Iphigenia

if-i-je-nia, in Greek legend, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When the Greek army assembled at Aulis to set sail for Troy, Agamemnon, so runs the legend, was unlucky enough to kill a stag sacred to Artemis (Diana). The soothsayer Calchas made an announcement that the offense could be appeased only by the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter. Agamemnon was plunged in grief, but sent for his daughter on the pretence of marrying her to Achilles. When the virgin was placed on the altar and the fatal knife was in mid air Artemis snatched her away and substituted a hind in her place. The maiden was wrapped in a cloud and conveyed to Tauris, where she became a priestess in the temple of Artemis. See Orestes