© 1998 Bernard SUZANNE   Last updated December 13, 1998 
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Tauris

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Peninsula in northern Black Sea (today's Crimea), part of Scythia (area 8).
Tauris is the region where, according to legends, Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, was led by Artemis who had saved her at the last minute from death in Aulis, after her father had ordered her sacrificed to propitiate the goddess and bring wind on the area where the Greek fleet was waiting to sail toward Troy. There, Iphigenia became priestess of Artemis at the court of king Thoas and had to sacrifice foreigners landing on the shore until one day, she recognized in two foreigners her brother Orestes and his friend Pylades, sent there by the oracle of Delphi to bring back the statue of Artemis. Iphigenia then helped them steal the statue and fled with them (see Euripides' Iphigeneia in Tauris).
A description of Tauris is provided by Herodotus in his Histories at IV, 99-100. At IV, 103, he describes their mores, especially their habit of sacrificing Greek prisonners to a goddess they identify with Iphigenia herself.

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Plato and his dialogues : Home - Biography - Works - History of interpretation - New hypotheses - Map of dialogues : table version or non tabular version. Tools : Index of persons and locations - Detailed and synoptic chronologies - Maps of Ancient Greek World. Site information : About the author.

First published January 4, 1998 - Last updated December 13, 1998
© 1998 Bernard SUZANNE (click on name to send your comments via e-mail)
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