Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, ed. Gilbert Murray, 1

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Ἰφιγένεια

Πέλοψ ὁ Ταντάλειος ἐς Πῖσαν μολὼν
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θοαῖσιν ἵπποις Οἰνομάου γαμεῖ κόρην,

ἐξ ἧς Ἀτρεὺς ἔβλαστεν· Ἀτρέως δὲ παῖς

Μενέλαος Ἀγαμέμνων τε· τοῦ δʼ ἔφυν ἐγώ

τῆς Τυνδαρείας θυγατρὸς Ἰφιγένεια παῖς,
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ἣν ἀμφὶ δίναις ἃς θάμʼ Εὔριπος πυκναῖς

αὔραις ἑλίσσων κυανέαν ἅλα στρέφει,

ἔσφαξεν Ἑλένης οὕνεχʼ, ὡς δοκεῖ, πατὴρ

Ἀρτέμιδι κλειναῖς ἐν πτυχαῖσιν Αὐλίδος.

ἐνταῦθα γὰρ δὴ χιλίων ναῶν στόλον
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Ἑλληνικὸν συνήγαγʼ Ἀγαμέμνων ἄναξ,

τὸν καλλίνικον στέφανον Ἰλίου θέλων

λαβεῖν Ἀχαιοῖς τούς θʼ ὑβρισθέντας γάμους

Ἑλένης μετελθεῖν, Μενέλεῳ χάριν φέρων.

δεινῆς δʼ ἀπλοίας πνευμάτων τε τυγχάνων,
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ἐς ἔμπυρʼ ἦλθε, καὶ λέγει Κάλχας τάδε·

ὦ τῆσδʼ ἀνάσσων Ἑλλάδος στρατηγίας,

Ἀγάμεμνον, οὐ μὴ ναῦς ἀφορμίσῃ χθονός,

πρὶν ἂν κόρην σὴν Ἰφιγένειαν Ἄρτεμις

λάβῃ σφαγεῖσαν· ὅ τι γὰρ ἐνιαυτὸς τέκοι
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κάλλιστον, ηὔξω φωσφόρῳ θύσειν θεᾷ.

παῖδʼ οὖν ἐν οἴκοις σὴ Κλυταιμήστρα δάμαρ

τίκτει — τὸ καλλιστεῖον εἰς ἔμʼ ἀναφέρων —

ἣν χρή σε θῦσαι. καί μʼ Ὀδυσσέως τέχναις

μητρὸς παρείλοντʼ ἐπὶ γάμοις Ἀχιλλέως.
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ἐλθοῦσα δʼ Αὐλίδʼ ἡ τάλαινʼ ὑπὲρ πυρᾶς

μεταρσία ληφθεῖσʼ ἐκαινόμην ξίφει·

ἀλλʼ ἐξέκλεψεν ἔλαφον ἀντιδοῦσά μου

Ἄρτεμις Ἀχαιοῖς, διὰ δὲ λαμπρὸν αἰθέρα

πέμψασά μʼ ἐς τήνδʼ ᾤκισεν Ταύρων χθόνα,
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οὗ γῆς ἀνάσσει βαρβάροισι βάρβαρος

Θόας, ὃς ὠκὺν πόδα τιθεὶς ἴσον πτεροῖς

ἐς τοὔνομʼ ἦλθε τόδε ποδωκείας χάριν.

ναοῖσι δʼ ἐν τοῖσδʼ ἱερέαν τίθησί με·

ὅθεν νόμοισι τοῖσιν ἥδεται θεὰ
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Ἄρτεμις, ἑορτῆς, τοὔνομʼ ἧς καλὸν μόνον —

τὰ δʼ ἄλλα σιγῶ, τὴν θεὸν φοβουμένη —

θύω γὰρ ὄντος τοῦ νόμου καὶ πρὶν πόλει,

ὃς ἂν κατέλθῃ τήνδε γῆν Ἕλλην ἀνήρ.

κατάρχομαι μέν, σφάγια δʼ ἄλλοισιν μέλει
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ἄρρητʼ ἔσωθεν τῶνδʼ ἀνακτόρων θεᾶς.

Iphigenia in Tauris. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις (Greek) (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. II. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. (Reprinted 1921-1962))

Translations (3)

Iphigenia Among the Tauri Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891. (Modernized by Perseus.)) — 1 focus

On the sea-shore, in the Tauric Chersonese, near a temple of Artemis.

