#iphigeneia

[tangoboheme]

The Mycenaean Royal Family

[girlfromenglishclass]

"Iphigeneia and Antigone are sensationally significant victims: Iphigeneia's sacrifice is the lynchpin of all that happens to Agamemnon afterwards; Antigone's death is the transcendent culmination of Sophokles' play. The deaths change the stories in which they are set, transform the lives around them and force moral reasoning to an extreme confrontation with itself.

Polyxena's death is different. It is not placed at the beginning or the end of the play but muffled in the middle; does not constitute either cause or culmination of the action; it does not change the plot or other people in any substantial way, and it forces us to no moral conclusion at all except that such a sacrifice is irrelevant to the world in which it is staged.

Polyxena is a shooting star that wipes itself across the play and disappears. And Euripides wants us to notice this -- this irrelevance of Polyxena.

- Anne Carson, in the preface to "Hekabe," from Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides

[dykeganseythethird]

@mothercain as iphigeneia

[transbutchblues]

Clytemnestra: I crawl into bed, my ghost child beside me. I dread the nights because she comes to torture me with her eyes of muck and the blood spilling from the gash to her throat as if it was cut a second ago. And her fury, you’d think it would split the walls as she howls out the injustice, that I am still here and will not come to her though she has begged me, that she will wait no longer, that she will come to me. And I believe none of these things and still they happen.

Girl on an Altar, Marina Carr

[inthefades]

alicent and otto hightower as ifigeneia and agamemnon

The fathers of myth, the myth of the fathers: Euripides and Kierkegaard by Bruna Giacomini (2010) / House of the Dragon (2022-) / Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain / Iphigenie (1871) by Anselm Feuerbach / Oresteia by Aeschylus / Iphigeneia (1977) Dir. Michael Cacoyannis

[elefsina]

"At the temple in Brauron, Artemis' followers worshipped her as a goddess of protection during childbirth and of female children until puberty. Women who traveled from afar to make offerings to Artemis at Brauron for protection during childbirth would dedicate prized possessions to the goddess as well as a set of clothing upon successful birth. Gems, mirrors and rings have been recovered from the spring and the stream at Brauron, which shows the importance that was placed on the help Artemis could give in this matter. Interestingly, the clothes of women who died in childbirth were offered to Iphigeneia, at a shrine which was near the main temple at Brauron."

Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun, Moon & Hunt by Sorita D'Este

[punkfistfights]

klytaimnḗstrā in mykē̂nai

[a-ramblinrose]

“She comes to meet death, To stain the altar of the goddess, To hold her girl-throat Toward the knife-thrust.”

― Euripides, from 'Iphigeneia in Aulis' (translated by H.D.)

[russenoire]

“If he had to do that, he might never press the button!” well, yeah. that's... the point.

the interesting thing here is that artemis would likely not have asked this of agamemnon if he hadn't killed a deer in her sacred forest before setting sail for troy. he fucked up and she made him pay for it by demanding he sacrifice one of his daughters (by way of the seer calchas).

in middle school during my Intense Greek Mythology Phase, Artemis was, as you can likely guess, my best girl. Iphigenia was my OTHER best girl. Yes at the same time.

The story of Iphigenia always gets to me when it's not presented as a story of Artemis being capricious and having arbitrary rules about where you can and can't hunt, but instead, making a point about war.

Artemis was, among other things--patron of hunting, wild places, the moon, singlehood--the protector of young girls. That's a really important aspect she was worshipped as: she protected girls and young women. But she was the one who demanded Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter in order for his fleet to be able to sail on for Troy.

There's no contradiction, though, when it's framed as, Artemis making Agamemnon face what he’s doing to the women and children of Troy. His children are not in danger. His son will not be thrown off the ramparts, his daughters will not be taken captive as sex slaves and dragged off to foreign lands, his wife will not have to watch her husband and brothers and children killed. Yet this is what he’s sailing off to Troy to inevitably do. That’s what happens in war. He’s going to go kill other people’s daughters; can he stand to do that to his own? As long as the answer is no—he can kill other people’s children, but not his own—he can’t sail off to war.

Which casts Artemis is a fascinating light, compared to the other gods of the Trojan War. The Trojan War is really a squabble of pride and insults within the Olympian family; Eris decided to cause problems on purpose, leaving Aphrodite smug and Hera and Athena snubbed, and all of this was kinda Zeus’s fault in the first place for not being able to keep it in his pants. And out of this fight mortal men were their game pieces and mortal cities their prizes in restoring their pride. And if hundreds of people die and hundred more lives are ruined, well, that’s what happens when gods fight. Mortals pay the price for gods’ whims and the gods move on in time and the mortals don’t and that’s how it is.

And women especially—Zeus wanted Leda, so he took her. Paris wanted Helen, so he took her. There’s a reason “the Trojan women” even since ancient times were the emblems of victims of a war they never wanted, never asked for, and never had a say in choosing, but was brought down on their heads anyway.

Artemis, in the way of gods, is still acting through human proxies. But it seems notable to me to cast her as the one god to look at the destruction the war is about to wreak on people, and challenge Agamemnon: are you ready to kill innocents? Kill children? Destroy families, leave grieving wives and mothers? Are you? Prove it.

It reminds me of that idea about nuclear codes, the concept of implanting the key in the heart of one of the Oval Office staffers who holds the briefcase, so the president would have to stab a man with a knife to get the key to launch the nukes. “That’s horrible!,” it’s said the response was. “If he had to do that, he might never press the button!” And it’s interesting to see Artemis offering Agamemnon the same choice. You want to burn Troy? Kill your own daughter first. Show me you understand what it means that you’re about to do.

[tangoboheme]

could you draw Clytemnestra?

