Iphigenīa
（
Ἰφιγένεια, in Homer
Ἰφιάνασσα). Daughter of Agamemnon and of Clytaemnestra, or (according to another
account) of Theseus and Helen (q. v.), and brought up by Clytaemnestra as her own child to
hide her sister's shame. When the Greek ships were detained at Aulis by the calm caused by the
wrath of Artemis against Agamemnon for killing a hind sacred to that goddess, and boasting
that he was superior to her in the chase, the seer Calchas announced that the goddess could be
appeased only by the sacrifice of Iphigenia. According to another story, Agamemnon had
vowed, before the birth of Iphigenia, that he would sacrifice to the goddess whatever the year
brought forth that was loveliest, but had neglected to keep his vow. After a long struggle
Agamemnon finally gave way to the pressure put upon him by Menelaüs, and sent for his
daughter to come to Aulis under the pretext of betrothing her to Achilles. During the
sacrifice Artemis substituted a hind for her, and carried her off in a cloud to the land of
the Tauri (the modern Crimea), where, as priestess of the goddess, it fell to her lot to offer
up as victims all strangers who were shipwrecked on the coast. Orestes, who,
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Sacrifice of Iphigenia. (Pompeian Painting.)
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commanded by the oracle, had gone there to bring to Attica the image of the goddess,
was on the point of being sacrificed by her, when she recognized him as her brother and
allowed herself to be carried off by him together with the image. At Delphi her sister Electra
wanted to put her eyes out, on hearing that the Tauric priestess had slain Orestes; but was
prevented from doing so by her brother's arrival. She is said to have brought the image of the
Tauric Artemis to the Attic deme of Brauron, and to have died and been buried there as its
priestess. She was even introduced into Attic legend as daughter of Theseus and Helen. In
other places also, such as Sparta, the image was shown, and she was regarded as a priestess
who had brought it to Greece from among the Scythians. In all probability Iphigenia was
originally a designation of Artemis herself, and out of this epithet of the goddess the
personality of the priestess was in time evolved. Her grave was also shown at Megara.
According to another legend, she is said to have been made immortal by Artemis, and to have
lived on in the island of Leucé as the wife of Achilles under the name of
Orsilochia. Two plays of Euripides (
Iphigenia at Aulis and
Iphigenia
among the Tauri) deal with her story.
