked Calchas, who said that the fleet would sail and Troy would fall only if Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter Iphigenia to Artemis, the goddess of the place (89–93).

“When I heard this,” Agamemnon says, he ordered Talthybius to proclaim that the army was to be disbanded, since he could never bring himself to kill his daughter; then Menelaus used every argument and he gave way, and he wrote to his wife to send Iphigenia on the pretence that Achilles was to marry her (94–105). Only four men know the real reason, he adds: Calchas, Odysseus, Menelaus and himself (106–107). He now wishes to cancel his order and has written a second letter to Clytemnestra, which the Old Man must carry to Argos (108–114). In the dialogue that follows, the letter itself says that the wedding will be held at another time and that Iphigenia must not be sent (115–123). The Old Man points out that Achilles, cheated of his bride, may be angry; Agamemnon answers that Achilles is lending only his name and knows nothing of the plan (124–132, a passage that some editors reject). The Old Man promises to go, and Agamemnon orders him to watch every crossroads in case the carriage that carries the girl has already left, and to bring the letter to Clytemnestra with the seal intact as proof of its source (140–163).

Parodos (Entrance Song)

The Chorus of women of Chalcis comes on and sings of how they crossed the Euripus to the beach of Aulis, wishing to see the Greek army and its ships (Iphigenia in Aulis 164–184). They describe the grove of Artemis (185–191), the two Ajaxes with Protesilaus and Palamedes at their games, and Diomedes throwing the quoit (192–205). Achilles is seen racing in armour along the shingle against a team of four horses (206–230), and they go on to list the ships and the leaders who command them: the Myrmidons of Phthia with their golden Nereids at the stern, the Argives, the Athenians under Theseus’ son, the Boeotians, the Locrians, the hundred ships of Mycenae, Nestor of Pylos, and Ajax of Salamis (231–302). This long catalogue is one of the passages that modern editors consider doubtful.

First Episode

Menelaus enters with the Old Man and a struggle over the letter: the Old Man tries to hold on to it, Menelaus threatens to break his head with his staff, and the Old Man calls to Agamemnon for help (Iphigenia in Aulis 303–316). Agamemnon comes out of his tent. “Look me in the face,” says Menelaus, and asks whether he knows the tablet that is “the bearer of a shameful message”; he has broken the seal, he says, and he will show it to the whole army (317–332). He accuses his brother of changing his mind at every turn: he was humble and open-handed while he wanted the command, and hard to approach once he had it (333–350); he was frightened by the calm and wished to disband the army; he was glad enough to sacrifice his daughter when Calchas gave the order, and now he has changed again (351–365). “Sense is what the general must have,” Menelaus says, and he blames his brother for letting a whole army fail because of his daughter (366–375).

Agamemnon answers more calmly, and with a sharp tongue (378–401). Menelaus is mad, he says, to want back a wicked wife; the suitors swore their oath in hope, and the gods “discern where oaths have been wrongly pledged or forcibly extorted”; he will not kill his child so that Menelaus can have his revenge. The Chorus Leader remarks that this differs from what he said before but contains good (402–407).

Their quarrel is interrupted by a messenger, who announces that Agamemnon’s daughter has come with her mother and the infant Orestes, and that the army already knows (414–439). The messenger tells him to prepare the baskets and the wedding hymn. Once the messenger has gone, Agamemnon cries out: “Ah, woe is me! unhappy wretch, what can I say? where shall I begin? To what cruel straits have I been plunged!” (440–443). He pities the girl who will soon be the bride of death and fears the reproach she will make (440–470). Seeing him weep, Menelaus takes his hand and recants: he swears that he does not want a Helen at such a price, and urges his brother not to kill his child; the army can be sent home (473–503).

Agamemnon thanks him and then explains why this is no longer possible: the whole army will insist on it (506–517). Menelaus suggests sending the girl back to Argos, or killing Calchas, but Agamemnon answers that Calchas will tell the oracles to the army, and that the army will follow Odysseus, who is “ever shifty by nature, siding with the mob” and will urge the Argives to kill Agamemnon, Menelaus and the girl (518–537). Even if he escaped to Argos, they would come and destroy the place “razing it to the ground, Cyclopean walls and all” (534–535). He asks Menelaus to make sure that Clytemnestra does not learn the truth until the girl has been dedicated to death (538–542). The Chorus then sings of moderate love and of the passion of Paris and Helen that has brought the Greeks to Troy (543–589).

Second Episode

Clytemnestra arrives with Iphigenia and the baby Orestes in a carriage with the dowry, helped down by the women of the Chorus (Iphigenia in Aulis 590–630). She thinks of the greeting as a good omen for her daughter’s marriage (607–610). Iphigenia, who is eager to see her father, runs to him; she tells him that he did well to bring her there, and Agamemnon answers: “I know not how I am to say yes or no to that, my child” (631–650). She notices that he looks troubled and asks him to smile; he says that he is weeping because they will be parted for so long (651–660). When she asks him to come home quickly from Troy, he replies that he has a sacrifice to offer first, and she asks if she may lead the dance round the altar (668–676). He sends her inside: “I count you happier than myself because you know nothing” (677–690). To Clytemnestra he excuses his tears as those of a father giving his daughter in marriage (690–696).

