Iphigenia in Tauris

About the book

"Iphigenia in Tauris" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is a verse drama written between 1779-1786, reworking Euripides' ancient Greek tragedy. Iphigenia serves as priestess to Diana on Tauris, saved from sacrifice by her father Agamemnon yet imprisoned by exile and longing for Greece. When King Thoas demands marriage, she refuses—but her refusal threatens to revive human sacrifice. Two Greek strangers arrive: her brother Orestes, cursed for murdering their mother, and his friend Pylades. Neither recognizes the other, yet their fates intertwine as an oracle's cryptic message drives them toward collision.