EPISODE 9 “IPHIGENIA”

TROJAN WAR: THE PODCAST

Jeff Wright

History

4.8 • 650 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2016

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

THE STORY: (45 minutes) In this horrifying episode Agamemnon, Commander in Chief of the Greek’s Operation Trojan Storm, is confronted with an existential question. How badly does he want to invade Troy, and who or what is he willing to sacrifice in order to realize his plans? THE COMMENTARY: MURDER, INCEST, INFIDELITY & CANNIBALISM – AGAMEMNON’S INTERESTING FAMILY! (16 minutes; begins at 45:00) This deeply troubling episode is based on the story of the sacrifice of Iphigenia – Agamemnon’s teenage daughter. In the post-story commentary I explore how two different Athenian dramatists used the broad outlines of the well-known “Iphigenia story” to craft their own unique plays. I first look at Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (458 B.C.E.), and explain why I chose to follow his general plot outline in narrating my own account of the story. Then I turn to Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis (405 B.C.E.), seeking (and finding) a much happier and less horrifying account of the story I have just told. I leave you the listener to decide which of the two versions you find more compelling and believable – because of course, none of us will never know what really happened on that beach at Aulis. Finally I turn to a quick account of Agamemnon’s absolutely horrifying family: the House of Atreus. Starting with Agamemnon’s great grandfather, then down through the generations to Agamemnon himself, I recount a family predilection for murder, incest, infidelity and cannibalism. I discuss the Bronze Age belief that “the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons” to account for the horrifying intergenerational curse of the House of Atreus. Because of my “no plot spoilers” promise, I conclude my review of the curse with Agamemnon himself, but promise listeners that in later episodes of Trojan War: The Podcast, Agamemnon’s descendants will carry on the proud family history of horrifying deeds. Jeff RELATED CONTENT IPHIGENIA by Tennyson (PDF) RELATED IMAGES

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to Trojan War, the podcast, history's most awesome epic.
0:33.6	This is episode number nine in the series.
0:36.7	Today's episode is titled If a Geniah. So welcome back to Trojan War, the podcast.
1:06.3	This is episode number nine in the series.
1:09.2	Now, this particular episode is named after a girl, a 14-year-old girl.
1:15.2	Her name was Aphaginaya.
1:18.7	More on her in a moment.
1:21.2	Now if you'll recall where we left things at the end of the preceding episode, well, Agamemnon
1:27.2	has now finally assembled everything he needs
1:29.9	in order to sail across the Aegean Sea and invade the city of Troy. He has his 100,000 soldiers,
1:38.0	his men at arms, the world's largest coalition army. He has built 1,000 boats to sail those men across the Aegean Sea. And the critical
1:47.1	leadership of the mission is now in place. He's assembled Odysseus, the cleverest, the wisest of
1:53.6	the Greeks as the brains of the operation. He has finally located and brought to the beach the Achilles, history's most dangerous, glorious,
2:03.1	and incidentally gorgeous killing machine.
2:06.2	Ajox, another great fighter, is there.
2:07.9	All the other warlords are there.
2:09.2	His brother Menelaus, anxious to go rescue his poor wife, Helen, from the arms of Paris,
2:15.3	is there.
2:15.7	And the fleet has reached the day where it is finally,
2:19.2	finally, finally ready to set sail and depart across the GNC. It should be an easy five-day sail
2:25.2	to Troy. The winds in the Mediterranean always, always, always blow from the west to the east.
2:30.9	So the plan was simple. Roe out of the protective bay at the port of Allis, where the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jeff Wright, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jeff Wright and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.