Clytemnestra asks about the groom’s family and Agamemnon tells her: Achilles is the son of Peleus, who was the son of Aeacus, himself the son of Zeus and Aegina, and he was raised by Chiron on Pelion (697–715). When she asks when the wedding is, he says at the next full moon (716–718). Then he tries to send her back to Argos to look after her other daughters, saying that he will give the bride away himself with the help of the Greeks (726–740). She refuses: “it is good that a mother should give her own child away”, and “Go, manage matters out of doors; but in the house it is my place to decide what is proper for maidens at their wedding” (733–740). Agamemnon is left alone, and cries that his plans are all baffled; “I form my plots and subtle schemes against my best-beloved” (742–745). He goes to find Calchas. The second stasimon follows: the Chorus sings of the Greek fleet arriving at the Simois, of Cassandra in Troy, and of the women of Troy who will be taken as captives (751–800).

Third Episode

Achilles enters calling for the general (Iphigenia in Aulis 801–818). The delay at the Euripus, he says, is not the same for all: some men have left their wives and homes, and his Myrmidons keep asking why they wait. Clytemnestra comes out of the tent and greets him; he does not know her and is shy of speaking with a woman in a camp of men (819–830). She says who she is and holds out her hand “as a prelude to a happy marriage”; Achilles is baffled: “What wedding do you speak of? Words fail me, lady” (831–840). Each of them realises that the other has been told something different, and Achilles says that someone has made a mock of them both (841–849). Embarrassed, Clytemnestra says farewell, and Achilles turns to go in and find Agamemnon (850–854).

The Old Man calls through the half-opened door and stops them (855–864). He asks whether Achilles is alone, and tells Clytemnestra, who knows his loyalty, that her husband intends to kill her daughter with his own hand (865–887). He says that it is for the oracle, so that the army can sail and Menelaus can recover Helen, and that the marriage was a pretext for bringing the girl (878–886). He had been sent with a letter forbidding the coming, but Menelaus snatched it from him (887–895). Clytemnestra throws herself at Achilles’ knees; she reminds him that his name has brought them there, and begs for protection (900–916). Achilles is also angry at being used: “never shall your daughter, after being once called my bride, die by her father’s hand; for I will not lend myself to your husband’s subtle tricks; no! for it will be my name that kills your child, although it does not wield the sword” (919–974). He says that Calchas will pay for beginning the sacrifice, and that his sword will be bloody before it reaches Phrygia (956–974). This long speech is itself among the passages that some editors suspect.

Clytemnestra thanks him and offers to bring Iphigenia to kneel to him, but he refuses, since the army loves gossip (977–1007). Instead he proposes that she first appeal to Agamemnon not to kill his children, and call on Achilles if that fails (1015–1023). She agrees, and they leave (1024–1035). The Chorus sings of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis on Pelion, the gods, Ganymede, the Nereids and the Centaurs, and of Chiron’s prophecy that their son will bring the Myrmidons to burn Troy (1036–1079). The last stanza turns to Iphigenia, who will be crowned by the Argives like a heifer from a rocky cave, and have her throat stained with blood (1080–1097).

Exodos (Exit Song)

Clytemnestra has come out to look for her husband, and finds him before the tent (Iphigenia in Aulis 1098–1109). Agamemnon says that he has been looking for her to discuss matters “not suited for the ears of maidens”, and tells her to send out the girl, since the lustral water, the barley and the heifers are ready for Artemis (1110–1114). Iphigenia comes out, weeping, with Orestes in her arms (1115–1126). Clytemnestra asks her husband directly: “Do you mean to slay your child and mine?” and says: “I know all” (1127–1145). He answers: “See, I am silent; for why should I tell you a falsehood, and add effrontery to misfortune?” (1144–1145).

Clytemnestra then makes her case (1146–1208). She recalls that he married her after killing her first husband Tantalus and her baby son, and that her brothers came to war against him until Tyndareus gave way (1148–1156). She has been a blameless wife, and a mother of three daughters and a son. He will give up her child so that Menelaus may recover Helen, buying what they most detest with what they hold dearest (1157–1168). What can he pray for, and how will she greet him when he returns (1169–1195)? If it was necessary, why not draw lots? Menelaus should have killed Hermione for her mother, and she who went astray now lives happily in Sparta while the faithful wife loses her child (1196–1208). The Chorus tells Agamemnon to listen (1209–1210).

