IPHIGENIA
Iphigeneia (Ἰφιγένεια)
hover to halt the heavens · click a star to travel
THE STORY
Calchas declared that the windbound fleet could not sail unless Agamemnon offered his fairest daughter. Lured to Aulis by a false promise of marriage to Achilles, Iphigenia was placed at the altar, but Artemis substituted a deer, carried her to Tauris, and made her priestess; some said the goddess made her immortal. 1
Hyginus begins after the rescue: Iphigenia serves as priestess in Tauris, recognizes Orestes and Pylades when they are brought for sacrifice, deceives King Thoas, and escapes with them and the image of Diana. 2
Apollodorus places Iphigenia among Agamemnon's daughters. Pausanias reports a different Argive tradition: Helen bore her to Theseus and gave the child to Clytemnestra, while later poets agreed that Theseus was her father. 3⚖