The stories featured in Greeking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.
This week's story features intergenerational trauma, three to four murders, two attempted murders, and heists.
We're back this episode with the conclusion of the story of Iphigenia and her siblings, Electra and Orestes.
And we are following the hero of the story, Orestes, although I guess he's not exactly the hero because, well, he did murder someone.
And there are definitely no role models here.
Let's just call him the main character of the story.
OK, so we're following our main character, Orestes, as he is trying to regain his throne through a feat of daring suggested by the god Apollo.
He has to steal the statue of Artemis from a temple.
Now, since Apollo was the one to get Orestes into this situation in the first place, I'm not sure why he is so confident in the god's judgment.
but here we are. We revisit our story where Orestes, son of Agamemnon, arrives in Taurus, where the sacred statue of Artemis is located.
Also in Taurus is Orestes' long -lost sister, Iphigenia.
Right, but he doesn't know that yet.
Orestes doesn't waste any time.
He knew that stealing the statue of Artemis wasn't going to be easy.
After all, the priestesses probably Probably weren't going to just give it up willingly.
He'd have to be sneaky.
So he started scheming up his perfect plan.
The ultimate heist. He headed straight to Artemis' temple where he bumped right into...
Iphigenia. Yeah, I was going for a dramatic build -up there, Oracle.
But yes, he ran right into Iphigenia.
Now, of course, they didn't recognize each other.
It had been more than a decade since they had last seen one another and they'd both grown up quite a bit.
Not to mention, they were both operating under the assumption that the other one was dead.
Orestes thought that Iphigenia really was killed in the sacrifice.
Right, and Iphigenia had heard rumors of Orestes' death as well.
Because he faked his own death.
Yeah, a lot of fake death here.
So, when they finally saw each other at Artemis' temple, the two siblings had no idea that they were looking at a long -lost brother or sister.
Excuse me, honored priestess, Oreste said to Iphigenia, who was working in the temple as a priestess.
Can you tell me where the sacred statue of Artemis is?
I hope to gaze upon its beauty.
Oh, sure. It's right over here, Iphigenia said politely, moving on to her other duties.
The two siblings passed right by each other, neither one knowing who the other was.
Iphigenia was busy with her temple duties and didn't think any more about it.
Orestes, on the other hand, was busy wondering how he was gonna carry a giant marble statue out of the temple when he actually saw the sacred item.
Like the palladium we mentioned during the series on the Trojan War, the sacred statue The statue of Artemis in this story is a small wooden carving.
Yes, you might even say it was extremely heistable.
Without another thought, or even a plan really, Orestes grabbed the wooden statue, stuffed it in his satchel, and turned around to sprint for the door.
This is a truly terrible heist. Yeah, well, you know, heisting isn't something that comes naturally to everybody, Oracle.
I mean, you have to have a bad heist at least once in your life before you can really appreciate this.
In fact, this hardly qualifies as a heist. It's more like shoplifting.
Oh, come on. What are you, like the heist police?
The regular police are the heist police.
Stealing things is illegal, even if you call it a heist. All right.
Fair point. Okay, okay, you're right.
Heisting is illegal.
I get it, I get it.
But Oreste's heist, as poorly executed as it was, wasn't actually noticed until later in the day.
When Iphigenia came back to the statue, she realized it was gone.
She called the guard immediately.
Were there any shady characters in here today, ma 'am?
The guards asked Iphigenia.
Well, now that you mention it, there was one slightly nervous -looking gentleman asking about the statue. she said.
So after she gave them a description of Orestes, Iphigenia ordered the guards to find him and get the statue back.
Well, her description of Orestes was actually so good that it wasn't long before the guards found the man with the Artemis statue still inside his satchel, and he was thrown into jail immediately.
We found him, ma 'am, the guards said to Iphigenia.
Iphigenia couldn't believe it.
This man was from her hometown.
Maybe he could tell her some information about her family or bring back a letter or something.
So she headed straight to the jail to talk to him.
The jailhouse in ancient Greece was commonly called a desmaterion, or place of chains.
Of course, Orestes had no idea who she was.
You met me at the temple?
I was the one that helped you find the statue, remember?
She reminded him. Orestes just looked at her blankly.
Never mind, it's not important.
Listen, I heard you were from Mycenae.
What can you tell me about Queen Clytemnestra?
Orestes. Orestes frowned.
She's no longer with us, he admitted.
He had no interest in telling this stranger that he was the one who killed her.
Iphigenia swallowed. Her mother was dead.
And King Agamemnon?
Also dead. Iphigenia didn't have much remorse about that one, actually.
And what of their children?
