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“Iphigenia” is an artwork by Walter Capezzali.

A gigantic bunker, abandoned and flooded. An arcane and terrible ritual is taking place. Iphigenia is the sacrificial victim, because the ships have to sail to Troy! Inside the stagnant water, slowly, the simulacrum of goddess Athena, bestower of justice, is going down.
The term proteleia indicated the date when virgins should go to the Acropolis, accompanied by their parents. There, they celebrate a sacrifice to the goddess Artemis (or to other female deities). Generally, it happened in view of their marriage. In facts, with the same term, Euripides translates only the sacrificial rite. The sacrifice often consisted of a personal object, a toy or a lock of hair, that represent the childhood left behind.

The parallelism with the myth of Iphigenia is evident. Iphigenia is an obedient daughter, willing to sacrifice herself according to the wishes of her father. Meanwhile, she is also a priestess of a cult that follows during the stages of growth all the girls devoted daughters, women, mothers and brides .

The interpretation of the artist: The myth of the girl who remains virgin is reflected in “Iphigenia”, even if the attempt to kill her. The sacrifice means the girl’s death in favor of the adult woman, mature and therefore ready to be married to a man. Even the father figure who gets confused with that of the sacrificer is important. The girl is no more under tutelage of her father, in favor of her husband. By participating in the sacrifice, the father accepts this condition.