Great was the pain of the father. But the army was in turmoil and so he declared himself ready for this sacrifice. Under the pretext that Achilles wanted to marry Iphigneia, he sent for his wife Klytemnästra and his daughter. Joyfully, they both hurried to Aulis with Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. But soon Klytemnästra learned of her husband's intention and before Iphigeneia she made the worst of her husband's allegations. But Iphegeneia agreed to go to sacrifice for Greece's sake. So the altar was prepared in the sacred grove of Artemis before Aulis and Kalchas stood ready with the sacrificial knife to perform the terrible ceremony. Artemis was reconciled by the obedience of Agamemnon and his suffering anguish and so she took the girl in a cloud and put a doe on the sacrificial altar.
Agamemnon immediately rushed to his wife's tent to announce the good news. But she was already on her way back to Mycenae and in her heart burned the hatred against the murderer of her child.
At last the fleet was able to set sail under favorable winds. After only a few days she reached the coast of Troy and built her camp in the plain of the river Skamandros.
The heroes did great things in this mighty battle. Countless found death. Even the gods intervened in the event. Aphrodite and Apollo stood on the side of the Trojans, Hera and Athena, the offended, supported the Greeks.
So year after year passed. The Trojans, however, felt safe in their walls.
Ten years have passed since the siege of Troy. Many longed for the end of the long war. But now the luck of the war seemed to turn away from the Greeks. Agamemnon had on one of his forays in the surrounding cities, the priest Chryses his daughter Chryseis robbed. The deeply saddened father appeared with gifts in the camp of the Greeks and wanted to request the freedom of his daughter. But Agamemnon drove him out of the camp amid wild threats.
In his pain, the priest pleaded with Apollo for help and the god heard him. He sent deadly arrows to the camp of the Greeks. When these arrows hit, they were carried away by the plague. Soon burned at all corners of the camp pyro with the dead. Displeasure and fear broke out among the brave men, and they sought the cause of this terrible misfortune. Finally, the seer Kalchas was consulted for advice. He said to them that they would only be able to avert the divine punishment if King Agamemnon returned the robbed Chryseis to his father.
