Tauris
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Tauris is a peninsula on the Black Sea. In ancient times, it was part of Scythia and today is part of Crimea.
According to Greek legends, Tauris is the place to which Iphigeneia was sent after Artemis rescued her from the human sacrifice her father was about to perform. The goddess swept the young princess off to Tauris where she became a priestess at the temple of Artemis. Here, she was forced by the Taurian king Thoas to perform human sacrifices on any foreigners who came ashore. (See the plot of Iphigeneia in Tauris for more details.)
The land of Tauris and its rumored customs of killing Greeks are also described by Herodotus in his histories, Book IV, 99-100 and 103.
