Greek mythology · 3 chapters

Iphigenia in Tauris

The girl sacrificed at Aulis survived, and has been waiting in exile ever since

When Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia at Aulis for a fair wind to Troy, the goddess Artemis intervened at the last moment and replaced the girl with a deer. Iphigenia was taken to Tauris, a distant land on the Black Sea, where she became a priestess of Artemis, required to prepare all Greek shipwreck survivors for sacrifice. Years after the Trojan War, her brother Orestes arrives in Tauris on a divine mission to retrieve a sacred statue of Artemis. He is captured. He and Iphigenia recognize each other. Together they devise a plan to escape with the statue, and flee Tauris before the king can stop them. The reunion of the siblings who never expected to meet again is one of Greek drama's most moving moments.