Euripides, along was Sophocles and Aeschylus, is responsible for the rise of Greek tragedy. It was in the 5th Century BC, during the height of Greece's cultural bloom, that Euripides lived and worked. Of his roughly ninety-two plays, only seventeen tragedies survive. Both ridiculed and lauded during his life, Euripides now stands as an innovator of the Greek drama. Here, in «Iphigenia Among the Taurians» is an escape play with a familiar cast of characters. Iphigenia, Orestes, and Pylades all appear at the Black Sea in a fascinating drama about ritual and sacrifice among the cult of Artemis. «Iphigenia» is difficult to categorize as it deftly moves from romance to comedy to tragedy. Considered by many classicists to be Euripides most well executed play, «Iphigenia» displays the deeply philosophical leanings absent in many of his other plays.
