Artemis and the Furies in Euripides’ Iphigenia among the Taurians

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Euripides’ Iphigenia among the Taurians is surprisingly vague about the intentions of both Artemis and the Furies, despite their centrality to the plot. This paper argues (against most scholarship) that Euripides’ Artemis condones human sacrifice, though the Greek characters do not realize this, and the poet uses the story of Iphigenia to examine the social repercussions of a conflict between divine and mortal valuations of human life. As others have seen, the cult to be founded at Halae resolves this particular conflict—but without explaining how Orestes is saved from the Furies, which is only achieved through his voluntary submission to be killed.