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Iasion

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Iasion
Founder of the Mystic rites
Other namesIasus, Eetion
Abode(1) Samothrace or
(2) Italy
Genealogy
Parents(1) Zeus and Electra
(2) Corythus and Electra
(3) Ilithyius
Siblings(1) & (2) Dardanus, Harmonia
and (1) Emathion (possibly)
Consort(i) Demeter
(ii) Cybele
Children(i) Plutus and Philomelus
(ii) Corybas

In Greek mythology, Iasion /ˈʒən/ (Ancient Greek: Ἰασίων, romanizedIasíōn[1]) or Iasus /ˈəsəs/ (Ancient Greek: Ἴασος, romanizedÍasos[2]), also called Eetion[3][4] /ˈɛʃən/ (Ancient Greek: Ἠετίων, romanizedĒetíōn), was the founder of the mystic rites on the island of Samothrace.

Family

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According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Iasion is the son of the Pleiad Electra and Zeus, and the brother of Dardanus[5] and possibly Emathion.[6] Both Hellanicus and Diodorus Siculus repeat this parentage, adding Harmonia as his sister.[7] According to an Italian version of the genealogy, Iasion and Dardanus are both Electra's sons, and are both born in Italy, with Iasion fathered by Corythus and Dardanus by Zeus.[8] In Hyginus' Fabulae, Iasion is called the son of Ilithyius.[9]

With Demeter, Iasion was the father of Plutus, the god of wealth.[10] According to Hyginus' De Astronomica, Iasion was also the father of Philomelus,[11] while, according to Diodorus Siculus, he was the father of a son named Corybas with Cybele.[12]

Mythology

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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.[13][14] In one account, his death was caused by his impiety to the statue of Demeter instead.[15] Servius, in his commentary upon Virgil's Aeneid, states that Iasion was killed by his brother Dardanus,[16] whereas Hyginus attributes his death to horses.[17] Ovid, in contrast, says that Iasion lived to an old age as the husband of Demeter.[18]

Some versions of this myth conclude with Iasion and the agricultural hero Triptolemus then becoming the Gemini constellation.[19]

Notes

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  1. ^ gen.: Ἰασίωνος
  2. ^ gen.: Ἰάσου
  3. ^ Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 121 Most, pp. 206, 207 [= fr. 177 Merkelbach-West = P. Oxy. 1359 fr. 2 (Grenfell and Hunt, p. 53)].
  4. ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.916 with Hellanicus as the authority; Scholia on Euripides, Phoenissae 1129; Tzetzes on Lycophron, 219
  5. ^ Apollodorus, 3.12.1.
  6. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.124
  7. ^ Fowler 2013, p. 552; Gantz, p. 215; Hard, p. 297; Hellanicus, fr. 23 Fowler, p. 163 [= Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.916–18a (Wendel, p. 77)]; Diodorus Siculus, 5.48.2
  8. ^ Grimal, s.v. Electra (2), p. 144; Smith, s.v. Electra (2); Gantz, p. 872 n. 4 to p. 561; Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.167, 7.207, 10.719; Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.23.
  9. ^ Smith, s.v. Iasion; Hyginus, Fabulae 270
  10. ^ Hansen, p. 147; Hesiod, Theogony 969–71; Diodorus Siculus, 5.77.1
  11. ^ Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.4.7
  12. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 5.49.2
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ Shlain, Leonard (1998). The Alphabet Versus the Goddess. Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-14-019601-3.
  15. ^ Pseudo-Scymnos, Circuit de la terre 535 ff.
  16. ^ Smith s.v. Iasion; Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.167.
  17. ^ Smith, s.v. Iasion; Hyginus, Fabulae 250
  18. ^ Smith, s.v. Iasion; Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.421.
  19. ^ Morritt, Robert D. (2010-04-16). Stones that Speak. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-4438-2176-6.

References

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