Iphigenia

Pelops, son of Tantalus, coming to Pisa with swift horses, married Oenomaus’ daughter, and she gave birth to Atreus, whose children are Menelaus and Agamemnon; from him I was born,
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his child Iphigenia, by the daughter of Tyndareus. Where Euripus rolls about its whirlpools in the frequent winds and twists the darkening waves, my father sacrificed me to Artemis for Helen’s sake, or so he thought, in the famous clefts of Aulis .
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For there lord Agamemnon mustered his expedition of a thousand ships of Hellas , wanting to take the crown of Troy in glorious victory and avenge the outrage to Helen’s marriage, doing this favor for Menelaus.
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But when he met with dreadful winds that would not let him sail, he went to burnt sacrifices, and Calchas had this to say: Lord and general of Hellas , Agamemnon, you will not set free your ships from land until Artemis has your daughter Iphigenia
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as a victim. For you once vowed to sacrifice to the torch-bearing goddess the most beautiful creature brought forth that year; then your wife, Clytemnestra, bore a child in your house—ascribing the prize of beauty to me—whom you must sacrifice. And by the craft of Odysseus,
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they took me from my mother, pretending a marriage with Achilles. I came to Aulis ; held up high over the altar, I, the unhappy one, was about to die by the sword; but Artemis gave the Achaeans a deer in exchange for me and stole me from them; conducting me through the bright air,
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she settled me here in the land of the Taurians. A barbarian rules this land of barbarians: Thoas, who runs as quickly as the flight of birds, and so he received his name for his swiftness of foot. Artemis has made me the priestess in this temple.
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Here I begin the rites, which the goddess delights in, of a banquet noble in name only—I am silent as to the rest, for I fear the goddess— for I sacrifice, by a custom of the city established earlier, any Hellene who comes to this land.
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But others carry out the sacrifices, not to be spoken of, within the temple of the goddess.
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Iphigenia in Tauris (OCR draft) Experimental (Iphigenia in Tauris. Robert Potter's English verse translation, first published in 1781–1783; text from the 1808 Oxford printing.)

No corresponding passage available

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1845; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 2, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1845. Harvard OCR compared with an independent BSB copy. Native Donner verse citations, Murray reference cards, explicitly located notes and page facsimiles. Unresolved OCR, verse divisions, unlocated notes and printed errata are documented in the source review.) — 1 focus

Pelops, der Tantalide, kam in Pisa's Aun¹²³
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Mit schnellen Rossen, und gewann Hippodame;

Sie ward des Atreus Mutter: Atreus' Sohne sind

Menelaos und Agamemnon; dieser zeugte mich,

Der Tyndaride Tochter, Iphigenia,
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Die bei den Strudeln, wo mit endlos düsterm Hauch

Euripos krauselnd ewig thurmt die blaue Flut,⁴

Der Vater wegen Helena's der Artemis,

So glaubt man, opfert' in Aulis' hochberühmter Bucht.

Dort war es, wo der tausend Schiffe Zug vordem
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Aus Hellas' Reich Fürst Agamemnon sammelte,

Damit des Sieges schönen Kranz vor Ilion

Das Volk Achaa's sich erkampf und Helena's

Entehrtes Lager råche nach Menelaos' Wunsch.

Doch als in grauser Stille rings verstummt der Wind,⁵
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Da bringt er Opfer, und vor ihm spricht Kalchas dies:

,,Du, der gebeut hier über Hellas' Heeresmacht,

Agamemnon, eher segelt dir kein Schiff hinaus,

Als Artemis zum Opfer Iphigenia,

Dein Kind, empfangen; denn die schönste Frucht des Jahrs
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Gelobtest du der Strahlengsttin einst zu weihn.

Und nun gebar im Hause Klytamnestra dir

Die Tochter: (also gab er mir der Schöne Preis;)

Sie mußt du schlachten." Und Odysseus' Trug entriß

Zum Bund mit Peleus' Sohne mich der Mutter Arm.
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Und als ich kam gen Aulis, ward (ich Elende!)

Auf hohem Holzstoß über mir der Stahl gezuckt:

Doch mich entraffte Leto's Kind, an meiner Statt

Die Hindin sendend, durch des Aethers lichten Raum,

Und ließ mich hier im Taurerlande nieder, wo
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Barbarenhorden ein Barbar Geseze schreibt,

Der, Flügeln gleich, die raschen Füße schwingt, und dem

Den Namen Thoas seine Schnelligkeit verlieh.⁶

In diesem Tempel sezt er mich als Priesterin,

Hier, wo sich Gottin Artemis der Bräuche freut
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Des Festes, welches schon allein von Namen ist;

Vom Andern schweig' ich, scheuend sie, die Göttliche.

Denn opfern muß ich, nach der Stadt uraltem Brauch,

Wer aus Achda's Volke dieses Land betritt.

Doch weih' ich nur das Opfer; Andre dann vollziehn⁷
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Die grause Schlachtung innerhalb des Heiligthums.

Notes on the current edition

Iphigenia in Tauris

τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα

Ἰφιγένεια

Ὀρέστης

Πυλάδης

Χορός

Βουκόλος

Θόας

Ἄγγελος

Ἀθήνα

Euripides Iphigenia in Tauris 1

ed. Gilbert Murray

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