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The Greek myth of Iphigenia involves her sacrifice by her father Agamemnon to appease Artemis, but some versions have her spared and made a priestess. Her death is a partial explanation for Clytemnestra’s revenge. Some suggest Iphigenia may have been an earlier mother goddess supplanted by Artemis or transformed into Hecate.
The Greek myths concerning Iphigenia are numerous and often cause confusion. In some, Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Artemis is offended by a statement made by Agamemnon and will not allow Aegean ships to pass into Troy unless Iphigenia is sacrificed.
Child sacrifice is not a new concept. In fact, child sacrifice features heavily in many ancient and modern religions. Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac is meant to test Abraham’s devotion to God. In the end, God accepts a lesser sacrifice of Isaac and spares Abraham the loss of a son.
In some accounts of Iphigenia, Agamemnon is allowed to sacrifice a deer, and Iphigenia is taken away to a temple by Artemis to become a priestess of the goddess. In other versions, Iphigenia is clearly killed by Agamemnon.
Iphigenia’s death is a partial explanation for Clytemnestra’s desire to kill Agamemnon when he returns from the Trojan War. This is clearly the case with Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and his next two plays The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides.
In other versions of the Iphigenia story, Iphigenia eventually becomes the goddess Hecate. Being the goddess of the desert and childbirth, she essentially fills the same role as Artemis, suggesting the tension between the two characters.
The cult of Hecate in some areas of ancient Greece supplanted the cult of Artemis. Hecate is of later origin than Artemis, however. Later versions of the story may reflect Hecate’s gradual popularity over Artemis in some areas of Greece. So Iphigenia’s sacrifice could be considered relatively symbolic. Some scholars suggest that Iphigenia may have been an earlier mother goddess of a local region, whose sacrifice gives way to the later goddess Artemis.
Since there are so many different accounts of Iphigenia’s story, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find this last scholarly guess close to the mark. The tension between gods or goddesses in mythology is often rooted in a local god being supplanted by the god of a conquering people. Iphigenia’s gradual transformation into the goddess Hecate may be an attempted explanation for Hecate’s later popularity incorporating older beliefs.
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