Myths and Legends

The Iphigenia and the Oresteia

So in many mythos, you will find that one story can directly relate to another one either later on or earlier in a timeline...if that makes since. I think I explained it earlier in this book, but if not let me explain. There are certain myths that either cause another myth or effect another. For example anything involving Zeus. Zeus sleeps with a mortal woman (mostly against her will because wtf) and there is a story that is affected by this later. The story of Perseus directly effects the story of Heracules ( though I need to talk about him at a later date) due to Heracules being a direct descendant.Stories interconnect in one way or another, either through plot or characters.  I can go one, but then this would be half the length of a standard research paper. Anyway, there was no I would talk about one and not the other. I mean I could have but then I would have forgotten so two for one.

The story actually starts before the Iliad aka Troy Story 1. But like always contexts: The story of Iphigenia begins in Mycenae where she was born into the royal family( like you do.), for her father was King Agamemnon( more on his stupidity later on), and her mother was Clytemnestra, daughter of Tyndareus the former king of Sparta. Iphigenia had a number of siblings depending on the telling but the important ones are Orestes, Electra and Chrysothemis.

Skipping over unimportant details, we now begin this slippery slope of a tale at the start of the Trojan war. Agamemnon managed to piss off a god before the war even started, and it was Artemis. What did he do you ask? Well ,he killed one of her deers, this one being the shiny sarced on. So no winds to set the Greeks off to war, there's a seer with both good new and bad news. The good news, Agamemnon can be forgiven with a sacrifice. The bad news...it has to be his daughter. Like any good dad, he was reluctant...but then agreed. Now this is where shit goes down hill. First Agamemnon lied to his wife, Clytemnestra, saying Iphigenia was going to marry Achilles. After sending that text, he regrets it and tried to send a follow up saying never mind, but there was no service and they arrived. Agamemnon tries to convince Clytemnestra to go back to Argos, but Clytemnestra insists on staying for the wedding. He was like,"...Fuck."

 When she sees Achilles, Clytemnestra mentions the marriage. Achilles was like "What? Did my mom arrange something and not tell me?" Clytemnestra and Iphigenia gradually learn the truth.  Achilles went to Agamemnon, pissed because he didn agree to be apart of anything, vows to help prevent the murder of Iphigenia. And that's when we just gunned it past 100. Iphigenia and Clytemnestra plead with Agamemnon to spare his daughter's life. Achilles informs them that the Greek army was eager for war because they learned of the seer's advice and now demand that Iphigenia be sacrificed. And it was very likely they would kill Agamemnon and family if he didn't go through with it. Iphigenia was like "Fuck it. I volunteer as tribute. We can't go against the goddess . Plus it's for the greater good, for all of Greece." 

Later, Clytemnestra is told of her daughter's purported death—and how at the last moment, the gods spared Iphigenia and whisked her away, replacing her with a deer. And that's the last we know of her, I think she serves as a handmadien to Artemis. Any moving on to the next part of the story, which takes place like 10...ish years after the Trojan War, maybe 17... Well I covered Cassandra, so we're going to breeze past this a bit. Clytemnestra is still pissed about Agamemnon sacrificing their daughter, but the icing on the cake is him bringing home Cassasndra. Cassandra blurts out that both her and Agamemnon were going to die by her and her boo's,  Aegisthus( who is Agamemnon's cousin), hand. Which does happen because no one believed her and Clytemnestra played dumb. 

Enter Orestes.He and his other sister Elektra( there are many variations but this is the one I know) was sent off at a young age to stay alive. Orestes decided with some nudging from his sister and Apollo, to avenge his father, but I just go off on a tangent for a second. Why he would want to avenge his father is an odd thing ( or at least in modern terms anyway). The guy was literally going to sacrifice his own child to appease the god he pissed off. From an outside perspective, this makes no sense. Why avenge the guy that basically fucked your entire family? Sadly, this is the Greeks we're talking about, where doing certain things is frowned upon, and killing one's family is on that list....anywho back to the story.

Orestes, assisted by his friend Pylades, returned to the city, and murdered his mother and her lover. However, committing matricide was a horrible act that brought the fury of the Erinyes upon him. He was driven mad and was pursued by them. Athena put them down for a nap so Orestes can escape and take refuge in a temple. Now this is a fun history fact, the trial soon to come is the first ever of it's kind and is what the justice system is based on a single judge and 12 jurors. 

Now Apollo comes to Orestes defense with one of the most sexist excuse. True parentage lies with the father as the mother is just an incubator. The jury was tied six to six and Athena was the tie breaker, voting in favor of Orestes. The Erinyes become the Eumenides ("Kind Goddesses") because they were pissed about the trial results, but Athena struck a deal that they agree to a home and cult...not really sure what the moral of the story is, though.

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