Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter at Aulis to appease Artemis and gain favourable winds for the Greek fleet to sail to Troy.
The Meaning of Sacrifice of Iphigenia
The Greek fleet assembled at Aulis but was becalmed — Artemis withheld the winds because Agamemnon had killed a deer sacred to her and boasted he was a better hunter. The seer Calchas declared that only the sacrifice of Agamemnon's eldest daughter Iphigenia would appease the goddess. Agamemnon agonised but chose duty over family, sending word to his wife Clytemnestra that Iphigenia should come to Aulis for marriage to Achilles. When the deception was revealed, Achilles offered to protect Iphigenia, but she chose to go willingly to the altar. In Euripides' version, Artemis substituted a deer at the last moment and spirited Iphigenia to Tauris to serve as her priestess. In other versions, the sacrifice was completed. Either way, the winds came. But Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon — and her rage became one of the driving forces behind his murder at Mycenae upon his return from Troy.
Parents
Agamemnon, Clytemnestra
Symbols
Fun Fact
The sacrifice of Iphigenia has been used to debate the ethics of war since antiquity. Lucretius cited it as proof that religion drives men to evil. Kierkegaard compared it to Abraham and Isaac. During the Vietnam War, anti-war intellectuals specifically invoked Iphigenia — the leader who sacrifices the young for a cause they didn't choose. It remains the most politically charged myth in the Greek canon, revived every time a government sends its children to war.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Iphigenia
🗡 heroPrincess sacrificed for the Trojan War
Iphigenia was Agamemnon's eldest daughter, sacrificed at Aulis to gain winds for Troy — or rescued at the last moment by Artemis and whisked to Tauris.
Abduction of Persephone
💭 conceptNarrative
The seizing of Persephone by Hades and its consequences, which explain the origin of the seasons
Goddess of the Hunt
💭 conceptHunting, wilderness, childbirth, the moon
Artemis roams the forests with her band of nymphs, protecting wild animals and punishing those who violate her sacred groves.
Aulis
🏛 placeHarbour where the Greek fleet gathered for Troy
Aulis was the harbour in Boeotia where the Greek fleet of over a thousand ships assembled before sailing to Troy — and where Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to gain favourable winds.
Goddess of Harvest
💭 conceptHarvest, agriculture, grain, fertility of the earth
Demeter controls the growth of crops and the fertility of the soil, and her grief governs the cycle of the seasons.
Cattle of Helios
💭 conceptsacrilege
Sacred immortal cattle of the sun god on the island of Thrinacia, whose slaughter by Odysseus's men doomed the entire crew.
Hippolytus and Phaedra
💭 conceptNarrative
A tragedy of forbidden desire, false accusation, and divine cruelty destroying an innocent young prince
Sack of Troy
💭 conceptNarrative
The brutal destruction and plundering of Troy during the night following the wooden horse stratagem
Prophecy of Achilles
💭 conceptprophecy, heroism
The dual fate offered to Achilles: a long peaceful life in obscurity or a short glorious life at Troy, establishing the Greek ideal of heroic choice.
Meleager and the Brand
💭 conceptfate, maternal love
The hero whose life was tied to a burning log by the Fates, extinguished by his mother Althaea and eventually relit in an act of matricidal vengeance.
Perseus and Andromeda
💭 conceptNarrative
The rescue of an Ethiopian princess from a sea monster by the Gorgon-slaying hero
Rape of Persephone
💭 conceptseasons, abduction
The foundational myth explaining the seasons: Hades abducted Persephone, and Demeter's grief caused winter until a compromise allowed her daughter's partial return each spring.