Politics of Myth in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and Bacchae

By analyzing the two latest of the extant Euripides’ tragedies, the article addresses two interdependent questions: the possibility to perceive an internal structural unity within a dramatic trilogy lacking a unifying plot, and the role of political context in constructing such a dramatic unity. The investigation of the motif structure of Bacchae and Iphigenia in Aulis (as well as the reconstruction of the contents of the third part of the trilogy, Alcmaeon in Corinth) demonstrates that they are connected by the key themes of preserving/breaking the philia and being true to one’s kin. Although these themes could be treated as rather general, they might also allude to contemporary political events. More specifically, the motif and lexical parallels to Aristophanes’ Frogs (performed within the same year) reveal some possible references to the idea of restoring the exiled participants of the 411 BC oligarchic coup, which was passionately debated at that time. However, in contrast to Aristophanes, Euripides seems to treat it in a much more ambivalent way.

Keywords

Aristophanes, Euripides, tragedy, comedy, political context, motif structure, dramatic unity

Acknowledgment

Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation grant no. 075-15-2020-908

Received

15.09.2021

Publication date

16.09.2021

Number of characters

37947

Cite

GOST	Grintser N. Politics of Myth in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and Bacchae // Vestnik drevnei istorii – 2021. – V. 81. – Issue 3 C. 577-589 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/vdi/s032103910011586-7-1-en (circulation date: 25.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S032103910011586-7
MLA	Grintser, Nikolay "Politics of Myth in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and Bacchae." Vestnik drevnei istorii 81.3 (2021):577-589. DOI: 10.31857/S032103910011586-7
APA	Grintser N. (2021). Politics of Myth in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis and Bacchae. Vestnik drevnei istorii 81(3), pp.577-589 DOI: 10.31857/S032103910011586-7

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 824

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Arnott, W.G. 1991: A lesson from the Frogs. Greece and Rome 38/1, 18–23.

2. Belfiore, E.S. 2000: Murder among Friends: Violations of Philia in Greek Tragedy. Oxford.

3. Blundell, M.W. 1991: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies: A Study in Sophocles and Greek Ethics. Cambridge.

4. Chantry, M. (ed.) 2001: Scholia in Aristophanem. Pars III. Fasc. 1b. Scholia recentiora in Aristophanis Ranas. Groningen.

5. Dover, K. (ed.) 1993: Aristophanes. Frogs. Oxford.

6. Foley, H.P. 2019: Ritual Irony: Poetry and Sacrifice in Euripides. Ithaca–London.

7. Friesen, C.J.R. 2015: Reading Dionysus: Euripides’ Bacchae and the Cultural Contestations of Greeks, Jews, Romans, and Christians. (Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum, 95). Tübingen.

8. Griffiths, E.M. 2020: Children in Greek Tragedy: Pathos and Potential. Oxford.

9. Grintser, N.P. «Ifigeniya v Avlide» – tragediya imeni. V sb.: I.S. Smirnov (red.), Klassika… i ne tol'ko. Nine Vladimirovne Braginskoj. (Orientalia et classica, 33). M., 2010. 19–47.

10. Karamanou, I. 2016: Family reunion or household disaster? Exploring plot diversity in Euripides’ last production. In: D. Stuttard (ed.), Looking at Bacchae. London, 43–58.

11. Karamanou, I. (ed.) 2017: Euripides. Alexandros. Introduction, Text and Commentary. Berlin–Boston.

12. Karamanou, I. 2019: Refiguring Tragedy: Studies in Plays Preserved in Fragments and Their Reception. Berlin–Boston.

13. McDonald, M. 1989: Vengeance is mine, II. 877–81: Philia gone awry in the chorus of Euripides’ Bacchae. In: Proceedings of the Third International Meeting of Ancient Greek Drama. Athens, 41–50.

14. McDonald, M. 1990: Iphigenia’s ‘philia’: motivation in Euripides’ “Iphigenia at Aulis”. Quaderni urbinati di cultura classica 34/1, 69–84.

15. Mendicino, K. 2015: The professional mourner and singer of spells. A diachronic approach to Euripides’ Bacchae. In: J.M. González (ed.), Diachrony: Diachronic Studies of Ancient Greek Literature and Culture. Berlin–Boston, 181–212.

16. Nagy, G. 1985: Theognis and Megara: a poet’s vision of his city. In: T.J. Figueira, G. Nagy (eds.), Theognis of Megara: Poetry and the Polis. Baltimore, 22–81.

17. Nikolsky, B. 2009: La philia dionysiaque dans le Cyclope d’Euripide. Gaia 12, 123–131.

18. Nikolsky, B. 2015: Misery and Forgiveness in Euripides: Meaning and Structure in the Hippolytus. Swansea, 2015.

19. Nikol'skij, B.M. «Ifigeniya v Tavride» Evripida i vneshnyaya politika Afin. Shagi / Steps 3/4, 2017. 107–127.

20. O’Connor-Visser, E. 1987: Aspects of Human Sacrifice in the Tragedies of Euripides. Amsterdam.

21. Perris, S. 2011: Perspectives on violence in Euripides’ “Bacchae”. Mnemosyne 64/1, 37–57.

22. Rochelle, P. 2012: Using and Abusing Children in Greek Tragedy. PhD diss. The Open University. URL: http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/54661; data obrascheniya: 17.05.2021.

23. Rosen, R.M. 2015: Reconsidering the reperformance of Aristophanes’ Frogs. In: A. Lamari (ed.), Reperformances of Drama in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries BC: Authors and Contexts. (Trends in Classics, 7/2). Berlin–Boston, 237–256.

24. Said, S. 1983: Concorde et civilisation dans les Eumenides. In: Théatre et spectacles dans l’antiquité. Actes du Colloque de Strabourg, 5–7 de novembre, 1981. Leiden, 115–126.

25. Salviat, F. 1989: La deuxième représentation des Grenouilles: la faute d’Adeimantos, Cléophon et le deuil de l’hirondelle. In: R. Etienne, M.T. Le Dinahet, M. Yon (eds.), Architecture et poésie dans le monde grec. Hommage à Georges Roux. Lyon, 171–183.

26. Schein, S.L. 1990: Philia in Euripides’ Medea. In: M. Griffith, D.J. Mastronarde (eds.), Cabinet of the Muses: Essays on Classical and Comparative Literature in Honor of Thomas G. Rosenmeyer. Atlanta, 57–73.

27. Schein, S.L. 2016: The language of wisdom in Sophokles’ Philoktetes and Euripides’ Bacchae. In: P. Kyriakou, A. Rengakos (eds.), Wisdom and Folly in Euripides. Berlin–Boston, 257–273.

28. Simmons, R. 2006: Reflections of a Crisis of Athenian Leadership in Euripides’ Last Plays. PhD diss. University of Iowa.

29. Sommerstein, A.H. 2009: Talking about Laughter and Other Studies in Greek Comedy. Oxford.

30. Tsitsibakou-Vasalos, E. 2007: Ancient Poetic Etymology. The Pelopids: Fathers and Sons. Stuttgart.

31. Torrance, I. 2017: Iphigenia at Aulis. In: L. McLure (ed.), A Companion to Euripides. Chichester, 284–297.

32. Tzanetou, A. 1997: Patterns of Exile in Greek Tragedy. PhD diss. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

33. Vahtikari, V. 2014: Tragedy Performances Outside Athens in the Late Fifth and the Fourth Centuries BC. Helsinki.

34. Versnel, H. 1990: Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion. Vol. I. Ter Unus. Isis, Dionysos, Hermes. Three Studies in Henotheism. Leiden.