Becoming boisterous whilst celebrating with them, he began to boast, and he stole the gods' nectar and ambrosia, their food of immortality.

Offended by the deception, the gods banished Tantalus from their community to Tartarus and cursed him and his family, the House of Atreus.

This became known as the curse on the Tantalids, in which descendants from Tantalus in every subsequent generation were driven by revenge and hatred to the killing of their own family members.

Scene 1: Since Diana saved her from death (her father Agamemnon chose to sacrifice her in return for a favourable wind for Troy), Iphigenia has been serving as her priestess on Tauris.

Although she is grateful to the goddess, and although she is held in high regard by King Thoas and his people, she longs more and more to return to her homeland.

Arkas reminds her of all the good she has done in Tauris, for example, ending the custom of sacrificing all strangers on Diana's altar.

Iphigenia justifies her refusal by her longing for Greece, and does her best to add other sound reasons, such as the curse that lies on her family, which condemns all the descendants of Tantalus to kill each other.

Scene 4: Iphigenia prays to Diana: she places her faith in the goodness and justice of the Gods, and she begs her to spare her from having to sacrifice innocent victims.

Scene 1: Iphigenia's brother Orestes and his friend and cousin Pylades arrive, and we learn that they are following up an oracle of Apollo.

He takes Apollo to mean his own sister, and so the two men have landed in Tauris to steal the statue of Diana from her temple.

When Orestes finally wakes from his dream (The curse is lifted, my heart assures me), he embraces Iphigenia, thanks the gods, and declares himself ready for action again.

Scene 2: Arkas brings the King's command to hasten the sacrifice: Iphigenia tells him that the prisoner's bloodguilt has polluted the temple, and that she must first purify it.

Scene 3: Iphigenia reflects on her dilemma and the need to decide between the joy of escaping with her brother and the need to deceive and abandon the King, who has been good to her.

She argues that a woman's words can be as powerful as a man's sword; she tells him who the prisoners are, who she is, and of their plan to escape; and she appeals to his humanity.

Thoas himself is willing to accept the challenge, and is unpersuaded by Iphigenia's reasoning, especially because she had been party to the plan to steal the statue of Diana.

On October 10, 1898, a Catalan translation by Joan Maragall was performed at Parc del Laberint d'Horta in Barcelona.

It received a favorable review in the art journal Luz; A. L. de Barán particularly praised the performance of Clotilde Domus as Ifigenia.