The New Student's Reference Work/Iphigenia

Iphigenia (ĭf′ĭ-jḗ-nī́′ȧ), in Grecian legend, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra or, according to others, an adopted daughter. Her father offended Diana, and vowed to make atonement by sacrificing to the goddess the most beautiful thing born within the year. It happened that this was Iphigenia. Agamemnon long delayed the payment of his vow, but at length was commanded by the seer Calchas to keep his promise. When Iphigenia was brought to the altar to be sacrificed, she disappeared, and a hind lay there in her stead, Diana herself having caught her up in a cloud and carried her to Tauris. Here she became a priestess. Her brother, Orestes, found her here and removed her to Attica. The beautiful legend has been made the subject of many Greek poems, and artists and poets have immortalized the name of Iphigenia.