IPHIGENEIA

In Greek mythology, Iphigeneia was taken by her father, Agamemnon, to be sacrificed to the goddess Artemis. In most versions of the story, Artemis saves her life at the last moment and makes her into a priestess. In one account, however, Iphigeneia has her throat cut on the altar.

Iphigeneia was the daughter of Agamemnon and

Clytemnestra, and the sister of Orestes, Electra, and, in some accounts, Chrysothemis and Laodice (although that is possibly another name for Electra). Agamemnon was the king of Mycenae or Argos; his brother was Menelaus; they were both sons of Atreus. The royal house of Atreus was doomed to a series of tragic misfortunes by a curse placed on it as a result of the deeds ofAtreus’s father, Pelops, and his grandfather, Tantalus.

In one of the most famous of all Greek legends, Iphigeneia was offered up for sacrifice by her own father Agamemnon. After the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen of Sparta, a Greek fleet assembled at Aulis ready to attack Troy. Agamemnon, brother of Helen’s husband Menelaus, was commander of the Greeks. For a long time, however, the warships were unable to set sail because Artemis was making the winds blow either in the wrong direction or not at all. The goddess did this because she had a grudge against Agamemnon. There are various accounts of why she was so angry. One is that Agamemnon had shot a stag, possibly in Artemis’s sacred grove, and then boasted that he was a better hunter than the goddess. This is an example of hubris (pride), which in Greek mythology always invites nemesis (an act of vengeance against the proud person). According to other accounts, Agamemnon had traditionally sacrificed to Artemis the most beautiful creature born each year, but in the year of Iphigeneia’s birth, this was the princess herself, and Agamemnon dishonestly withheld his daughter. Another version is that Agamemnon’s father,

Atreus, had promised Artemis the finest animals in his flocks, and then withheld a golden lamb.

Whatever the reason, the soothsayer Calchas told Agamemnon that the only way he could appease Artemis was to sacrifice his virgin daughter. So Agamemnon sent word to his queen, Clytemnestra, that she should bring Iphigeneia to Aulis so that she could be betrothed to Achilles. When mother and daughter arrived, however, he offered the princess up for sacrifice. The winds blew, the fleet sailed, and the Trojan War began.

In most versions of the story, Artemis substituted a deer for Iphigeneia on the altar, snatching the girl away at the very last moment as the knife went to her throat.

Iphigeneia then became a priestess in the land of the Taurians (today part of the Crimea on the Black Sea).