The Architecture of Memory: The Case of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis

Authors

  • Maria Gerolemou University of Cyprus, Classics Departmentt
  • Magdalena Zira King's College London, Classics Department

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/sjtds.v3i1.92

Abstract

This paper aims at analysing the function of memory in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis from the perspective of its original conception and also with regard to a contemporary staging. The first part of the paper draws on memory in connection to the prehistory of the Trojan War. Retelling the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Euripides discusses memory as a non stable entity, which is formed by the specific social frameworks in which it operates. At the same time, the dynamics of memory are explored in the play through the examination of medial processes, as the written and oral word, through which memories come into the public arena, thus becoming collective ones. The aim of this first part, therefore, is to provide a bridge between the social dynamics of memory and the impact of medial technologies in shaping information about the past. Euripides’ dynamic understanding of memory, where individual and groups constantly reconfigure their relationship with their past, brings us to the second part of the paper. The story of the sacrifice of Iphigenia has a strong reception history, influenced by narratives of Christian martyrdom and contemporary nationalism. A new reading of the play for a contemporary revival will be discussed in order to reexamine this aspect of its reception, by foregrounding the themes of memory and historical amnesia.

Downloads

Published

2019-04-13

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Miscellany

License

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

This Journal is a CC-BY 4.0 publication (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This Licence allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this Journal, providing a link to the Licence and explicitly underlining any change (full mention of Issue number, year, pages and DOI is required).

  1.  The Author retains (i) the rights to reproduce, to distribute, to publicly perform, and to publicly display the Article in any medium for any purpose; (ii) the right to prepare derivative works from the Article; and (iii) the right to authorise others to make any use of the Article so long as the Author receives credit as Author and the Journal in which the Article has been published are cited as the source of first publication of the Article. For example, the Author may make and distribute copies in the course of teaching and research and may post the Article on personal or institutional Web sites and in other open-access digital repositories.
  2. The Author is free to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the Journal’s published version of the work, with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this Journal and explicitly underlining any change (full mention of Issue number, year, pages and DOI is required).
  3.  The Author is permitted and encouraged to post their work online after the evaluation process has been successfully passed, as it can lead to productive exchanges as well as to a wider dissemination of the published work.