In Greek mythology, Iasion (Ancient Greek: Ἰασίων, romanized: Iasíōn[1]) or Iasus (Ancient Greek: Ἴασος, romanized: Íasos[2]), also called Eetion[3][4] (Ancient Greek: Ἠετίων, romanized: Ēetíōn), was the founder of the mystic rites on the island of Samothrace.
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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]
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]
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus. The Library, Volume I: Books 1-3.9, translated by James G. Frazer, Loeb Classical Library No. 121, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1921. ISBN 978-0-674-99135-4. Online version at Harvard University Press. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404. Google Books.
- Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-198-14741-1. Google Books.
- Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
- 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. Internet Archive.
- Hansen, William, Handbook of Classical Mythology, ABC-Clio, 2004. ISBN 978-1-576-07226-4. Internet Archive.
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0. Google Books.
- 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.
- Merkelbach, R., and M. L. West, Fragmenta Hesiodea, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1967. ISBN 978-0-19-814171-6.
- 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.
- Wendel, Carl, Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera, Hildesheim, Weidmann, 1999. ISBN 978-3-615-15400-9.
