Sacrifice of Iphigenia (Detail)
conceptAgamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter at Aulis to appease Artemis and gain favourable winds for the Greek fleet to sail to Troy.
The Myth
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
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:
Explore Further
Iphigenia
heroIphigenia was Agamemnon's eldest daughter, sacrificed at Aulis to gain winds for Troy — or rescued...
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...
Achilles (Wrath)
heroThe swift-footed son of Peleus and Thetis whose wrath drives the Iliad and whose choice between...
Agamemnon
heroAgamemnon led the Greek coalition against Troy but was murdered upon return by his wife...
Artemis
godTwin sister of Apollo and goddess of the hunt. Artemis roamed the wild forests with her band of...
Artemis (Wild Goddess)
godThe virgin huntress who roamed the wild places with her nymphs, punishing those who trespassed on...
Artemis Brauronia
godAn epithet of Artemis worshipped at Brauron in Attica, where young girls performed bear dances as a...
Clytemnestra
heroClytemnestra murdered Agamemnon on his return from Troy, driven by rage over Iphigenia's sacrifice.
Mycenae
placeMycenae was the great Bronze Age citadel in the Argolid, seat of King Agamemnon who led the Greek...
Troy
placeThe legendary city in Asia Minor besieged by the Greeks for ten years in the Trojan War. Troy's...
Troy (Hisarlik)
placeHisarlik in Turkey is the archaeological site identified as Homer's Troy — multiple cities layered...
Aulis
placeAulis was the harbour in Boeotia where the Greek fleet of over a thousand ships assembled before...