Nicholas Rudall
Euripides's Iphigenia and the Downfall of Athens
GETTY VILLA
Auditorium
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were each inspired to write about the Trojan War. Euripides wrote Iphigenia in Aulis shortly before the defeat of Athens in 404 BC. Fifty years earlier, amid the euphoria of the city's cultural and political achievements, Aeschylus wrote a different play about the same conflict. Translator Nicholas Rudall examines classical drama, the different interpretations of the Agamemnon story, and how these plays reflected life in ancient Athens.
