Iphigenia

American  

[if-i-juh-nahy-uh, -nee-uh] / ˌɪf ɪ dʒəˈnaɪ ə, -ˈni ə /

noun

1. Classical Mythology. the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and sister of Orestes and Electra: when she was about to be sacrificed to ensure a wind to take the Greek ships to Troy, she was saved by Artemis, whose priestess she became.

2. a female given name.

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Iphigenia British  

/ ˌɪfɪdʒɪˈnaɪə /

noun

1. Greek myth the daughter of Agamemnon, taken by him to be sacrificed to Artemis, who saved her life and made her a priestess

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Iphigenia Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the eldest daughter of Agamemnon and the sister of Electra and Orestes. When the Greek fleet was about to sail to fight in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War), Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis to obtain favorable winds. According to some stories, Artemis saved Iphigenia from the sacrifice, and she was later reunited with Orestes.

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Example Sentences

The play, a reworking of Euripides and Goethe by the Polish writer Joanna Bednarczyk, strives to reinterpret the character of Iphigenia, whose father, the Greek king Agamemnon, sacrifices her to appease a vengeful goddess.

From New York Times • Aug. 25, 2022

The director, Anne Théron, opted for Rodrigues’s 2015 retelling of the myth of Iphigenia, sacrificed by the Greeks in exchange for the wind needed to carry them across the sea to Troy.

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2022

Except they are not, as Spalding summons Iphigenia Unbound, Iphigenia of the Sea, Iphigenia the Elder, Iphigenia the Younger and Iphigenia of the Light in her fight against victimization.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2022

Iphigenia of the Open Tense — a dazzling, if bemused, modern woman in a silver jumpsuit, portrayed by Spalding — takes matters into her own hands.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2022

It was inevitable therefore that another story should grow up about the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton