Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis – Amphiktyon
From previous articles, the myth of Iphigenia is well known: the goddess Artemis spirited her away to Tauris and placed a deer upon the altar in her stead. The true story, however, is different.
Ogygia, Volume V, by Athanasios Stagirites, informs us that Agamemnon fathered Iphigenia with Chryseis in the Troad, the daughter of the priest Chryses. After the fall of Troy, while wandering, she was seized by the Scythians and taken to Tauris. There she was made a priestess of the temple of Artemis and sacrificed foreigners, until the time when Orestes and Pylades arrived and took her away. She also took the statue of Artemis and brought it to Chrysopolis of Chalcedon, and later it was transferred to Delphi, where she found her sister Electra.
After her death, she came to the island of Leuke, where she became young again, was renamed Orilochia, and married Achilles. She died at Megara, where her tomb was located. An oracle decreed that she be buried at Brauron, serve as a priestess of Artemis, and be honored by women.
Euripides wrote two tragedies: one titled Iphigenia at Aulis, describing the events there, and another titled Iphigenia in Tauris, depicting the events involving Orestes and Pylades.
Homer mentions three daughters of Agamemnon. The tragedians identify Iphianassa as Iphigenia and Laodice as Electra. Sophocles also introduced Chrysothemis into his drama. According to Homer, Agamemnon promised one of his daughters to Achilles.
Electra was previously called Laodice. She was exceptionally beautiful and desired by many suitors. Aegisthus did not wish to give her in marriage, fearing she might introduce a rival to his kingdom. Eventually, he married her to a private citizen, who did not dare violate her virginity. For this reason, the Argives called her Electra, meaning “unmarried.” According to others, she received her name from the amber-like (electron) color of her complexion.
When Agamemnon was killed, Electra secretly sent Orestes to Astyocheia or Anaxibia, Agamemnon’s sister and wife of Strophius, king of Phocis. Because Aegisthus sought her and could not find her, he imprisoned her, though she revealed nothing. When she was released, she came to Delphi, where Iphigenia had arrived earlier than Orestes. However, she learned that Iphigenia had sacrificed Orestes in Tauris. When she saw her, she seized a torch from the altar and rushed to kill her. At that moment, Orestes arrived and saved her.
Orestes gave Astyocheia in marriage to Pylades; although she was already elderly, she nevertheless bore two children.
Sophocles and Euripides wrote tragedies concerning the murder of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra under the title Electra, since she was present at that scene. The same subject is treated in Aeschylus’ Libation Bearers (Choephoroi).
Hyalus is said to have been Agamemnon’s charioteer toward the end of his life. Fearing that he might be killed, he fled with companions to Italy and founded the city of Falerii in Etruria. When Aeneas arrived there, Hyalus allied himself with Turnus against him, out of deep hatred for the Trojans.
Orestes, the youngest child of Agamemnon, was three years old when Electra or his nurse Arsinoe sent him to Strophius. Some say that the messenger Talthybius brought him to Corinth. Strophius had a son, Pylades, approximately the same age as Orestes. The cousins grew up together, became inseparable friends, and became a model of friendship. As they matured, they decided to kill Aegisthus. After secretly consulting the oracle, they received a favorable prophecy and began preparing their plan.
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Commentary
- The Greeks called the region Tauris after its inhabitants, the Tauri, who lived only in the mountainous regions of southern Crimea. Initially, the name referred only to the southern part; later it was applied to the entire peninsula, known as the Tauric Chersonese. The city of Chersonesus in the area is now called Kherson.
- The religion of the ancient Scythians was polytheistic, with strong elements of nature worship and warfare, known primarily through Herodotus.
- Main characteristics of Scythian religion:
a) They had no temples or statues (except for the god of war), but they did have altars.
b) They worshipped deities associated with natural forces, the sky, the earth, and war.
c) Their rituals were simple. In earlier times they practiced human sacrifice, mainly of foreigners; later they sacrificed animals, like the Greeks. - Brauron (Attica): An ancient sacred site in eastern Attica near the Erasinos River, dedicated to Artemis. It was the center of worship of Brauronian Artemis, closely associated with female initiation rites and particularly important for girls before marriage. Girls dressed as “arktoi” (bears), wearing yellow or saffron garments, symbolizing the transition from childhood to maturity. Numerous votive offerings existed (figurines of children, garments, toys).
- The site is associated with Iphigenia, who, according to one tradition, brought the xoanon (wooden cult statue) of Artemis from Tauris and established the cult at Brauron.
- Women’s associations, which should honor the goddess as an authentic symbol of womanhood, motherhood, transition, and the sacred feminine nature at the sanctuary of Brauronian Artemis, have abandoned every historical and cultural root. Instead, they seek and promote “new deities,” often alien to Greek culture, with no real connection to female nature, but rather to outdated, dark, and regressive concepts. Thus, in the name of a supposed religious or foreign tradition, they reject womanhood’s own primordial symbols and surrender women to ideological constructs that neither honor nor liberate them.
Amphiktyon – Retired Lieutenant General Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers
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