Iasion
(
Ἰασίων), also called Iasius, was, according to some, a son of Zeus and Electra, the daughter of Atlas, and a brother of Dardanus (
Apollod. 3.12.1;
Serv. ad Aen. 1.384;
Hes. Th. 970; Ov.
Amor. 3.10, 25); but others called him a son of Corythus and Electra, of Zeus and the nymph Hemera, or of Ilithyius, or of Minos and the nymph Pyronia. (Schol.
ad Theocrit. 3.30;
Serv. ad Aen. 3.167; Eustath.
ad Hom p. 1528;
Hyg. Fab. 270.)
At the wedding of his sister Harmonia, Demeter fell in love with him, and in a thrice-ploughed field (
τρίπολος) she became by him the mother of Pluton or Plutus in Crete, in consequence of which Zeus killed him with a flash of lightning. (
Hom. Od. 5.125, &c.;
Hes. Th. 969, &c.; Apollod.
l.c.; Diod. 5.49,
77; Tzetz.
ad Lycoph. 29; Conon,
Narrat. 21.)
According to Servius (
Serv. ad Aen. 3.167), Iasion was slain by Dardanus, and according to Hyginus (
Hyg. Fab. 250) he was killed by his own horses, whereas others represent him as living to an advanced age as the husband of Demeter. (
Ov. Met. 9.421, &c.)
In some traditions Eetion is mentioned as the only brother of Dardanus (Schol.
ad Apollon. Rhod. 1.916; Tzetz.
ad Lycoph. 219), whence some critics have inferred that Iasion and Eetion are only two names for the same person.
A further tradition states that Iasion and Dardanus, being driven from their home by a flood, went from Italy, Crete, or Arcadia, to Samothrace, whither he carried the Palladium, and where Zeus himself instructed him in the mysteries of Demeter. (
Serv. ad Aen. 3.15,
167,
7.207;
Dionys. A. R. 1.61;
Diod. 5.48;
Strab. vii. p.331; Conon,
l.c.; Steph. Byz.
s. v. Δάρδανος.)
According to Eustathius (
Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1528), Iasion, being inspired by Demeter and Cora, travelled about in Sicily and many other countries, and every where taught the people the mysteries of Demeter. (Müller,
Orchom. pp. 140, 260, 452; Voelcker,
Mythol. des Japet. Geschlechtes, p. 94.)
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