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The story of the House of Atreus has served as inspiration for many works of literature, music and art as well as for psychoanalytic interpretations. The legend has been retold over many centuries with preeminence given to Clytemnestra's murder of her husband, Agamemnon, and her subsequent death at the hands of her own children, Orestes and Electra, as well as the psychological determinants and consequences of their act. From Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, this theme has had a constant fascination to many generations. In the 20th century the saga of Electra and Orestes with its themes of intense Oedipal strivings, love and hatred for parents of the same and opposite sex has appeared in many versions. Richard Strauss, Hugo von Hoffman-sthal, Eugene O'Neill, Jean Giradoux, Robinson Jeffers and Marvin David Levy all have reworked this legend.
Less attention has been paid to the story of Iphigenia, the sister of Electra and Orestes, and her sacrifice at the hands of her father, Agamemnon. This story does not appear in Homer but is linked to the Trojan War by the classical Greek poets and playwrights.
In 406-405 B.C., Euripides wrote Iphigenia in Aulis in which the girl at first protests and then accepts her fate. The psychoanalytic insights derived from the study of this archaic family tragedy have relevance for certain adolescent and adult patients seen by the author who were offered up as “sacrificial lambs” to serve the neurotic and selfish needs of their parents. For this reason, I wish to explore the connection between the prototype of Iphigenia and