Iphigenia
Role: daughter of Agamemnon · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 33
At Aulis, when the Greeks were about to sacrifice Iphigenia in accordance with Calchas’ oracle, Artemis caused a doe to be sacrificed instead. Later, fleeing the Tauri, Iphigenia landed at Brauron with Artemis’s statue, left it there, and continued to Athens and then Argos. Hesiod says Artemis changed her into Hecate rather than letting her die; Herodotus instead records that the Tauric people said she was the virgin they sacrificed after shipwreck.
The wooden statue at a later site was said to be the one Iphigenia and Orestes had stolen from the Tauric Chersonese. At Ægira, tradition identified an old statue as Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon. Other accounts named Helen and Theseus as her parents.
Relationship record
Life events
- Iphigenia landed at Brauron, left Artemis’s statue there, and continued to Athens and Argos.(Book 1 · Chapter 33 · 📍 Brauron)
- With: Artemis
- “Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, landed in her flight from the Tauri, bringing with her the statue of Artemis, and, having left it here, went on to Athens and afterwards to Argos.”
- Iphigenia was transformed into Hecate by Artemis.(Book 1 · Chapter 43)
- Orestes and Iphigenia stole the wooden statue of Artemis from the Tauric Chersonese.(Book 3 · Chapter 16 · 📍 Tauric Chersonese)
- With: Orestes
- “The wooden statue of the goddess is they say the very one which Orestes and Iphigenia formerly stole from the Tauric Chersonese.”
- The old statue is traditionally identified as Iphigenia.(Book 7 · Chapter 26 · 📍 Ægira)
- “And the old statue that stands there is, according to the tradition of the people at Ægira, Iphigenia the daughter of Agamemnon:”
- Artemis substituted a doe for Iphigenia's sacrifice.(Book 9 · Chapter 19 · 📍 Aulis)
Book 1 · Chapter 33
- parent: Agamemnon “Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, landed in her flight from the Tauri”
- with Artemis (Iphigenia carried and left a statue of Artemis at Brauron.) “bringing with her the statue of Artemis, and, having left it here, went on to Athens and afterwards to Argos”
Book 1 · Chapter 43
- parent: Agamemnon “the Tauric people in Scythia after shipwreck sacrifice to a virgin, who is they say Iphigenia the daughter of Agamemnon.”
- with Hecate (Iphigenia was said to be transformed into Hecate.) “Hesiod in his Catalogue of Women describes Iphigenia as not dying, but being changed into Hecate by the will of Artemis.”
- with Artemis (Artemis was said to cause Iphigenia's transformation.) “Hesiod in his Catalogue of Women describes Iphigenia as not dying, but being changed into Hecate by the will of Artemis.”
- with Hesiod (Hesiod describes an account of Iphigenia.) “Hesiod in his Catalogue of Women describes Iphigenia as not dying, but being changed into Hecate by the will of Artemis.”
- with Herodotus (Herodotus records an account identifying Iphigenia.) “And Herodotus wrote not dissimilarly to this, that the Tauric people in Scythia after shipwreck sacrifice to a virgin, who is they say Iphigenia the daughter of Agamemnon.”
Book 2 · Chapter 22
- parent: Helen “they say like the Argives that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus by Helen”
- parent: Theseus “they say like the Argives that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus by Helen”
Book 2 · Chapter 35
- with Artemis (Artemis is worshipped under the name of Iphigenia.) “And there is a temple of Artemis under the name of Iphigenia”
Book 3 · Chapter 16
- with Orestes (They jointly stole the statue.) “The wooden statue of the goddess is they say the very one which Orestes and Iphigenia formerly stole from the Tauric Chersonese.”
- with Orestes (They jointly stole the statue.) “The wooden statue of the goddess is they say the very one which Orestes and Iphigenia formerly stole from the Tauric Chersonese”
Book 7 · Chapter 26
- parent: Agamemnon “And the old statue that stands there is, according to the tradition of the people at Ægira, Iphigenia the daughter of Agamemnon: and if they state what is correct, the temple must originally have been built to Iphigenia.”
Book 9 · Chapter 19
- with Calchas (Calchas's oracle directed the sacrifice.) “when the Greeks in accordance with the oracle of Calchas were about to sacrifice Iphigenia”
- with Artemis (Artemis substituted a doe for Iphigenia.) “the goddess caused a doe to be sacrificed instead”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.