"Pup nemoj zgazit - slast je gledat sunca sjaj -
I ne sili me, svijet pod zemljom da vidim!
Ja prva zvah te ocem, kćerkom mene ti;
Ta tebi prva koljenu priljubih se
I milovah te, a ti meni uzvrati."

Prvi deo Eshilove trilogije Orestija (Agamemnon), govori o Klitemnestrinom ubistvu muža. Čekala ga je 10 godina da se vrati kao slavni pobednik Trojanskog rata, a presudila mu sekirom isto veče. Vreme neke stvari ne leči - žrtvovanje ćerke Ifigenije je jedna od tih.

Euripid piše o tom događaju. Ifigenija je na prevaru dovedena u Aulidu, gde Artemida sprečava hiljade grčkih brodova da otplove za Troju, sve dok Agamemnon ne prinese najtežu žrtvu. Ali zašto? Zbog čega isto to Bog traži od Avrama? U čemu je fora takve žrtve, nije jasno ni nama a ni Grcima.
"I vojska je na okupu, u redu sva,
U Aulidi sjedimo, vjetra ni otkud,
U bijedi ovoj reče nama Kalhant vrač,
Kćer neka rođenu - da, Ifigeniju
Artemidi, što krajem vlada, žrtvujem,
I na put ćemo moći, zatrt Frižane."

Kralj najpre ne želi ("Jer kćerke ubit nikad neću moći ja"), ali se predomišlja i pristaje na grozno delo, iz kombinacije patriotizma (sve za Heladu) i kukavičluka ("Raspalit on će vojsku svu, Argivci tebe, mene će na zapovijed pogubit, zaklat kćer").

Tu je i Klitemnestra, koja je Ifigeniju dovela na lažno venčanje, a sad treba da je gleda kako umire. Porodična tragedija par ekselans. Na kraju, Euripid je ublažava - Ifigenija sama odlučuje da treba da umre, ljubi je tata - i ne samo to. Neposredno pre nego što joj mač na žrtvenom kamenu preseče vrat, u Euripidovoj verziji Artemida menja Ifigeniju košutom, a devojku odnosi sa sobom. Klitemnestri to izgleda nisu javili, otišla je da oštri sekiru.

"Čuj me, majko, što u misli meni dođe na pamet!
Mrijet odlučih, ali to baš slavno izvest želim ja -
Iz srca ću kinit svaki neplemenit osjećaj.
Na me svekolika velika sad gleda Helada,
I do mene stoji lađam' put, a propast Frižana.
Budu l' ubuduće ženam zasjedali barbari,
Više neće ih otimat iz sretne Helade,
Sve to moja smrt će spriječit, a slave će moje sjaj,
Jer slobodu Heladi izvojštih, dovijek sretno sjat.
Od tisuću žena vrijedi više jedan junak živ."

Festival grčke tragedije (za jednog gledaoca)
Otac u čitaocu ne želi da prepozna zašto je Agamemnon ovo učinio, ali ipak su delovi kad najpre objašnjava zašto NE, a onda i zašto DA, sjajni. Za razliku od Car Edipa, na primer, gde tragična sudbina junaka dolazi kao deo sudbine, ovde je tragedija posledica potpune slobodne volje junaka (kao i u Antigona, gde ona odlučuje da sahrani brata, uprkos svemu).

I tako, Euripid se probija na drugo mesto. A tek sledi Medea.

1. Car Edip (Sofokle)
2. Iphigenia in Aulis (Euripid)
3. Agamemnon (Eshil)
4. Antigona (Sofokle)
5. Eumenides (Eshil)
6. Bahantkinje (Euripid)
7. The Libation Bearers (Pokajnice - Eshil)
8. Oedipus at Colonus (Sofokle)

Agamemnon a menace

This is opera material.

My first Euripides and it was beautiful :)

A play about a family coming to terms with a horrible fate, a king having to sacrifice his own daughter for the sake of his country.
It would be unfair of me to rate this play, since I'm no expert on Greek tragedies and the standards/criteria by which to judge them, nor the Trojan war, as well as the play being an unfinished work by Euripides.
However, I found the argumentation between the characters extremely poor, and the ending too happy for a tragedy. Nevertheless, the play is written beautifully. There certainly are many moving passages. One could easily sympathise with the anguish and grief of the king Agamemnon, and even go as far as to justify his ways of his lying as means of coping with the situation. After all, he is a human, no one is perfect. Him trying to conceal his actions from his family, using other people as pawns, was, according to his calculations, for the greater good.

Ifigênia é levada para o acampamento dos gregos em Áulis, feliz da vida achando que seu pai Agamemnon a dará em casamento ao famoso guerreiro Aquiles, mas isso não passa de uma mentira para atrai-la ao seu pérfido destino.
As tropas já estão paradas a meses sem seguir viagem pois não há ventos. Um oráculo pede o sacrifício da filha de Agamemnon para deusa Artemis, afim de atrair bons ventos e sorte na batalha.

In this tragedy, there is a dilemma, Agamemnon and Menelaus are preparing to sail to rescue Helen, Menelaus' wife. But, the oracle told that Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, that is arriving for that, without her knowing, thinking she is there to marry Achilles.

Clytemnestra discovers her husband plan, and tell Achilles to the rescue.

Euripides on this play, is a bit skeptical about the greek gods (As Clytemnestra says "If the gods exist, they surely will support your righteous stand. Otherwise, why bother with anything at all?").

Iphigenia is the courageous one, and accepts her "fate" of being sacrified at Artemis Temple. After Iphigenia is about to leave, it seems Euripides dies, and probably his son takes over on an odd finish to the play.

Another Great tragedy by Euripides! I loved it so much!

This episode in the house of Atreus is powerful indeed. Is the morally torn cast desperate and defenseless in the face of the will of the Gods? Or are they complacent and cowardly? A terribly strong antiwar statement, even if this particular translation feels a little clunky.

I've always preferred the Sophoclean and Aeschylan versions to the Euripidian one not just because I consider the former two, especially Sophocles, wrote it much better but also because of the ending, as unlike the other tragedians, Euripides changed the ending to have Iphigenia survive the sacrifice. That, to me, took away from the tragedy of it all. The sheer unfairness of the sacrifice, the difficult decision Agamemnon has to make that'll cost him his marriage and the enmity of his wife, the hatred and justification for Clytemnestra to murder her husband, Electra's blind love for her father, etc., lose their punch if it turns out Iphigenia was saved on the last minute and spirited away to the Taurians. The whole curse on the House of Atreus also reads diminished. Even the "One man's life is worth ten thousand lives of women" line Einhorn talks a bit about in the afterword has far more impact when Iphigenia actually dies, I would think.

Euripides liked to subvert and go against the grain, but he didn't always consider the bigger picture when writing his retellings with a twist, methinks, and he often didn't care for consistency and avoiding contradictions. Einhorn tries to make more sense of this interpretation of Iphigenia's story by adapting Euripides' play to get an emphasis on Iphigenia's going from sacrifice to willing martyrdom on her part, as it says on the afterword. He's made the play simpler in language, more fluid to read, and more accessible, pairing his translation with illustrations by Eric Shanower, who did the "Age of Bronze" adaptation of the Iliad.

I don't think this works so well as an illustrated version of the play, basically a picture book adaptation, because this work is one of those that are better "seen" than "read." There's a stage play of Einhorn's translation already, so for a book version it would've worked much better to have this be a graphic novel like "Age of Bronze," instead of having illustrations inserted here and there, sometimes superfluously so. Besides, the illustrations are too similar in overall appearance to Shanower's other work, with the same buxom females with too perfect features that look like they have make up on. It doesn't add pathos or gravity to the scenes, and can be distracting. I have seen Greek epics at the theatre, and they're an experience for the senses that the written text can't transmit no matter the quality of the artwork.

I received an ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Swedish edition (Tord Bæckström) 1965.
King Agamemnon in big trouble - he has agreed to sacrifice his daughter Ifigenia to the gods as the oracle demands, so that his war ships finally will gain some wind and get going, but he regrets it. Can he take back the promise without anyone knowing and get away with it? Agony and betrayal.
A tragedy that ends with some hope for Ifigenia. However, the king and warlords are all happy in the end and can finally go fighting Troy. One part of the greek tragedies need to be read (or play seen) as one of backgrounds to Odyssey.

Iphigenia: Te-avânți pe-o cale lungă, tată, și mă lași.
Agamemnon: Vom fi cândva iar impreună, fata mea.
Iphigenia: Ia-mă, dacă se cade, cu tine pe corăbii.
Agamemnon: Vei traversa și tu o apă, cu gândul îndreptat spre mine.
Iphigenia: Cu mama laolaltă sau singură pluti-voi?
Agamemnon: Doar singură, desprinsă de tată și de mamă.
Iphigenia: Deci, tată, mă vei așeza în altă vatră?