When all the Greek ships gathered again in Aulis, the Greeks pulled their ships ashore. A huge military camp was formed on the shore. Many heroes did not stay in Aulis. They returned home. The leader of the entire army, King Agamemnon, also left Aulis. No one knew when it would be possible to go on a campaign against Troy again. But what about the Greeks? They need a guide to show them the way to the shores of Troy. Only Telephus, with whom the Greeks had only recently fought, could show them this path. During the battle, Telephus was wounded in the thigh by Achilles. No matter how Telef treated his wound, nothing helped. The wound hurt more and more, the pain became unbearable. Finally, exhausted by suffering, Telephus went to Delphi and there asked Apollo how to heal his wound. Pythia answered that Telephus can only be healed by the one who wounded him. Dressed in rags, on crutches, under the guise of a beggar, Telephus came to Mycenae to the palace of Agamemnon; he decided to ask the king of Mycenae to persuade Achilles to heal the wound. The first to see Telephus was Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra. He revealed to her who he was, and Clytemnestra gave advice to Telephus, when Agamemnon entered, to take the baby Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, out of the cradle, run up to the altar and threaten that he would crush Orestes’ head on the altar if Agamemnon refused to help him heal from his wound. Telef did as Clytemnestra told him. Agamemnon was afraid that he would kill his son Telephus. He agreed to help him and did it willingly, knowing that only Telephus could show the Greeks the way to Troy. Agamemnon sent ambassadors for Achilles. Achilles was surprised; he could not understand how he, without knowing the art of medicine, could heal Telephus’ wound. But, the wisest of heroes, Odysseus told Achilles that Achilles did not need to be a doctor, that with the iron from the tip of the spear that inflicted the wound on Telephus, Achilles would heal the wound. They immediately scraped iron from Achilles' spear, sprinkled it on Telephus' wound, and the wound healed. Telef was delighted. He agreed, as a reward for healing, to lead the Greek fleet to the Trojan shores, which he had previously so stubbornly refused. A guide was now found, but the Greeks still could not sail from Aulis: there was a contrary wind at sea all the time. This wind was sent by the goddess Artemis, who was angry with Agamemnon for killing her sacred doe. The heroes waited in vain for the wind to change - it, without weakening, blew all the time in the same direction. The assembled heroes were bored in inaction. Diseases began in the camp, and a murmur arose among the soldiers. They were even afraid of their uprising. Finally, the soothsayer Calchas announced to the leaders of the Greeks:
“Only then will the goddess Artemis have mercy on the Greeks when they sacrifice Agamemnon’s beautiful daughter Iphigenia to her.”
Agamemnon was saddened when he learned about this, returning to Aulis. He was even ready to completely abandon the campaign against Troy, just to save the life of his daughter. Menelaus spent a long time convincing him to submit to the will of Artemis; Finally, Agamemnon gave in to his brother’s requests and sent a messenger to Mycenae to Clytemnestra, who was supposed to inform her, hiding the real reason, Agamemnon’s command to bring Iphigenia to Aulis - Achilles supposedly wants to get engaged to Iphigenia before setting out on a campaign. Agamemnon sent a messenger to Mycenae, and pity for his daughter took hold of him even more. Secretly from everyone, he sent another messenger, whom he ordered to inform Clytemnestra so that she would not take Iphigenia to Aulis. But this second messenger was intercepted by Menelaus. In anger, he reproached Agamemnon for acting as only one who betrays the common cause can act. Menelaus reproached Agamemnon for a long time. A heated argument arose between the brothers. This dispute was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger, who announced that Clytemnestra had just arrived at the Greek camp with Iphigenia and little Orestes and stopped near a source near the camp itself.
Agamemnon fell into despair. Is it really destined for him to lose his dearly beloved daughter Iphigenia, will he himself have to lead her to death, to slaughter at the altar of Artemis? Seeing the grief of his brother, even Menelaus is ready to refuse such a sacrifice on the part of his brother. But Agamemnon knows that Calchas will announce the will of the goddess Artemis to the entire army, and then they will force him to sacrifice Iphigenia. Even if Calchas does not announce the will of the goddess, Odysseus will tell everyone about it, because he also knows the will of the goddess.
Full of deep sorrow, Agamemnon went to meet his wife and daughter. He tried to appear calm and cheerful. But he failed. Iphigenia immediately saw that her father was deeply saddened by something. She began to ask her father, but he did not tell her anything. Agamemnon did not say anything to his wife, he only persuaded her to leave for Mycenae: Agamemnon did not want Clytemnestra to witness the death of her daughter. Finally, Agamemnon left his wife and daughter and went to Calchas: he wanted to ask him if it was possible to somehow save his daughter.
