Iphigenia

• 1. Name And Etymology

  ›

  The name Iphigenia means strong-born or born to strength. Ancient lexicons define it as she who causes the birth of strong offspring. Scholar Karl Kerenyi suggests a deeper meaning when he renders her name as she who governs births mightily. This interpretation hints at an obscure pre-history where she was an autonomous goddess rather than a mere marriageable girl in Agamemnon's house. The Greek-English Lexicon by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott records these standard definitions from classical sources. Some scholars argue that the name itself preserves memories of a time before she belonged to the family of Agamemnon.

  3

• 2. The Aulis Sacrifice

  ›

  Agamemnon hunts and kills one of Artemis's sacred stags on his way to the Trojan War. The goddess retaliates by preventing the allied troops from reaching Troy through her control of the winds. Calchas the seer tells Agamemnon that appeasement requires him to sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. At first he refuses but eventually agrees under pressure from other commanders. Iphigenia and her mother Clytemnestra arrive at Aulis under the pretence that Achilles will marry her. In some versions they realize the truth while others have Iphigenia remain unaware until the last moment. She believes she is being led to an altar for marriage until the knife appears. Her father weeps and covers his eyes with his robe as she offers her throat willingly. Talthybius orders the army to keep holy silence while Calchas takes a sharp knife from its sheath. He places a garland upon the young girl's head and Achilles sprinkles holy water over her. Suddenly everyone hears the sound of the knife but sees no maiden anywhere. On the ground lies a full-grown deer gasping for breath with blood dripping from its side. Calchas declares that the goddess accepts this offering with greater gladness than the child.

  46

• 3. Rescue And Taurian Priestesshood

  ›

  Artemis snatches Iphigenia away and transports her to the Tauroi making her immortal. The goddess puts a stag in place of the girl upon the altar. Some sources claim Artemis left a goat actually the god Pan in her stead instead. Iphigenia becomes the priestess of Artemis at her temple in Tauris which was known as Crimea in antiquity. The people of Taurica worshipped the maiden goddess Artemis there. When Orestes arrives at Tauris with Pylades son of Strophius they are immediately captured by the Taurians. These captors have a custom of sacrificing all Greek strangers to Artemis. It is Iphigenia's duty to perform the sacrifice on these prisoners. She does not recognize her brother because she thinks he is dead. She finds out from Orestes who conceals his identity that he is alive. She offers to release him if he will carry home a letter to Greece but he refuses. Pylades takes the letter while Orestes stays to be slain until mutual affection resolves the conflict. They escape together carrying the image of Artemis back to Greece. Athena sends Iphigenia to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron where she serves as priestess until death.

  59

• 4. Reunion With Orestes

  ›

  Orestes goes to Tauris to escape persecution by the Erinyes for killing his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Apollo orders him to carry off the xoanon carved wooden cult image of Artemis which had fallen from heaven. He brings it to Athens after returning from the land of the Taurians. The pair arrive and are captured by locals who sacrifice Greek strangers to their goddess. Iphigenia stands before them unaware that one prisoner is her own brother. She learns from Orestes that he lives though he hides his true name. When Pylades yields and takes the letter brother and sister finally recognize each other. All three escape together with the sacred image in their possession. Athena guides them safely through dangers along the way back to Greece. The town of Halae receives the Xoanon where they build a temple for Artemis Tauropolos. At the annual festival held there a single drop of blood must be drawn from the throat of a man to commemorate Orestes's near-sacrifice. This ritual marks the end of human sacrifice in honor of the goddess.

  7

• 5. Literary Evolution And Variations

  ›

  Homer does not explicitly mention the sacrifice although scholars argue it lies allusively behind opening scenes of the Iliad. Agamemnon criticizes Calchas at line 105-108 suggesting the story exists beneath the text. Friedrich Solmsen notes that the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women called her Iphimede instead. A fragmentary passage found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri has been restored to its proper place in modern times. Antoninus Liberalis said that Iphigenia was transported to the island of Leuke where she wedded immortalized Achilles under the name Orsilochia. Euripides wrote two plays about her fate: Iphigenia at Aulis and Iphigenia in Tauris. These Athenian tragedies were set in the Heroic Age during the fifth century BC. Lucretius used the story as criticism of religion in his poem De rerum natura. He calls it a cruel story of a parent making his child a sacrificial beast on her wedding day. Ovid retold the myth in books twelve and thirteen of his Metamorphoses narrative poem. The Cypria epic survives only in summary by Proclus who states Artemis snatched her away.

  101214

• 6. Religious Rituals And Cults

  ›

  The Spartans carried the image of Artemis to Laconia where the goddess was worshipped as Artemis Orthia. Rather than sacrificing virgins they would whip a male victim in front of a sacred image. Most tributes to Artemis inspired by the sacrifice followed traditional patterns instead. Taurians performed sacrifices of bulls and virgins in honor of their deity. Etruscans adorned cremation-urns with scenes from the sacrifice during the second and first centuries BC. Perusia became a center for these depictions showing Agamemnon performing aparchai while Odysseus holds the girl. Clytemnestra stands beside Agamemnon and Achilles beside Odysseus begging for Iphigenia's life. This version is closest to how Romans told the myth. Some scholars believe she was originally a hunting goddess whose cult was subsumed by Olympian Artemis. J. Donald Hughes writes about this conservation history in Forest and Conservation History volume thirty-four issue four.

• 7. Modern Adaptations In Arts

  ›

  Michael Cacoyannis directed a Greek film titled Iphigenia released in 1977. Yorgos Lanthimos transposed the story to modern America in The Killing of a Sacred Deer which came out in 2017. Barry Unsworth wrote a novel called The Songs of the Kings about her fate. Rachel Swirsky published a short story named A Memory of Wind featuring her character. Ismail Kadare authored Agamemnon's Daughter exploring similar themes. Doris Gates wrote A Fair Wind For Troy as another novel adaptation. Christoph Willibald Gluck composed an opera titled Iphigénie en Aulide. Henri Desmarets and André Campra created Iphigénie en Tauride together. Tommaso Traetta wrote Ifigenia in Tauride while Niccolò Piccinni also set it to music. Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding collaborated on an opera called Iphigenia in 2021. Pascal Bentoiu produced Iphigenia's sacrifice in 1968. PDQ Bach wrote a cantata known as Iphigenia in Brooklyn. Jean Racine adapted the play into French theater tradition. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote Iphigenie auf Tauris for German audiences.