Iphigenia

English

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by François Perrier, between 1632 and 1633

Alternative forms

• Iphigeneia

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek Ἰφιγένεια (Iphigéneia).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌaɪfɪdʒɪˈnaɪə/, /ɪfɪdʒɪˈnaɪə/

Proper noun

Iphigenia

1. (Greek mythology) The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, who narrowly escapes sacrifice by her father to ensure the safe journey of the Greeks to Troy.
   • 2007, Amber Jacobs, On Matricide: Myth, Psychoanalysis, and the Law of the Mother, page 161,

     If we are convinced by the way the Iphigenia myth reworks and distorts the structure of the Metis myth, then we gain a new understanding of the logic underlying Athena's refusal to acknowledge the crime against Iphigenia.

   • 2008, Allan Brooks, Myths, Games and Conflict, page 8,

     The founding of the sanctuary at Braurona is related to the myths of Iphigenia and her brother, Orestes.

   • 2013, Willie Young, 4: Taking One for the Team: Baseball and Sacrifice, Eric Bronson, William Irwin (editors), Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, page 63,

     One such involuntary sacrifice is found in the story of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, the famous Greek king and warrior.

Usage notes

The story of Iphigenia’s near sacrifice features in Homer’s Iliad and in the play Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides.

Translations

Greek hero

• Armenian: Իփիգենիա (hy) (Ipʻigenia)

  Old Armenian: Իփիւգենիա (Ipʻiwgenia)

• Italian: Ifigenia f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: Ифиге́ния m (Ifigénija)
• Spanish: Ifigenia (es)
• Swedish: Ifigenia (sv)

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Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek Ῑ̓φῐγένειᾰ (Īphigéneia).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /iː.pʰi.ɡeˈniː.a/, [iːpʰɪɡɛˈniːä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /i.fi.d͡ʒeˈni.a/, [ifid͡ʒeˈniːä]

Proper noun

Īphigenīa f sg (genitive Īphigenīae); first declension

1. Iphigenia (a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, who, because her father had killed, in Aulis, a hart belonging to Artemis, was to be offered up by way of expiation; but the goddess put a hart in her place and conveyed her to the Tauric Chersonese, where she became a priestess of Artemis, and with her brother Orestes carried off Artemis’s image)
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Ovid to this entry?)
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   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Rhetorica ad Herennium to this entry?)

Declension

First-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Īphigenīa
Genitive	Īphigenīae
Dative	Īphigenīae
Accusative	Īphigenīan
Ablative	Īphigenīā
Vocative	Īphigenīa

Greek type accusative in -an.

References

• “Īphĭgĕnīa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Īphĭgĕnīa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 855/3.
• “Īphigenīa” on page 964/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

Further reading

• Iphigenia on the Latin Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^la