Iphigenia in the Ancient Sources: 54 Passages in Greek & English

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.69–71The Trojan War and the house of AtreusA long papyrus fragment tells how the gods were divided by strife and how Zeus planned storm and tempest over the boundless earth. The shorter fragments cover Agamemnon and Menelaus and the fate of Iphigeneia.

Aeschylus (3)

Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1448–1576Kommos: the lament for Agamemnon and the Fiend of the houseThe Chorus mourn the king and blame Helen for the deaths at Troy, and Clytaemestra says that the Fiend of the house, which has fed on the family of Tantalus, has done the deed through her. The elders ask who will bury Agamemnon, and she says that she will not allow them to mourn him, and that Iphigenia will meet him at the river of sorrows. The Chorus say that they are in doubt, and that the blow will be repaid with a blow.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 176–263Parodos (2): the hymn to Zeus and the sacrifice of IphigeniaThe Chorus sing a hymn to Zeus, who has set men on the road to wisdom through suffering. They tell how Agamemnon, when the fleet was held at Aulis by contrary winds, put on the yoke of necessity and sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to obtain a favourable wind. In the last lines the Chorus leader turns to Clytaemestra and asks whether her sacrifices mean good news.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1372–1447Fifth episode: Clytaemestra stands over the bodiesClytaemestra appears over the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra and says that she is not ashamed of what she has said or done. She tells how she threw a net, a robe, round him and struck him three times, and says that she did it to avenge Iphigenia. The Chorus are shocked and say that she will be an outcast, and she answers that they did not condemn Agamemnon when he killed his own child.

Sophocles (1)

Sophocles, Electra 472–557First stasimon; Clytaemnestra defends the killing of AgamemnonThe Chorus say that Justice will come, since the dream means that the murder will be avenged, and recall the old chariot race of Pelops, the source of the curse on the house. Clytaemnestra comes out and complains that Electra runs loose when Aegisthus is away and slanders her. She defends her killing of Agamemnon by saying that he sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia, and Electra asks leave to answer her.

Euripides (39)

Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1153–1202Third episode: Iphigenia tells Thoas the statue and strangers are pollutedThoas, king of the Taurians, asks where the temple's gatekeeper is, and whether she has begun the rites on the strangers. Iphigenia says that the statue of the goddess has closed its eyes by itself, and tells him that the strangers are polluted by murder, so that she must purify them and the statue in the sea, away from the eyes of men.
Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 631–676Second episode: Iphigenia greets her fatherIphigenia runs to her father and greets him, saying that she has longed to see his face. She notices that he is troubled and that tears are in his eyes, and Agamemnon answers her in broken words that hide his purpose. She asks where the Phrygians live and wishes she could go with him to Troy, and he tells her that she will make a voyage of her own, alone.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 492–532Second episode: Iphigenia questions Orestes about GreeceIphigenia asks which of the two is named Pylades, and Orestes says that the other is, and that they are friends, not brothers. Orestes refuses to give his own name, but says that he comes from Mycenae. She asks about Troy, Helen and Menelaus, and learns that Calchas is dead.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1203–1233Third episode: Thoas agrees to the purification ritesIphigenia tells Thoas to have the strangers brought out with their faces veiled, to send word to the city that no one is to come near, and to purify the temple with fire while she is away. She tells him to hold his robe over his eyes when the strangers come out, and Thoas bids her carry out the rites well. She then comes out with the strangers and the statue, and proclaims that all must keep away from the pollution.
Euripides, Iphigenia at Aulis 1433–1531Exodos: Iphigenia bids her mother farewell and goes to the altarIphigenia asks her mother why she is silent, and tells her that the altar of the goddess will be her tomb and that she is not to mourn. She asks her mother not to hate Agamemnon and to rear Orestes, and then asks the Chorus to sing for her. She goes out to the altar, saying that she was reared to be a light to Hellas.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 533–569Second episode: Orestes tells of Agamemnon's deathIphigenia asks what became of Odysseus and Achilles, and then of Agamemnon, whom Orestes says was killed by his own wife. He tells her that Orestes killed his mother to avenge his father, and that Electra is still alive. In answer to her question about the daughter who was sacrificed, he says that she is dead, and that the son lives nowhere and everywhere.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 989–1051Second episode: Iphigenia and Orestes plan the escapeIphigenia says that she has long wished to see Argos and Orestes, and that she will help. Orestes says that he will not be her murderer as well as his mother's, and that he would rather share life or death with her. They plan to ask the king for leave to purify the image and the strangers at the sea, claiming that they are polluted by murder, and to sail away with the statue.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 723–776Second episode: Iphigenia makes Pylades swear and reads out the letterIphigenia comes out of the temple with the folds of a tablet and asks Pylades for an oath that he will take it to Argos. Pylades asks for an exception if the ship is lost in the waves, and Iphigenia says that she will tell him what is written, so that if the tablet is lost he can still report it. The message is to Orestes, son of Agamemnon, from Iphigenia, who was supposedly slain at Aulis, and Orestes cries out in wonder.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 777–821Second episode: the recognition of Orestes and IphigeniaIphigenia tells Pylades that Artemis saved her by giving a deer in exchange, and Pylades, released by his oath, hands the tablet to Orestes. Orestes embraces his sister in unbelieving joy, and the Chorus Leader rebukes him for laying hands on the priestess. Iphigenia doubts that he is her brother, and Orestes gives tokens: the quarrel of Atreus and Thyestes over the golden ram, the tapestry that she wove, her bridal bath and the lock of hair.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 900–938Second episode: Pylades urges caution; Orestes tells of Electra and the FuriesThe Chorus Leader says that the event surpasses a fable, and Pylades urges that they leave off wailing and turn to the matter of safety. Iphigenia asks about Electra, and learns that she is married to Pylades. Orestes says that he is an exile driven by the Furies, and that he has come to this land at the command of Apollo's oracle.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 236–294First episode: a herdsman announces two captured GreeksA Herdsman comes from the shore with news that two young men, fleeing the dark Symplegades in a ship, have come to the land as an offering to Artemis, and asks the priestess to prepare for the rites. Iphigenia asks how they were taken, and the Herdsman tells how the herdsmen were washing their cattle in the sea, and saw two strangers in a hollow cave, and one of them cried out in a fit of madness, seeing Furies.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 570–627aSecond episode: Iphigenia offers to send one captive home with a letterOrestes says that the so-called wise divinities are as false as winged dreams, and that there is confusion both in divine and human affairs, and he says that his father died, trusting in the words of prophets. Iphigenia says that she wishes to send a letter to a friend in Argos, and that the one who takes it will be saved, as a reward, while the other must be sacrificed, since the city exacts it. Orestes says that Pylades, who sailed with him, must be the one to take it, and that he himself will die.

27 more passages of Euripides that name Iphigenia

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.1–63The Greeks at Aulis; the House of FamePriam mourns for Aesacus, not knowing that he lives on as a bird, while Paris, who was absent, returns with Helen and a thousand ships. The Greek fleet gathers at Aulis, where a snake devours eight sparrows and their mother and is turned to stone, and Calchas reads the omen as meaning ten years of war. The ships are held by contrary winds until Iphigenia is brought to the altar, but Artemis (Diana) puts a hind in her place and carries her away. The poet then describes the House of Fame, where all the rumours of the world are heard.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.121–254The contest for the arms of Achilles: Odysseus repliesOdysseus (Ulysses) answers that Ajax's strength is of no use without the counsel that guides it, and that he, a descendant of Zeus (Jupiter), has served the Greeks as much with his mind as with his hands. He tells how he brought Iphigenia to Aulis for the common good, and how he found Achilles disguised among the daughters of Lycomedes and brought him to Troy. He tells too how he went as an envoy to Troy, and how he and Diomedes killed Dolon and Rhesus and won Rhesus' horses.