Iphigenia then pleads for her life: if she had Orpheus’ eloquence she would move the rocks, but she has only her tears (1211–1252). She kneels, recalls that she was the first to call him father, and says that she remembers all they said to each other, and he has forgotten it. “What have I to do with the marriage of Paris and Helen? Why is his coming to prove my ruin, father?” she asks, and lifts Orestes: “to gaze upon the light is man’s most cherished gift”, she says, and the life below is nothing (1214–1252). Agamemnon answers that he understands what should move pity, but that he must do this; the great fleet cannot sail or take Troy unless he offers her, and the army, if he refuses, will kill his daughter, Clytemnestra and himself in Argos. “It is not Menelaus who has enslaved me to him, child,” he says, “it is Hellas, for whom I must sacrifice you whether I will or not” (1255–1275). He leaves, and the women sing a lament: Iphigenia curses the judgment of Paris and the wind (1276–1335).

When Achilles approaches with a crowd of men, Iphigenia wants to hide in shame (1338–1344). He reports that the army has shouted for her sacrifice, that his own Myrmidons were the first to turn against him, and that he was nearly stoned (1345–1354). He says that he will defend her with his arms, even against Odysseus and a thousand men (1355–1368).

Iphigenia then speaks to Clytemnestra: it is useless to quarrel with her husband, and Achilles should not be hurt by the army on her account (1368–1373). She has decided to die. All Hellas looks to her, the passage over the sea depends on her and the sack of Troy; her death will stop barbarians from seizing Greek women again (1374–1389). “Better a single man should see the light than ten thousand women,” she says, and “If Artemis has decided to take my body, am I, a mortal, to thwart the goddess? no, that is impossible. I give my body to Hellas; sacrifice it and make an utter end of Troy” (1390–1401). Achilles admires her: “some god was bent on blessing me, if I could have won you for my wife,” and he promises to wait at the altar with his arms in case she changes her mind (1404–1432).

Iphigenia tells her mother not to cut her hair or wear mourning, asks her to bring up Orestes, and begs: “do not hate my father, your own husband” (1433–1466). Clytemnestra answers that he used base treachery, unworthy of Atreus, and Iphigenia leaves her without a tear, calling on the women to hymn Artemis (1454–1475). She is led out singing, with a prayer to the day and to the light (1475–1509), and the Chorus follows her with a hymn to Artemis and a prayer that Agamemnon may win undying fame (1510–1531).

A messenger then arrives with the story of the sacrifice, in a passage that many editors reject as a later addition (1532–1629). The Second Messenger tells Clytemnestra that the army gathered in the grove of Artemis and Iphigenia offered herself freely, asking that no Argive touch her (1540–1560). Calchas drew his sword and laid it in a golden basket, Achilles carried round the lustral water, and when the priest raised the knife the whole army heard the sound of a blow but no one saw where the girl vanished, for a great deer lay gasping on the ground (1561–1593). Calchas declared that the goddess had taken the deer instead of the maiden, and the army went to its ships (1594–1612). The Chorus Leader rejoices; Clytemnestra is not sure she believes it (1613–1618); Agamemnon enters and tells her that the girl has gone to the gods and that she must forget her anger (1619–1629). Euripides’ own Iphigenia in Tauris says that Artemis stole her away, put a deer in her place and sent her to the land of the Taurians (Iphigenia in Tauris 26–30).

A Brief Analysis

Aristotle uses the character of Iphigenia in this play as his example of inconsistency: in Poetics 15 he says that the suppliant Iphigenia has nothing in common with the later one. The change is real in the text: in her plea she begs for life and says that it is better to live a wretched life than to die a glorious death (1211–1252), and in the later speech she speaks of Greece, the barbarians and her own fame and chooses to die (1374–1401). What lies between the two speeches is Achilles’ report that the whole army, and not Agamemnon alone, demands her death (1345–1354). She herself says that it is impossible to resist the goddess (1395–1396) and that she will no longer allow Achilles to be hurt for her (1368–1373).

The play shows the other characters changing their minds as well. Agamemnon moves from the order to disband the army to the letter that brings Iphigenia to Aulis, then to the second letter, and after that to the sacrifice again, and Menelaus changes sides in the scene that ends with his tears (440–542). Agamemnon says that it is Hellas, and not Menelaus, that has enslaved him (1269–1275). Clytemnestra’s speech blames him in the plainest terms, and Iphigenia asks her at the last not to hate her husband (1454). Achilles, too, offers to fight, and then waits at the altar in case Iphigenia changes her mind (1426–1432).

Much in the passages cited above is uncertain because the text is damaged, and no reader can say how much of the prologue, the catalogue and the ending Euripides wrote. What can be said from the surviving lines is that the play makes the deception, the generals’ fear of the army, and Iphigenia’s choice the core of its action.

Iphigenia in Aulis Sources

The main source for this page is the play itself: Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 1–1629, read in the Greek text (Perseus Digital Library). Other ancient sources used are Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 26–30 (the deer and the journey to Tauris), Aristotle, Poetics 15 (Iphigenia as an example of inconsistency), Pausanias 1.2.2 and Lucian, The Parasite 35 (Euripides at the court of Archelaus), and the scholion on Aristophanes, Frogs 67 (the posthumous production).