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Iphigenia


In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (/ɪfˈn.ə/; Ancient Greek: Ἰφιγένεια, Iphigeneia) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Argos. According to other myths she is the daughter of Theseus and Helen but was still raised by Clytemnestra. Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis, who retaliates by commanding him to kill Iphigenia as a sacrifice so his ships can sail to Troy. In some versions, Iphigenia is sacrificed at Aulis, but in others, Artemis rescues her. In the version where she is saved, she goes to the Taurians and meets her brother Orestes.

"Iphigenia" means "strong-born," "born to strength," or "she who causes the birth of strong offspring."

Iphianassa (Ἰφιάνασσα) is the name of one of Agamemnon's three daughters in Homer's Iliad (ix.145, 287) The name Iphianassa may be simply an older variant of the name Iphigenia. "Not all poets took Iphigenia and Iphianassa to be two names for the same heroine," Kerenyi remarks, "though it is certain that to begin with they served indifferently to address the same divine being, who had not belonged from all time to the family of Agamemnon."

In Greek mythology, Iphigenia appears as the Greek fleet gathers in Aulis to prepare for war against Troy. At Aulis, the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, accidentally kills a deer in a grove sacred to the goddess Artemis. She punishes him by interfering with the winds so that his fleet cannot sail to Troy. The seer Calchas reveals that, to appease Artemis, Agamemnon must sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. Agamemnon at first refuses, but, pressured by the other commanders eventually agrees.


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