Have they taken the throne or are they gone as well?
They are mostly gone, Orestes confirmed.
Iphigenia was heartbroken.
Her family was gone.
She was the last one alive, and no one even knew she existed.
She had to get word out that she was still alive.
If I give you a note, will you take it to the palace for me?
Iphigenia asked. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not headed to the palace any time soon.
Well, maybe I could change that.
And so the plan was hatched.
Orestes agreed to deliver Iphigenia's note if she was able to spring him from prison.
Iphigenia, as a priestess, had a lot of clout in town and turned out she could get him a pardon.
She had him released that very night and gave him a letter that she had written.
Here, she said, give this to the palace guard. Tell them someone in the royal family still lives.
Orestes looked at her slowly.
Who are you? No one, really, she replied.
But then it dawned on him at that exact moment.
She had the same eyes, the same hair.
But no, it couldn't be.
Iphigenia? At the sound of her name, the priestess lurched back as if she'd been electrocuted.
Artemis had ordered her to change her name upon arrival at Taurus.
no one had called her Iphigenia in years.
I used to be, she whispered.
It's me, he said. Your brother, Orestes.
Brother? Little Orestes here?
But why had Orestes come?
Why had he stolen the statue?
Why hadn't he admitted his identity?
Iphigenia asked question after question after question as the two sat in the jail and talked.
Orestes explained what had happened to their parents, the guilt he felt for his crimes, the sadness he experienced from being associated with such a cursed family, and of course, the reason for the heist. It's just me and Elektra, and you now, of course, he said.
Come back with me. You could be just the thing we need to turn our kingdom around.
Iphigenia didn't have to consider it.
She missed her home and her sister, and she didn't belong there.
She knew it in her bones.
Her future was in Mycenae.
She agreed to go. But there's just one thing we need to do first, Orestes said.
What's that? We gotta get that statue of Artemis back.
If I don't bring it to Apollo, I'm never going to get the throne.
Leave it to me, she said.
And so Iphigenia decided to pull off a heist of her own.
But before she stole from her own temple, she decided to consult Artemis herself.
That night, Iphigenia prayed to Artemis and asked her to appear before her.
When she saw the goddess, she fell to her knees.
Oh, kind Artemis, thank you for everything you have done for me.
I have just found out that my family lives.
Well, my siblings anyway.
I would like to go and be with them.
Artemis smiled. I wish you nothing but the best. There's only one problem, Iphigenia continued.
It's your statue. Apparently, the god Apollo needs it.
Iphigenia explained the whole story to the goddess and begged Artemis to let her take the statue. You have my permission, and I will not be angry with you or your family, Artemis said.
But you're going to have to get past the other priestesses.
They might not be as forgiving as me.
But wait, what's that I see up ahead?
It's, it's, oh, actually, it's just a break.
We're going to do a little commercial break, but we'll be back with more Greek -ing out right after.
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See, that wasn't so bad.
Okay, we're back to Greeking Out.
And so, if a Jania decided to have a little heist of her own.
Hopefully a better one.
Yeah. She snuck into the temple under the cover of darkness.
There was still a priestess on duty, but Iphigenia knew how to get into the temple without anyone noticing.
She had worked at this temple for years.
She knew every nook and cranny.
There was a back entrance to the temple that was hidden by a cellar's stall outside.
She inched through the small space and into the side of the temple, careful not to make any noise.
She had hoped that the priestess on duty would not be looking towards the back entrance, but she didn't need to have worried.
The priestess seemed to be resting her eyes and wouldn't have noticed no matter which way Ifejania had come in.
Ifejania breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the woman's gentle snores echoing from the other side of the room.
She raced to the statue, stuffed it in her bag, and scooted out the the back way again before anyone could notice her.
The priestess would have no idea that Iphigenia was even in the temple at all.
Okay, what do you think, Oracle?
Was that heist good?
Did that work? It was all right, but depended a lot on luck.
Yeah, that's true, but with a god and goddess on her side, Iphigenia was practically unstoppable.
She met up with Orestes on the way out of the city and the two of them boarded the first ship headed home.
But first, they had to make a stop.
They had to stop off in Delos to deliver the statue to Apollo's temple there.
After all, once he got that god's vote for king, Orestes could retake his throne and leave all of this nasty business behind him.
When they finally made it to Delos, Orestes headed straight to the temple of Apollo.
I gotta drop off this statue, he said.
I'll see you later.
This left Iphigenia on her own to explore Delos.
Truth be told, she was grateful to have a moment by herself to pause and gather her thoughts.
Her world had been turned upside down and she had yet to take the time to really process it.
She walked along the temples, passing by many people hoping to seek an audience with Apollo.
