Iasus

Iasus is the name of several unrelated men in Greek mythology, and the ancient authors sometimes write it as Iasius or Iasion. The best known are Iasion, the lover of Demeter and brother of Dardanus; Iasus, the Arcadian father of Atalanta; and Iasus, a king of Argos and father of Io.

Iasion, Son of Zeus and Electra

Apollodorus says that Electra, daughter of Atlas, bore two sons, Iasion and Dardanus, to Zeus (Apollodorus 3.12.1). Diodorus places their birth in Samothrace, and adds that Iasion is reputed to have been the first to initiate strangers into the mysteries of that island and to bring the rite to high esteem (Diodorus 5.48–49). Diodorus also lists a sister, Harmonia, who married Cadmus (Diodorus 5.48.2).

Iasion and Demeter

Homer tells that Demeter, yielding to her passion, lay with Iasion in a thrice-ploughed fallow field. Zeus soon learned of it and killed Iasion with a bright thunderbolt (Odyssey 5.125–128). Hesiod places the field in the rich land of Crete and says that Demeter bore to Iasion the child Plutus (Wealth), who goes over the earth and the sea and makes rich the man who meets him (Hesiod, Theogony 969–974). Apollodorus gives a different motive for the killing: Iasion loved Demeter and, in an attempt to defile the goddess, was killed by a thunderbolt (Apollodorus 3.12.1). In Diodorus, Demeter fell in love with Iasion at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia and gave him the fruit of the corn, and Plutus was born to them (Diodorus 5.49.1–2). Strabo preserves the report that, when Iasion was struck by a thunderbolt for his offence against Demeter, Dardanus left Samothrace and settled near Mount Ida (Strabo 7, fragment 49). Virgil calls “old Iasius” the ancestor of the Trojans, along with Dardanus (Virgil, Aeneid 3.167–168).

Iasus, Father of Atalanta

Apollodorus makes this Iasus one of the four sons of the Arcadian Lycurgus: Ancaeus, Epochus, Amphidamas and Iasus, born to Cleophyle or Eurynome. Amphidamas had a son, Melanion, and a daughter, Antimache; Iasus had a daughter, Atalanta, by Clymene, daughter of Minyas (Apollodorus 3.9.2). Callimachus likewise calls Atalanta the daughter of Arcadian Iasius, whom Artemis praised and taught to hunt with dogs and to use the bow (Callimachus, Hymn 3.215–220). Other versions give her a different father: Apollodorus reports that she was called the daughter of Schoeneus, and that Euripides named Maenalus (Apollodorus 3.9.2). The Atalanta page tells her story.

This Iasus is a different man from Iasion: he is the son of Lycurgus, not the son of Zeus, and he belongs to Arcadia, not Samothrace. The mistake of treating the two as one comes from the similarity of the names.

Iasus of Argos

Pausanias says that Argus begot Peirasus and Phorbas, Phorbas begot Triopas, and Triopas begot Iasus and Agenor. Io, daughter of Iasus, went to Egypt, and after Iasus the throne passed to Crotopus, son of Agenor (Pausanias 2.16.1). Apollodorus says instead that Iasus was the son of Argus and Ismene, daughter of Asopus, and that he is said to have been the father of Io (Apollodorus 2.1.3). Others, such as the tragedians, made Io a daughter of Inachus (Apollodorus 2.1.3).

Other Men Named Iasus

• Iasus of the Minyans: Homer calls Amphion of Orchomenus, who once ruled the Minyans, the son of Iasus, and says that his youngest daughter Chloris married Neleus and became queen of Pylos (Odyssey 11.281–285).
• Iasus of Cyprus: in the Odyssey, a beggar claims to have been given to Dmetor, son of Iasus, who ruled mightily over Cyprus (Odyssey 17.442–443).
• Iasus of Athens: in the Iliad, Aeneas kills Iasus, a captain of the Athenians, who is called the son of Sphelus, son of Bucolus (Iliad 15.332–338).
• Iasus, father of Phaedimus: in Statius’ epic on the war of the Seven against Thebes, Phaedimus, son of Iasus, is shot down by the arrow of the Theban Amyntas (Statius, Thebaid 8.438–440).

Iasus Sources

Homer, Iliad 15.332–338; Odyssey 5.125–128, 11.281–285, 17.442–443; Hesiod, Theogony 969–974; Apollodorus, Library 2.1.3, 3.9.2, 3.12.1; Callimachus, Hymn 3 (to Artemis) 215–220; Diodorus 5.48–49; Strabo 7, fragment 49; Pausanias 2.16.1; Virgil, Aeneid 3.167–168; Statius, Thebaid 8.438–440.

See Also: Iasion, Zeus, Electra, Demeter, Dardanus, Atalanta, Plutus, Samothrace, Io