Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Iphigenia.
The gallery
The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (Pompeii fresco)
Unknown (Roman wall-painter), Before AD 79
A Fourth Style fresco from Pompeii (Naples, MAN inv. 9112) stages the Aulis sacrifice: Iphigenia carried toward the altar while Agamemnon turns away and Artemis prepares the deer that will take her place. The wall-painting preserves the Euripidean hinge of the Trojan War — the daughter whose blood buys the winds for Troy. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, c. 1757
Tiepolo's airy Venetian oil fills the altar with priests, soldiers, and the pale princess at the centre of the rite. Iphigenia is the price Agamemnon pays so the fleet can sail — the sacrifice that Clytemnestra will never forgive. Oil on canvas.
Pylades and Orestes Brought as Victims before Iphigenia
Benjamin West, 1766
West's National Gallery canvas turns to Iphigenia in Tauris: the priestess of Artemis faces the two Greek strangers she must sacrifice, not yet knowing one is her brother Orestes. The painting freezes Euripides' recognition drama — the sister Artemis saved at Aulis, now almost the instrument of a second family blood-debt. Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.
The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Gabriel-François Doyen, c. 1749–1760
Doyen's French baroque composition crowds the Aulis shore with the stalled fleet, the altar, and Iphigenia as the chosen victim. The canvas makes visible the war's first cost: a princess offered so Helen's husband and his brother can sail. Oil on canvas.
The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Jan Steen, c. 1671
Steen's Dutch history painting stages the altar at Aulis with the princess, the knife, and the watching army. Iphigenia appears as the tragic hinge between household and war — the daughter whose death (or divine rescue) opens the road to Troy. Oil on canvas.
On screen
Iphigenia
Michalis Cacoyannis
Cacoyannis' Euripides film is the Aulis sacrifice itself: Iphigenia walking toward the altar so the fleet can sail for Troy.
Helen of Troy
John Kent Harrison
The USA Network miniseries keeps the Aulis episode in view — Iphigenia as the price Agamemnon pays before Helen's war begins.
In music & on stage
Iphigénie en Aulide
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Gluck's first Iphigenia opera is the sacrifice at Aulis: the daughter, the stalled winds, and the father who must choose the war.
Iphigénie en Tauride
Christoph Willibald Gluck
The sequel finds Iphigenia alive as priestess in Tauris — the sister who almost sacrifices the brother she does not yet know.
Iphigénie en Tauride
Niccolò Piccinni
Piccinni's rival Tauris opera keeps Iphigenia as Artemis's priestess — the sister who must choose between Greek strangers and the goddess's altar.
In play
Iphigenia in Aulis
Euripides
Euripides' Aulis play is the sacrifice itself — Iphigenia walking to the altar so the fleet can sail for Troy.
Iphigenia in Tauris
Euripides
The sequel finds Iphigenia alive in Tauris as priestess — almost the instrument of her brother Orestes' death before recognition saves them.
Iphigenia in Tauris
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe's verse drama humanizes the Tauris priestess — Iphigenia as Enlightenment conscience who will not sacrifice the strangers.
The Songs of the Kings
Barry Unsworth
Unsworth retells the Aulis crisis as modern spin and scapegoating — Iphigenia still the price the kings demand before Troy.