Iphigenia

Iphigenia, in Greek legend, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, or, according to others, an adopted daughter of Clytemnestra. Her father, having offended Artemis, could only avert the wrath of the goddess by promising to sacrifice to her the most beautiful thing born within the year. This happened to be Iphigenia. When Iphigenia was brought to the altar, however, she disappeared, and a hind lay there in her stead; Artemis herself carried her off in a cloud to Tauris (Crimea), where she became her priestess, but was afterwards recognised by her brother Orestes, who took her, along with the image of Artemis, to Attica. The legend is of post-Homeric origin, but evidently goes back to the barbaric stage of the Greek religion, when human sacrifices were wont to be made on solemn occasions. It gave a subject to painters, sculptors, and poets, and is imperishably enshrined in two splendid tragedies of Euripides. In modern art it has employed the genius of Gluck in music, and of Racine and Goethe in poetry.