Date
The exact date of Iphigenia in Tauris is unknown. Metrical analysis by Zielinski indicated a date between 414 and 413 BCE, but later analysis by Martin Cropp and Gordon Fick using more sophisticated statistical techniques indicated a wider range of 416 to 412 BCE. The plot of Iphigenia in Tauris is similar to that of Euripides' Helen and Andromeda, both of which are known to have been first performed in 412. This has often been taken as a reason to reject 412 as the date for Iphigenia in Tauris, since that would mean three similar plays would have been performed in the same trilogy. However, Matthew Wright believes the plot and other stylistic similarities between the three plays indicates that they most likely were produced as part of the same trilogy in 412. Among Wright's reasons are the fact that although the plots are similar they are not identical, and that this type of escape plot may have been particular relevant in 412 at the first Dionysia after Athens' failed Sicilian Expedition. Also, other than this play and the two plays known to date to 412, we do not know of any such escape plays by Euripides; if he produced two that year, why not three, which might make a particularly strong impression if the escape theme was one Euripides wished to emphasize that year. Finally, Aristophanes overtly parodied Helen and Andromeda in his comedy Thesmophoriazusae, produced in 411, and Wright sees a more subtle parody of Iphigenia in Tauris in the final escape plan attempted in Thesmophoriazusae as well.
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