Of course :)

[bottegapowerpoint]

Bertholet Flemalle, The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia.

[katerinaaqu]

Wait did Odysseus really get like insulted as sisyphus' bastard son is like he related to that guy who tried tricking death twice

Yes it appears so. In many plays like Sophocles or Eurypedes, characters who dislike him or wish to offend him seem to be calling him "Son of Sisyphus" and het the chorus always chants him as "Son of Laertes" which I find it interesting so it seems to me more like a rumor or an insult for him rather than his real heritage.

As I answred to another amazing ask by @autumn0689 in the past here It is a very interesting subject. So forgive me for the length!

For starters Odysseus is being insulted as a bastard, an illegitimate son. As I answered to the amazing ask by @leynaeithnea about illegitimate children here being illegitimate was a source of shame on its own. I mean even nowadays to call someone "You bastard!" is an insult. Back then it ran even deeper because being an insult of one's heritage (since they believed nobility runs in blood especially the Athenian writers that imposed this). Odysseus is technically a king to mention that as a king he is not legitimate son is like saying he has no right to his position; that he is not even supposed to be there; that he is not worth of it. They also indirectly insult his family as well; Laertes has no legitimate son, his wife was disloyal to him and had a child with another man and Laertes chose to take that child as his own. Calling Odysseus "bastard of Sisyphus" is basically an insult to his entire famiy (thus me making Odysseus go mad at Philoctetes in my random story here

And as I answered to the previous ask it all melts down to who is Sisyphus; a sinner, someone who cheated on the gods twice, someone that as you said cheated on death himself and now he is being punished eternally. Sisyphus was in a way used as the embodiment of human arrogance, shame and example for punishment. They basically call Odysseus the bastard son of the most sinful man. That was to insult him by the way Odysseus too often uses indirect methods to achieve his goals. They basically say "the apple fell under the apple tree". Odysseus cannot be the spawn of a possible Argonaut. He must be the child of a sinful person given how he is not the ideal warrior for his time. Indirectly or not they were saying that Odysseus was the embodiment of trickery, of human arrogance and of someone that will mock even the gods to achieve his goals (ironically that is not the case at least with Homeric hero as we know he was one of the most pious to the gods among his peers -praised by Zeus himself- despite him being known for his great hubris to Poseidon) Another thing him being accused as son of Sisyphus does is to diminish his godly line. Anticlea, his mother, is the grandaughter of Hermes in many sources. Once again Odysseus cannot be possibly sharing his bloodline with the gods! He must be the spawn of something sinful! Thus again the insult.

So far the worst mention of it I have heard was in "Philoctetes", where Philoctetes is so furious at Odysseus that not only does he say he is the illegitimate son of Sisyphus but he takes it a step further and insinuates that Sisyphus sold Odysseus to Laertes. So not only does he call Odysseus the illegitimate spawn of a sinner and a result of adultery but he also says that Odysseus is not worth more than the average slave, given how Laertes buys him from his father for money. But again what intrigues me is that the choir around still calls him "Son of Laertes". Even when Menelaus calls him "son of Sisyphus" in "Iphigeneia en Aulis" the choir still calls him "Son of Laeretes". So it seems more like a rumor or an insult among his peers rather than an actual irrefutable fact.

Hahaha I have come to the conclusion that at this point "Son of Sisyphus" means "son of a bitch" really! XD

For Odysseus himself being called basically a "cockroach that refuses to die" might as well be almost like a compliment and in many cases he has spoken as if he doesn't care for other people hating him (for example in Philoctetes he mentions how he can be literally anything the situation calls for) but I have to be honest by the ideals of his time I do not think he would like it. That would imply not only that his blood is impure but also that he is not equal to the others, that he is not worth to be at their presence and let's face it no one likes the prostect of their own family being dragged to the mud. Odysseus himself doesn't seem always affected by talk on the surface (in Philoctetes he even gives permission to Neoptolemous to do so in order to persuade Philoctetes to trust him) but judging by his reactions quite often when insulted, he explodes. So he is not entirely immune to insults. In fact it was one of these insults that made him explode his anger to Polyphemus and comit his blasphemy to Poseidon (and yes I have written something on that too! Hehehe)

Sorry if this was too long! I hope it helps!

[transbutchblues]

iphigeneia is so precious to me (i’m 1500 words into writing the scene of her sacrifice, from her pov. i need to read iphigeneia at aulis again tomorrow because i’ve been writing from memory and i know i made mistakes/forgot to include some ritual steps)

(also i know euripides says calchas is the one who holds the knife but for me it’ll always be agamemnon, it might not make sense but idc)

[siena-sevenwits]

So a herdsman just ran onstage saying basically, "My young mistress! Surprising news! Two nice young men just arrived onshore! They would certainly make a pleasant offering, a sacrifice to our goddess, Artemis! Come, Iphigeneia, quickly, prepare the rites for the blessing and their purification!"

... I feel like Iphigeneia was expecting that speech to go on differently when he told her there were two nice young men just arrived. As though the opening scene in Pride and Prejudice went like this:

MRS BENNET: My dear! Mr Bennet ! Wonderful news! Netherfield Park is let at last! By a single man of large fortune, my dear! He came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place. His name is Bingley, and he will be in possession by Michaelmas, and he has 5,000 a year! What a fine thing for our girls.

MR BENNET: How so? How can it affect them?

MRS BENNET: Oh, Mr Bennet , how can you be so tiresome? You must know that I’m thinking they might bring him to the altar as a sacrifice. To Artemis, naturally.

MR BENNET: So that is his design in settling here, to ritually spill his blood in a pleasant manner?

MRS BENNET: Design? Oh how can you talk such nonsense?

[catos-wound]

cato would pull an antigone: i can have another day to try to be stoic and virtuous but who can give me my brother