Pausanias (6)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.43.1–8Megara: shrines of heroes, the Aesymnium, Dionysus and Aphrodite, and the grave of CoroebusPausanias lists Megarian shrines and tombs: Iphigenia, Adrastus, Artemis, the Prytaneum burials, the rock Anaclethra, the Aesymnium Council House and the tombs of Pyrgo and Iphinoe. He describes the sanctuary of Dionysus and the temples of Aphrodite and Fortune with works by Praxiteles, Scopas and Lysippus, and tells the story of Coroebus, who killed Punishment sent by Apollo and founded Tripodisci.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.33.1–8Attica: Brauron, Rhamnus and Phidias’ statue of NemesisAt Brauron Iphigenia is said to have left the image of Artemis. At Rhamnus stands the sanctuary of Nemesis, with Phidias’ statue made from the marble the Persians brought to set up as a trophy. Pausanias digresses on the Ethiopians shown on her bowl and on Ocean, Atlas and the sources of the Nile, notes that Nemesis was originally wingless, and explains the figures on the pedestal, where Leda brings Helen to Nemesis.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.35.1–11Hermion: temples and the festival of Demeter ChthoniaPausanias lists the temples of Hermion: Dionysus of the Black Goatskin, Artemis Iphigenia, Poseidon, Hestia, three Apollos, Fortune, and the cisterns. He describes the sanctuary of Demeter Chthonia on Mount Pron, its two foundation stories, the summer festival with the sacrifice of cows by four old women, the temple of Clymenus, the Colonnade of Echo, the chasm through which Hercules brought up the hound of hell, and the sanctuary of Ilithyia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.16.1–11Sparta: the Leucippides, Lycurgus’ sanctuary and Artemis OrthiaPausanias describes the sanctuary of Hilaira and Phoebe, the egg said to be Leda’s, the Tunic where the women weave the garment for Apollo of Amyclae, and the house where the Dioscuri visited Phormio. He lists the shrines of Chilon and of the Athenians with Dorieus, and Lycurgus’ sanctuary and the graves nearby. He then argues that the wooden image of Artemis Orthia, in the Limnaeum, is the one brought from the Tauric land, and describes the scourging of the youths at her altar.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.26.1–14Aegira and Pellene: the goats of Hyperesia and the road to PellenePausanias describes Aegira, formerly Hyperesia, and explains its name by the story of the goats with torches on their horns that frightened off the Sicyonian army. He lists its sanctuaries of Zeus, Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Aesculapius, Serapis and Isis, and a building with an image of Fortune and figures of a mourning family. He also covers the hill town of Phelloe and the border with Pellene, whose name is derived from Pallas or from Pellen. He discusses the lost town of Donussa and ends with the port Aristonautae.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.19.1–8The road to Chalcis: Teumesus, Glisas, Mycalessus and AulisPausanias describes places on the road to Chalcis: Teumesus, with the story of the Teumesian fox and a sanctuary of Telchinian Athena, and the ruins of Glisas with the mound of the Argive dead. He passes the tomb of Chalcodon and the ruins of Harma and Mycalessus, where the image of Mycalessian Demeter keeps autumn fruits fresh all year. At Aulis he describes the temple of Artemis and the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the remains of the plane-tree and the bronze threshold of Agamemnon's hut.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 13.83–200Book 13: Boeotians, Phocians, Euboians and AtheniansA second Boeotian host is led by Hymenaios from Aspledon, Orchomenos, Hyria and Aulis, and the poet digresses on Orion and Iphigeneia. The Phocians follow, and then the Corybants of Euboia. The Athenians come under Erechtheus, from Marathon, Eleusis and Acharnai.

Epic Cycle (1)

Epic Cycle, Summaries and Fragments 5.1–38CypriaProclus' summary of the Cypria opens with Zeus planning the Trojan War with Themis, the quarrel of the three goddesses, Alexandrus, Helen and the gathering of the Greeks at Aulis. The fragments cover the earth burdened by men, the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Helen's birth to Nemesis, Castor and Polydeuces, and Alexandrus carrying Helen to Ilium.

Iphigenia in the ancient sources

Hesiod (1)

Aeschylus (3)

Sophocles (1)

Euripides (39)

Ovid (2)

Pausanias (6)

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Epic Cycle (1)