Personal, paternal, patriotic: the threefold sacrifice of Iphigenia in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis

Abstract

In the IA, Iphigenia accepts to be sacrificed. This voluntary sacrifice must be interpreted as a result of her threefold motivation: personal, love for life; paternal, love for her father Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army which is about to sail to Troy; and patriotic, love for her country, the great Hellas, whose dignity and freedom Agamemnon and the army intend to defend. These three motives are interconnected and should not be considered separately. This is the principal Euripidean innovation with regard to the mythical and Aeshylean tradition of Iphigenia’s sacrifice. It allows us to reconsider the Aristotelian criticism concerning Iphigenia’s change of mind, and to restore the unity of her character.