In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (Ancient Greek: Iφιγένεια, Iphigeneia) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus princess of Argos. After offending Artemis, Agamemnon was commanded to kill Iphigenia as a sacrifice to allow his ships to sail to Troy. In some versions, Iphigenia is sacrificed at Aulis, but in others, she is rescued by Artemis. In the version where she is saved, she goes to the Taurians and meets her brother Orestes.

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 killed a deer in a grove sacred to the goddess Artemis. She punished him by interfering with the winds so that his fleet could not sail to Troy. The seer Calchas revealed that in order to appease Artemis, Agamemnon must sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. Agamemnon at first refused, but under pressure from the other commanders eventually agreed.

Iphigenia and her mother Clytemnestra were brought to Aulis under the pretext of a marriage to Achilles, but soon discovered that the marriage was a ruse. In some versions of the story, Iphigenia remains unaware of her imminent sacrifice until the last moment, believing that she is led to the altar to be married.

In some versions, Iphigenia is not actually sacrificed. According to Hyginus’ Fabulae, Iphigenia was not sacrificed. Some sources

  Iphigenia, by Herbert Gustave Schmalz

claim that Iphigenia was taken by Artemis to Tauris in Crimea on the moment of the sacrifice, and that the goddess left a deer or a goat (the god Pan transformed) in her place. The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women called her Iphimede (Iφιμέδη) and told that Artemis transformed her into the goddess Hecate. Antoninus Liberalis said that Iphigenia was transported to the island of Leuke, where she was wedded to immortalized Achilles under the name of Orsilochia.

In Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, the first play in the Oresteia, the sacrifice of Iphigenia is given as one of the reasons that Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus plan to murder Agamemnon.

In Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis, it is Menelaus who convinces Agamemnon to heed the seer Calchas’s advice. After Agamemnon sends a message to Clytemnestra informing her of Iphigenia’s supposed marriage, he immediately regrets his decision and tries to send another letter telling them not to come. Menelaus intercepts the letter and he and Agamemnon argue. Menelaus insists that it is Agamemnon’s duty to do all he can to aid the Greeks. Clytemnestra arrives at Aulis with Iphigenia and the infant Orestes. Agamemnon tries to convince Clytemnestra to go back to Argos, but Clytemnestra insists on staying for the wedding. When she sees Achilles, Clytemnestra mentions the marriage; Achilles, however, appears to be unaware of it, and she and Iphigenia gradually learn the truth. Achilles, angry that Agamemnon has used him in his plot, vows to help prevent the murder of Iphigenia. Iphigenia and Clytemnestra plead with Agamemnon to spare his daughter’s life. Achilles informs them that the Greek army, eager for war, has learned of the seer’s advice and are demanding that Iphigenia be sacrificed. If Agamemnon refuses, it is likely they will turn on him and kill him and his family. Iphigenia, knowing she is doomed, makes the decision to be sacrificed willingly, reasoning that as a mere mortal, she can’t go against the will of a goddess. She also believes that her death will be a heroic one, as it’s for the good of all Greeks. Iphigenia exits, and the sacrifice takes place offstage. Later, Clytemnestra is told of her daughter’s death and how at the last moment Iphigenia was spared by the gods, who whisked her away and replaced her with a deer.

Euripides’ other play about Iphigenia, Iphigenia in Tauris, occurs after the sacrifice and after Orestes has killed Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. In order for Orestes to escape the persecutions of the Erinyes for killing his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Orestes has been ordered by Apollo to go to Tauris. While in Tauris, Orestes is to carry off the xoanon (carved wooden cult image) of Artemis, which had fallen from heaven, and bring it to Athens. When Orestes arrives at Tauris with Pylades, son of Strophius and intimate friend of Orestes, the pair are at once captured by the Tauri, among whom the custom is to sacrifice all Greek strangers to Artemis. The priestess of Artemis is Iphigenia, and it is her duty to perform the sacrifice. Iphigenia and Orestes don’t recognize each other (Iphigenia thinks her brother is dead--a key point). Iphigenia finds out from Orestes, who is still concealing his identity, that Orestes is alive. Iphigenia then offers to release Orestes if he will carry home a letter from her to Greece. Orestes refuses to go, but bids Pylades to take the letter while Orestes will stay to be slain. After a conflict of mutual affection, Pylades at last yields, but the letter brings about recognition between brother and sister, and all three escape together, carrying with them the image of Artemis. After their return to Greece, and having been saved from dangers by Athena (the “saving” by Athena occurs before they get to Greece), she orders Orestes to take the Xoanon to the town of Halae where he is to build a temple for Artemis Tauropolos. At the annual festival to be held there in honor of Artemis, a single drop of blood must be drawn from the throat of a man to commemorate Orestes’s near-sacrifice. Iphigenia is sent by Athena to the sanctuary of Artemis in Brauron where she is to be the priestess until she dies there. According to the Spartans, however, the image of Artemis was transported by them to Laconia, where the goddess was worshipped as Artemis Orthia.

These close identifications of Iphigenia with Artemis have encouraged some scholars to believe that she was originally a hunting goddess whose cult was subsumed by the Olympian Artemis.