Mystical Morality and Heroic Transcendence: Eleusinian Orphism and Political Ethics in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis
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Andreas Markantonatos
Abstract:
In this paper I shall argue that in Iphigenia at Aulis Euripides seeks to lay bare the utter incoherence of the idea that moral laws should remain silent and idle during wartime by deploying powerful mystical signals of great ethical moment, especially Eleusinian and Orphic major key signatures and codes. In this way, he trains the Athenian audience to engage more fully in the intricate process of plotting and anticipating the heroically induced denouement, while at the same time repeatedly asserting the value of political morality, and its refusal, as motive forces in the configuration of power relationships in democratic Athens in particular and in war-torn Greece in general.
Article Note
All ancient passages and translations are drawn from the LOEB edition of the play by David Kovacs. It should be noted that I have kept all references to a minimum in order to avoid cluttering my analysis with inordinate amounts of bibliography easily traced in the selectively cited works herein.
© De Gruyter 2016
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Special Issue: Orphism and Greek Tragedy, Issue Editors: Jacqueline Assaël & Andreas Markantonatos
- Introduction
- The Degree of Orphic Initiation in Euripides’ Alcestis
- Two Orphic Images in Euripides: Hippolytus 952–957 and Cretans 472 Kannicht
- The Meanings of σώιζειν in Alcestis’ Final Scene
- Mystical Morality and Heroic Transcendence: Eleusinian Orphism and Political Ethics in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis
- Dikē as Global World Order: An Orphic Inheritance in Aeschylus?
- Death Scenes and Orphic Mysteries in Euripides: Between the Epic and the Mystic
- Orpheus and mousikê in Greek Tragedy
- General Index
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Special Issue: Orphism and Greek Tragedy, Issue Editors: Jacqueline Assaël & Andreas Markantonatos
- Introduction
- The Degree of Orphic Initiation in Euripides’ Alcestis
- Two Orphic Images in Euripides: Hippolytus 952–957 and Cretans 472 Kannicht
- The Meanings of σώιζειν in Alcestis’ Final Scene
- Mystical Morality and Heroic Transcendence: Eleusinian Orphism and Political Ethics in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis
- Dikē as Global World Order: An Orphic Inheritance in Aeschylus?
- Death Scenes and Orphic Mysteries in Euripides: Between the Epic and the Mystic
- Orpheus and mousikê in Greek Tragedy
- General Index
