IphigeniaAulisANCIENT_Hyginus

Hyginus Fabulae, 98

98. Iphigenia.
     When Agamemnon and Menelaus with the chosen generals of Achaea (Greece) went to Troy in order to hunt down Helen, Menelaus' wife whom Alexander Paris has abducted, a storm provoked by Diana's wrath kept them at Aulis; for, Agamemnon violated her deer on the hunt and spoke rather insolently about Diana. When he convened the augurs and Calchas responded that he could expiate the crime in no other way than by sacrificing Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. The oracle was pronounced, but Agamemnon started to refuse its demands. Then Ulysses with wiles won him over to a beautiful plan — The same Ulysses was sent with Diomedes to bring Iphigenia, and when he came to her mother Clytemnestra, Ulysses lied that the girl was being given to Achilles as his bride. When he had gotten her to Aulis and her father was desiring to sacrifice her, Diana took pity on her and cast a darkness over them, and she provided a deer in Iphigenia's place. Diana carried her through the skies to the land of the Taurians and made her the priestess there in charge of Diana's temple.
     
     
     
     
—— trans by RTM


12. Pelias

Hyginus, myth., Fabulae 98.1.1 iphigenia. Agamemnon cum Menelao fratre et Achaiae delectis ducibus Helenam uxorem Menelai quam Alexander Paris auexerat repetitum ad Troiam cum uenirent, in Aulide tempestas eos ira Dianae retinebat, quod Agamemnon in uenando ceruam eius uiolauit superbiusque in Dianam est locutus. (2) is cum haruspices conuocasset et Calchas se respondisset aliter expiare non posse nisi Iphigeniam filiam Agamemnonis immolasset, re audita Agamemnon recusare coepit. (3) tunc Vlixes eum consiliis ad rem pulchram transtulit; idem Vlixes cum Diomede ad Iphigeniam missus est adducendam, qui cum ad Clytaemnestram matrem eius uenisset,ementitur Vlixes eam Achilli in coniugium dari.(4) quam cum in Aulidem adduxisset et parens eam immolare uellet, Diana uirginem miserata est et caliginem eis obiecit ceruamque pro ea supposuit, Iphigeniamque per nubes in terram Tauricam detulit ibique templi sui sacerdotem fecit. 5

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
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