Difference between revisions of "Ifigenia in Aulide (Antonio Caldara)"

The Greek army, which had been prepared to sail against Troy under the command of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, was held up for several months in the harbour of Aulis by adverse winds. They called upon the oracle of Diana, and the soothsayer Chalchas replied that they would never sail to Troy unless the wrath of Diana was appeased by the death and sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of King Agamemnon. This sacrifice is one of the most famous events reported by the poets, who, however, have recounted it very differently. Some have asserted that truly Iphigenia was sacrificed. So did Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and others. Some have been of the opinion that Diana, moved by pity, had abducted her at the point of the sacrifice from the hands of Chalchas and taken her to Tauride, so that instead of her a hind or other animal was killed. Euripides shows that he too was of this sentiment and Ovid mentions it in his Metamorphoses. Finally, others have written that an Iphigenia was really sacrificed, which wasn't the daughter of Agamemnon, but a daughter of Helen, born in secret of Theseus, before she became the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, to whom she never confided this secret and first marriage with Theseus; and consequently she kept the birth of this Iphigenia of hers hidden from him and from everybody, who had her raised under another name; and I give her that of Elisena.

The Greek army, which had been prepared to sail against Troy under the command of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, was held up for several months in the harbour of Aulis by adverse winds. They called upon the oracle of Diana, and the soothsayer Chalchas replied that they would never sail to Troy unless the wrath of Diana was appeased by the death and sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of King Agamemnon. This sacrifice is one of the most famous events reported by the poets, who, however, have recounted it very differently. Some have asserted that truly Iphigenia was sacrificed. So did Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and others. Some have been of the opinion that Diana, moved by pity, had abducted her at the point of the sacrifice from the hands of Chalchas and taken her to Tauride, so that instead of her a hind or other animal was killed. Euripides shows that he too was of this sentiment and Ovid mentions it in his Metamorphoses. Finally, others have written that an Iphigenia was really sacrificed, which wasn't the daughter of Agamemnon, but a daughter of Helen, born in secret of Theseus, before she became the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, to whom she never confided this secret and first marriage with Theseus; and consequently she kept the birth of this Iphigenia of hers hidden from him and from everybody, who had her raised under another name; and I give her that of Elisena.

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