That's where I'm headed on July 9th. Sure, I'll stop at the wedding of some friends (conveniently in Volterra) on the way, but I've got to check out the Etruscan urns at the museum. Last time I was there, I found an urn with the story of Iphigenia, Artemis, Agamemnon & the launch of the Trojan War -- but not the version in I learned as a kid, which was more or less Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis. Instead, on the urn its pretty clear that Artemis (Diane) has compassion for Iphigenia, turns her into a deer and takes her place at the last moment.
The story never made sense to me -- Artemis was a fan of young women -- why would she allow the damn war mongering men to destroy her?
I'm anxious to find the urn & take a picture. Perhaps I'll find time to read Iphigenia in Tauris, which assumes a version more like the one on the urn.
whets interesting to me is that the tale was clearly used to put forward rather different view of women, war and warriors.
