Lecture 24: Greek Heroine Cult and
the Iphigeneia at Aulis
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A) Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis 49-85
Leda, the daughter of Thestius, had three maiden daughters, Phoebe and Clytemnestra, my wife, and Helen; this last it was who had the foremost of the favoured sons of Hellas for suitors; but terrible threats of spilling his rival's blood were uttered by each of them, if he should fail to win the girl. Now the matter filled Tyndareus, her father, with perplexity, whether to give her in marriage or not, how he might best succeed. This thought occurred to him: the suitors should swear to each other and join right hands and pour libations with burnt-sacrifice, binding themselves by this curse: whoever wins the child of Tyndareus for wife, they will assist that man, in case a rival takes her from his house and goes his way, robbing her husband of his marriage bed; and march against that man in armed array and raze his city to the ground, Hellene no less than barbarian. Now when they had once pledged their word (and old Tyndareus with no small cleverness had beguiled them by his shrewd device), he allowed his daughter to choose from among her suitors the one towards whom the sweet breezes of Aphrodite might carry her. Her choice fell on the one whom she ought never to have chosen, Menelaus. Then there came to Lacedaemon from the Phrygians the man who, Argive legend says, judged the goddesses' dispute; blooming in robes of gorgeous hue, ablaze with gold, in barbarian luxury; he carried Helen off in mutual desire to his steading on Ida, finding Menelaus gone from home. Goaded to frenzy, Menelaus flew through Hellas, invoking the ancient oath exacted by Tyndareus and declaring the duty of helping the injured husband. And so the Hellenes, brandishing their spears and putting on their arms, came here to the narrow straits of Aulis equipped with armaments of ships and shields, with many horses and chariots, and they chose me to captain them all for the sake [kharis] of Menelaus, since I was his brother.B) Euripides, Iphigeneia at Aulis 87-96
But after the army was gathered and come together, we still remained at Aulis weatherbound. In our perplexity, we consulted Calchas, the seer [mantis], and he answered that my own child Iphigeneia we should sacrifice to Artemis, whose home is in this land, and we would sail and sack the Phrygians' capital if we sacrificed her, but if we did not, these things would not happen. When I heard this, I commanded Talthybius with loud proclamation to disband the whole army, as I could never bear to slay my daughter.C) Aeschylus, Agamemnon 206-227
"It is a hard fate to refuse obedience, and hard, if I must slay my child, the glory of my home, and at the altar-side stain 210 a father's hand with streams of virgin's blood. Which of these courses is not filled with evil? How can I become a deserter to my fleet and fail my allies in arms? 215 For that they should with all too impassioned passion crave a sacrifice to lull the winds - even a virgin's blood - stands within their right. May all be for the best."But when he had donned the yoke of Necessity, with veering of mind, 220 impious, unholy, unsanctified, from then he changed his intention and began to conceive that deed of uttermost audacity. For wretched delusion, counselor of ill, primal source of woe, makes man bold. So then he hardened his heart to sacrifice his daughter 225 so that he might further a war waged to avenge a woman, and as an offering for the voyaging of a fleet!
D) From the Cypria (Epic Cycle)
The expedition gathers at Aulis for the second time.
Agamemnon kills a deer on the hunt and boasts that he surpasses even Artemis.
The goddess gets mênis and holds them back from the voyage by sending them bad weather.
But Kalchas explains the mênis of the goddess and tells them to sacrifice Iphigeneia to Artemis.
They summon her as if for a marriage to Achilles and are about to sacrifice her.
But Artemis snatches her away and carries her to Tauris
and makes her immortal, meanwhile placing a deer on the altar instead of the girl.
Check out Elise Garrison's catalogue of suicidal females in Greek and Roman Mythology, published by Diotima, a web site devoted to the study of women and gender in the ancient world.