As soon as Agamemnon left the tent, Achilles arrived. He wanted to see the king of Mycenae in order to demand from him an immediate action against Troy. Achilles was tired of sitting idle in Aulis, and his Myrmidons were worried and demanded that they either be taken on a campaign or allowed to go home. When Clytemnestra learned who the hero was asking Agamemnon, she turned to Achilles and welcomed him as her daughter's groom. Achilles was surprised. After all, he never told Agamemnon that he wanted to marry his daughter. Clytemnestra was embarrassed when she learned that Achilles had never thought about marrying Iphigenia, and did not know what to say to Achilles. But then the same slave came who was sent by Agamemnon with the second news to Mycenae. He revealed to Clytemnestra why Agamemnon summoned her and Iphigenia to Aulis. Clytemnestra was horrified. She was about to lose her daughter. Who should she look to for protection? She fell on her knees in front of Achilles, sobbing, she hugged his knees and begged him for protection, conjuring him with his mother, the great daughter of Nereus, Thetis. Achilles, seeing Clytemnestra's despair, swore by the prophetic old man of the sea, the god Nereus, to help her. He swore that he would not let anyone even touch Iphigenia. Achilles quickly left Agamemnon's tent to put on his armor. When Agamemnon returned to the tent, Clytemnestra began to angrily reproach him for deciding to destroy his own daughter.
What could Agamemnon answer her? After all, it was not of his own free will that he decided to sacrifice his own daughter to the goddess Artemis. He was unable to do otherwise. He could only say that even if he had yielded to the pleas of his wife and daughter, the angry Greeks would have killed him and all his loved ones, since for the good of all Greece they sacrificed Iphigenia.
There was already great excitement in the camp. The Myrmidons almost stoned Achilles when he announced that he would not allow the one promised to be his wife to be sacrificed. All the soldiers, led by Odysseus, rushed to Agamemnon’s tent with weapons in their hands. Achilles, with a sword in his hands, covered with a shield, stood at the entrance to the tent, ready to defend Iphigenia to the last drop of blood.
But then Iphigenia stopped everyone who was ready to start a bloody battle. She loudly announced that she was ready to voluntarily go under the sacrificial knife for the sake of a common cause. She does not want to resist the will of the great daughter of Zeus, Artemis. Let them sacrifice her, the ruins of Troy will be her eternal monument when the Greeks take her. She convinced the hero Achilles not to defend her, not to start an internecine battle. Achilles submitted to the will of Iphigenia, although he felt sorry for the beautiful maiden, whom he fell in love with for her great determination to sacrifice herself for the common good.
Iphigenia calmly went to where the altar was built in honor of the goddess Artemis. Beautiful and majestic, Iphigenia walked among the countless rows of warriors and stood near the altar. Agamemnon began to cry, looking at his young daughter, and, so as not to see her death, covered his head with his wide cloak. Iphigenia stood calmly at the altar. Everyone kept, by order of the herald Talfibius, deep silence. The prophetic Calchas took the sacrificial knife from its sheath and put it in a golden basket. He put a wreath on the virgin’s head, as if on a sacrifice being led to the altar. Achilles left the ranks of the warriors. He took a vessel with sacred water and sacrificial flour with salt, sprinkled water on Iphigenia and the altar, sprinkled flour on the maiden’s head and loudly called out to the goddess Artemis, begging her to send the army a safe voyage to the Trojan shores and victory over the enemies. Calchas took the sacrificial knife in his hand. Everyone froze. So he raised a knife to hit Iphigenia with it. The knife has already touched the maiden. But Iphigenia did not fall with her death groan at the altar. A great miracle happened. The goddess Artemis kidnapped Iphigenia, and instead of her, at the altar, staining it with blood, a doe, struck by Calchas’ knife, was beating in its death throes. Struck by the miracle, all the soldiers cried out as one man. The prophetic Calchas cried out loudly and joyfully:
“This is the sacrifice that the great daughter of the thunderer Zeus, Artemis, demanded!” Rejoice, Greeks, the goddess promises us a happy voyage and victory over Troy.
And indeed, the doe sent by Artemis had not yet been burned on the altar when the wind changed and became favorable. The Greeks hastily began to prepare for a long journey. Everyone in the camp rejoiced. Agamemnon hurried to his tent to inform Clytemnestra about what happened at the altar, and to hurry her to return to Mycenae.
The goddess Artemis, having kidnapped Iphigenia from the altar, transferred her to the shores of the Euxine Pontus, to distant Tauris. There, the beautiful daughter of Agamemnon, Iphigenia, became a priestess of the goddess.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru