IPHIGENIA, a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. When the Greeks, going to the Trojan war, were detained by contrary winds at Aulis, they were informed by one of the soothsayers, that to appease the gods they must sacrifice to Diana, Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon. The father, who had provoked the goddess by killing her favourite stag, heard this with the greatest horror and indignation; and, rather than shed the blood of his daughter, he commanded one of his heralds, as chief of the Grecian forces, to order all the assembly to depart each to his respective home. Ulysses and the other generals interfered, and Agamemnon consented to immolate his daughter for the common cause of Greece. As Iphigenia was tenderly loved by her mother, the Greeks sent for her on pretence of giving her in marriage to Achilles. Clytemnestra gladly permitted her departure, and Iphigenia came to Aulis, where she saw the bloody preparations for the sacrifice. She implored the forgiveness and protection of her father, but tears and entreaties were unavailing. Calchas took the knife in his hand, and, as he was going to strike the fatal blow, Iphigenia suddenly disappeared, and a goat of uncommon size and beauty was found in her place for the sacrifice. This supernatural change animated the Greeks, the wind suddenly became favourable, and the combined fleet set sail from Aulis.