But unbeknownst to Orestes and Iphigenia, another person was visiting Delos at that exact same time.
Elektra, their other sister.
You see, while Orestes was in Taurus, Elektra received word that he had been killed for sneaking into Artemis' temple and trying to steal the statue. This did not happen.
Well, that's true, but somebody must have gotten their wires crossed and sent Elektra a note early before they realized that Orestes had escaped.
This was obviously devastating news to Elektra.
She loved her brother dearly.
He was the only family she had left. So in her grief and confusion, Electra decided to travel to Delos to ask Apollo for guidance about what she should do with the rest of her life.
If I was the god she was consulting, I would have told her to double -check her sources.
Yeah, it's not like there's a Wikipedia in ancient Greece.
While Wikipedia can inform your search for sources, you should not trust Wikipedia as a source itself.
Okay, well, then there was no reputable news organization in ancient Greece.
Elektra had to trust what she was told.
But when Elektra happened to pass by Iphigenia on the way to the temple, she felt a spark.
Mark, there was something about that girl that just looked familiar.
It was their shared DNA.
Well, obviously, but remember, Electra didn't know that yet.
All she knew was that she felt a strange pull towards the woman, and she had no real idea why.
She decided to ask one of the guards for more information.
Who is that woman over there?
Oh, her? She just came back from Taurus.
Word on the street is she used to be a priestess of the Temple of Artemis.
Electra couldn't believe it.
The Temple of Artemis was where her brother had been just before he got arrested.
Yeah, but apparently she turned some criminal in and got him sentenced to death.
Guess she felt mad about it and she came here to talk to Apollo.
You never know. The guard continued.
Electra just nodded and turned away.
She felt like she was swimming underwater.
water. The woman who was responsible for Orestes' death was here, right in front of her.
This seemed like fate, like the god's way of asking Electra to avenge her brother's death.
I do not follow that line of thinking.
Murder is not a solution to any problem.
Well, yeah, but I think Electra was just so caught up in her grief that she couldn't really think straight.
She was under the impression that the gods wanted her to kill this woman, and that's why they brought them both together at Delos.
And if we're going to be fair to Electra, both of her parents solved problems by murdering people, so she came by it honestly, at least. Electra was so convinced that she had to avenge her brother that she developed a plan.
She decided she was going to speak to Iphigenia and invite her back to her lodging for a drink.
Then she would end her life.
I am, once again, advising communication over murder.
Excuse me, hello, miss.
I heard you were a priestess for the goddess Artemis.
I was. Iphigenia replied as she stared at Elektra.
Something in this girl's face was familiar.
Again, shared DNA. I'm fascinated by Artemis.
Would you like to come over for dinner or something and tell me about her?
Iphigenia paused This seemed like a weird request from a stranger I'm sorry, I'm here with my brother He should be back at any moment now And then we have to set sail, so I used to have a brother Electra said Iphigenia could see that the woman was in pain Years of serving as a priestess had honed her empathy skills I'm sorry for your loss She said kindly.
Electra was caught off guard. This girl was kind.
Didn't seem like she was a cold -blooded killer.
How could she be the one responsible for Orestes' death?
She asked. Electra looked like she'd seen a ghost. Her face went white.
Electra! a voice called from over the hills.
It was Orestes, having returned from dropping off the statue to Apollo.
Is that really you?
Orestes! I thought you were dead!
Electra felt like she was about to pass out.
She had to sit down on the ground.
Well, things weren't looking good, but then she saved me, Orestes said, gesturing to Iphigenia.
Electra, let me introduce you to Iphigenia.
Electra said. We've met.
The three siblings rejoiced in their reunion.
They were unable to believe their luck that they were all alive and well.
Together, all three of them went back to Mycenae where Orestes was crowned king.
They lived out the remainder of their days together, siblings home at last. Electra, Iphigenia, and Orestes were able to break the cycle of violence and not pass on the family curse to another generation.
Yeah, that's right.
They took care of each other and their kingdom and left the world better than they found it.
You can't ask for more than that.
I think I like this version best. I'm glad we got some justice for Iphigenia.
A happy ending for once.
All right. I agree.
Greeking out. Thanks for listening.
Come back next week for more Greeking Out.
Greeking out. Gods and heroes, amazing feats.
Listen and you'll see it's Greeking Out.
National Geographic Kids Greeking Out is written by Jillian Hughes and Kenny Curtis and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the oracle of Wi -Fi, Audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Grip.
Dr. Meredith Saffron is our subject matter expert, Emily Burkett and Lori Broda are our producers, and Emily Everhart is our senior producer.
