Iasion

See also the page on figures named Iasus.

Iasion was a hero, the son of Zeus and the Atlantid Electra, who was loved by the goddess Demeter and became the father of Plutus, the god of wealth. He was struck down by Zeus's thunderbolt. In the Samothracian tradition he was also the first to initiate strangers into the island's mysteries. He is also called Iasius.

Iasion's Family

Apollodorus makes Iasion and Dardanus the sons of Zeus and Electra, the daughter of Atlas (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.1). Diodorus Siculus says the same, adding a sister, Harmonia, and places the birth on Samothrace: Dardanus, Iasion and Harmonia were born there to Zeus and Electra (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.2). In Virgil, the Penates tell Aeneas that Dardanus and father Iasius came from Italy and are the founders of the Trojan line (Virgil, Aeneid 3.167–168).

Iasion and Samothrace

According to Diodorus, the mysteries had existed on Samothrace since ancient times, and Zeus instructed Iasion in the initiatory rite, since he wished this son also to attain honour as Dardanus had. Iasion is reputed to have been the first to initiate strangers, and so raised the esteem of the rite. When Cadmus came to the island in search of Europa he was initiated and married Harmonia, whom Diodorus describes as Iasion's sister and not, as the Greeks say, the daughter of Ares (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.4–5).

At this wedding the gods came to the feast. Diodorus says that Demeter, falling in love with Iasion, gave him the fruit of the corn, and that Electra gave the rites of the Great Mother with cymbals and drums (Diodorus Siculus 5.49.1). Iasion later married Cybele and had a son, Corybas. After Iasion was removed to the circle of the gods, Dardanus, Cybele and Corybas took the rites of the Mother of the Gods to Asia (Diodorus Siculus 5.49.2).

Demeter and Plutus

Hesiod places the union in Crete. In the Theogony, Demeter lay with the hero Iasion in a thrice-ploughed field in the rich land of Crete, and bore Plutus, a kindly god who goes over land and sea and makes rich the man whose hands he enters (Hesiod, Theogony 969–974). Diodorus' Cretans say that Plutus was born at Tripolus in Crete, and give two explanations: either that the earth, sown by Iasion, produced such an abundance of fruit that it was called plutus (wealth), or that a son named Plutus was born to Demeter and Iasion who taught men to acquire and guard property (Diodorus Siculus 5.77.1–2).

Hyginus reports Hermippus, who wrote on the stars, as saying that Ceres (Demeter) lay with Iasion, whom he calls the son of Thuscus, and that for this, as many say following Homer, Iasion was struck by lightning. According to the Cretan historian Petellides of Cnossus, two sons were born of this union, Philomelus and Plutus. The brothers did not agree, since Plutus, the richer, gave nothing to Philomelus, who bought two oxen and made the first wagon. His mother, marvelling at his ploughing, set him among the stars as Bootes (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.4). Iasion’s sons are therefore Plutus and Philomelus by Demeter and, in Diodorus, Corybas by Cybele.

Death of Iasion

In the Odyssey, Calypso reminds the gods that when Demeter yielded to her desire and lay with Iasion in a thrice-ploughed fallow, Zeus soon learned of it and killed him with a bright thunderbolt (Homer, Odyssey 5.125–128). Apollodorus says Iasion fell in love with Demeter and tried to violate the goddess, and so was struck by lightning, after which Dardanus left Samothrace out of grief (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.1).

Iasion and the Stars

Hyginus says that some identify the Twins (Gemini) as Triptolemus and Iasion, loved by Ceres and carried up to the stars. This is one of several explanations he gives for Gemini, the usual one being that they are Castor and Pollux (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.22).

Iasion Sources

Homer, Odyssey 5.125–128; Hesiod, Theogony 969–974; Apollodorus, Library 3.12.1; Diodorus Siculus 5.48–49, 5.77; Virgil, Aeneid 3.167–168; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.4, 2.22.

See Also: Zeus, Electra, Demeter, Cadmus, Harmonia, Triptolemus, Plutus, Dardanus