Iasion
In Greek mythology, Iasion /aɪˈeɪʒən/ (Ancient Greek: Ἰασίων, romanized: Iasíōn[1]) or Iasus /ˈaɪəsəs/ (Ancient Greek: Ἴασος, romanized: Íasos[2]), also called Eetion /iːˈɛʃən/ (Ancient Greek: Ἠετίων, romanized: Ēetíōn[3]), was the founder of the mystic rites on the island of Samothrace.
Family
Iasion was usually the son of the nymph Electra and Zeus, although another possible parentage is Corythus and Electra.[4] He was the elder brother of Dardanus,[5] Emathion[6] and possibly Harmonia.[7] With Demeter, Iasion was the father of twin sons named Ploutos[8] and Philomelus,[9] and was the father of a son named Corybas with Cybele.[10]
Mythology
At the marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia, Iasion was lured by Demeter away from the other revelers. They had intercourse as Demeter lay on her back in a freshly plowed furrow. When they rejoined the celebration, Zeus guessed what had happened because of the mud on Demeter's backside, and out of envy killed Iasion with a thunderbolt.[11][12] Servius, in his commentary upon Virgil's Aeneid, states that Iasion was killed by his brother Dardanus,[13] whereas Hyginus attributes his death to horses.[14] Ovid, in contrast, says that Iasion lived to an old age as the husband of Demeter.[15]
Some versions of this myth conclude with Iasion and the agricultural hero Triptolemus then becoming the Gemini constellation.[16]
Waldemar Januszczak believes that the mysterious Tempest by Giorgione is in fact a depiction of Iasion and Demeter.
Notes
- gen.: Ἰασίωνος
- gen.: Ἰάσου
- Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 121 Most, pp. 206, 207 [= fr. 177 Merkelbach-West = P. Oxy. 1359 fr. 2 (Grenfell and Hunt, p. 53)].
- Grimal, s.v. Electra, p. 144; Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.23; Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.167, 7.207, 10.719.
- Apollodorus, 3.12.1.
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.372 as the son of Zeus and Electra.
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.48.2.
- Hesiod, Theogony 969
- Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.4.7
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.49.2
- Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 121 Most, pp. 206, 207 [= fr. 177 Merkelbach-West = P. Oxy. 1359 fr. 2 (Grenfell and Hunt, p. 53)]; Apollodorus, 3.12.1; Hesiod, Theogony 969; Homer, Odyssey 5.125.
- Shlain, Leonard (1998). The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-14-019601-3.
- Smith s.v. Iasion; Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.167.
- Smith, s.v. Iasion; Hyginus, Fabulae 250.
- Smith, s.v. Iasion; Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.421.
- Morritt, Robert D. (2010-04-16). Stones that Speak. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-4438-2176-6.
References
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Grenfell, Bernard P., and Arthur S. Hunt, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part XI, London, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1915. Internet Archive.
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
- Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, in Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
- Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. ISBN 978-0674995611. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
- Lactantius, Divine Institutes, Translated by William Fletcher (1810-1900). From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Volume I: Books 1–15, translated by W. H. D. Rouse, Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940 (revised 1984). ISBN 978-0-674-99379-2. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive (1940). Online version at ToposText.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, edited and translated by Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co., 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Online version at ToposText.
- Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.