Iakchos

vol. IX p.613-622

1) Iakchos

The general view is that the oldest mention of the god, which is often sung about, is found in Herodotus’ description of the sea-battle at Salamis VIII 65 (on this, cf. Athen. Mitt. XVII 1892, 141f.). Shortly before the battle, <page break 613/614> Demaratos and Dikaios are standing on the Thriasian plane. Rising out of Eleusis is a thick dust cloud, and both men hear τὸν μυστικὸν ἴακχον sounding loudly. Demaratos asks about the purpose of this call, and learns from Dikaios that the Athenians celebrate a yearly festival τῇ Μητρὶ καὶ τῇ Κόρῃ around this time. Dikaios also adds that the direction of the dust-cloud could tell them about how the up-coming battle between the Persians and the Athenians would end. <10> If it was headed towards the Peloponnese, the Persian king would suffer misfortune on the mainland. If it headed towards the ships lying at Salamis, he would lose his fleet. However, the voice which came to help the Greeks would have had to have been a divinity’s voice, because Attika was entirely left behind by people. The dust cloud turned towards the Greek ships. <20> Demaratos warned Dikaios against sharing this observation further, and soon the Greek ships were victorious over the Persian fleet. Those who consider this story to be unbiased - that is, not influenced by everything which he knew about the importance of the Iakchos-day for Eleusis - cannot come to the conclusion that in this version from 19th Boёdromion 480 it had anything to do with a god who took centre stage at the mentioned festival. <30> Instead, the festival was taken to be one for the mother and the daughter - that is, both of the great Eleusinian goddesses, whom even the so-called Homeric hymn to Demeter celebrated as such. Dikaios, the Athenian exile, only cautiously added that the Iakchos-call would have had to have been a θεῖον φθεγγόμενον. Nothing suggests that Iakchos had already been welcomed in Eleusis with particular pomp, nothing is said of his image which was lead there in ceremonial processions, instead, we are told: <40> τὴν δὲ ὁρτὴν ταύτην ἄγουσι Ἀθηναῖοι ἀνὰ πάντα ἔτεα τῇ Μητρὶ καὶ τῇ Κόρῃ, καὶ αὐτῶν τε ὁ βουλόμενος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων μυεῖται⋅ καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τὴν ἀκούεις ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὁρτῇ ἰακχάζουσι. The fact that Iakchos was already ὁ ἀρχηγέτης τῶν μυστηρίων (Strab. X 468) can be entirely concluded from Herodotus’ words. Just as the god Hymenaios arose from the wedding-cry Ὑμὴν ὦ Ὑμήν and Linos from αἴλινον αἰλινον, so too, in all probability, Iakchos came from the exultant cry ἰακχε ίακχε, <50> or something similar (on this, cf. v. Wilamowitz Euripides Hippolytos 1891, 28; the evidence of the lexicographers on this in Hoefer Roschers Myth. Lex. II 10). People would like to think that this cry of joy had first been for the goddesses of Eleusis, though it had in no way been an entirely general celebratory cry used in various cults of Attika. Likely, nobody will ever be able to interpret it in terms of content and formality precisely. However, we can hardly go wrong if we look to find the highest expression of joy in it. <60> Although Iakchos did gain a rather uncustomary importance later on through the splendid triumph at Salamis, and indeed, as it seems, in a very short period of time, and although he was taken as being an Athenian ally at Salamis like Pan at Marathon, there have nevertheless been those who plainly object to this story from Herodotus, as commonly happens today, <page break 614/615> if we happen to read a Scholiast of Aristides III p. 648 Dind.: φωνή τις ἐδόθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰάκχου - τὸ δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐλευσῖνος ὥσπερ κονιορτὸν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν Σαλαμῖνα ἐνομίσθη, ὅτι ἡ Δημήτηρ καὶ ἡ Κόρη ἧλθον συμμαχῆσαι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν. P. Foucart judges no differently than has just been stated (Recherches sur l’origine et la nature des mystères d’Eleusis 81 = Mémoir. de l’académie des inscript. et belles-lettres, tome XXXV 1895, 2^e partie and Les grands mystѐres d’Eleusis 60 = ibid. XXXVII 1900). <10> It also seems pointless to me to make further investigations into the origin of this god. Iakchos is an eminent Attic divine figure, a creation of the 5th century, stemming from the cry of joy, which then continuously grew with the splendour of the battle at Salamis and the Attic sphere of influence. This means that this God originally had nothing to do with Dionysos. <20>

The oldest sanctuary of Iakchos, and almost the only one, is the Iakcheion in Athens which is very likely identical with the temple of Demeter mentioned by Pausanias I 2, 4 (cf. Plut. Aristid. 27 [ἐκ πινακίου τινὸς ὀνειροκριτικοῦ παρὰ τὸ Ἰακχεῖον λεγόμενον] and Alkiphron III 59 [παρ’ ἕνα τινὰ τῶν τὰ πινάκια παρὰ τὸ Ἰακχεῖον προτιθέντων καὶ τοὺς ὀνείρους ὑποκρίνεσθαι ὑπισχνουμένων]; see Judeich Topographie von Athen 324; vol IV p. 2738 and the article Iakcheion p. 613). <30> According to Pausanias, in the sanctuary there was a group of Demeter, Kore, and a torch-bearing Iakchos made by Praxiteles. The inscription from Praxiteles was on the wall γράμμασι Ἀττικοῖς. However, this cannot have been an artist-inscription in the usual sense of the term, but instead it was likely a psephisma which had concerned the older Praxiteles (Robert Archaeol. Märchen 62, 1). <40> About these γράμματα Ἀττικά and the name Praxiteles, cf. the literature in Blümner-Hitzig’s Pausaniaskommentar I 130. The Praxiteles-group is only mentioned further by Clemens Alexandrinus Protr. IV 62, 3 (I p. 47 Staeh.) τὴν Πραξιτέλους Δήμητρα καὶ Κόρην καὶ τὸν Ἴακχον τὸν μυστικόν and the Iakchos alone most likely in Cic. Verr. IV 60, 134 Athenienses ut ex marmore Iacchum; cf. vol IV p.2763 and Pringsheim Archaeolog. Beitr. zur Geschichte des eleusin. Kults 1905, 88f. <50> The endeavours to find copies of the cult-group of the older Praxiteles in the extant catalogue of statues are, in my opinion, all unsuccessful, like Winter’s suggestion about the beautiful young man’s head of Braccio nuovo (Bonn. Stud. für R. Kekulé 1890, 143), and also Sboronos’ endeavour to interpret the so-called Eubuleus-head as Iakchos (on this, Pringsheim loc. cit. 92). The ἄγαλμα set up near the funerary monument to the doctor Mnesitheos (Paus. I 37, 4 according to Polemon περὶ τὴς ἵερᾶς ὁδοῦ?) is not identical with this image of Iakchos, <60> as it has been almost universally assumed today [from 1914’s perspective], despite U. Köhler; on this, cf. Blümner-Hitzig loc. cit.

The young form of Iakchos was identified with Dionysos early on, which the similarity between the cry Iakchos and Bakchos would have contributed to. As a leader of the celebratory round-dance at mystery-festivals, <page break 615/616> he stands before our spirit, as nobody has celebrated him more beautifully than Aristophanes does - clearly making use of songs which were sung in Eleusis - in Frogs l. 398ff. As φιλοχορευτής, he carries the torch and leads the nightly round-dances in Eleusis (l. 340ff.). He became the divine Daduchos, and can be found as such on monuments here and there, eg. on the Niinion-pinax (on this, cf. Pringsheim loc. cit. 66ff. 78ff.), <10> on which he is portrayed as a torch-bearer with long hair crowned in myrtle, in a short embroidered sleeved-chiton, and high boots. Iakchos fulfills his mission as a divine initiate; in the Eleusinian cult-group his form does not appear, votive-statues of him have not been found in Eleusis, the completion of the old sacrifice-law Ziehen Leges sacrae nr. 2, which sought to find Iakchos in Z. 5, is surely false; <20> his sanctuary remains the one and only Iakcheion of Athens. In Eleusis, the Athenian god had always been received as a stranger, because a god whose image had to be brought to Eleusis every year could not have had his home there. He is the ξυνέμπορος of the initiates who made a pilgrimage to Eleusis on 19th Boëdromion every year (Aristophan. Frogs l.398). The chorus calls on him in the refrain: Ἴακχε φιλοχορευτὰ συμπρόπεμπέ με (l. 404. 410. 416). <30>

The Iakchos-procession began on the morning of 19th Boëdromion (IG III 1, 5 [from the time of Marcus Aurelius according to Dittenberger]; cf. Herodot. VIII 65 and Plut. Alkibiad. c. 34), and arrived at Eleusis on 20th (Schol. Aristoph. Frogs l.324. Plut. Phokion c. 28; Camillus c. 19). Its starting point must have been the Eleusinion which lay ὑπὸ πόλει and which has never been rediscovered, where the ἱερά had been brought to on 14th Boëdromion from Eleusis (IG III 1, 5). <40> The Schol. Aristoph. Frogs l. 399 (ὁδεύουσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κεραμεικοῦ εἰς Ἔλευσῖνα προπέμποντες τὸν Διόνυσον) gives Kerameikos as the start of the procession. By ἱερά, we are not meant to understand images of the deities, but instead the mystic symbols. However, the fact that the wooden image of Iakchos was also carried as well as these can be concluded from IG III 1, 5, and has also been handed down many times in the ephebe-documents (IG II 466-471). <50> The technical term is πέμπειν or προπέμπειν τὸν Ἴακχον (see the previously cited inscriptions); Plut. Alkibiad. c. 34 has ἐξελαύνειν τὸν Ἴακχον, Themistokles c. 19. has ἐξάγειν. Aristophan. Frogs l.404ff. has συμπραπέμπειν. The image was taken from the Iakcheion. The fact that this πομπή could only have had a wooden image and not a marble image of Iakchos is obvious. The images which are carried even today in processions in Catholic countries are the best parallels for this. <60> On the whole Iakchos-procession, cf. eg. the Panagia-procession which took place in August in the monastery of the Iberians on Mount Athos (Kern Nordgriech. Skizzen 122f.). The ancient sources for the Iakchos-πομπή according to A. Mommsen Feste der Stadt Athen 223ff. best in E. Pfuhl De Atheniensium pompis sacris, Berolini 1900, whose explanation is also characterised here by the prudence of its judgement. <page break 616/617> The name of the priest Ἰακχαγωγός (see the seat-inscription from the Theatre of Dionysos in Athens IG III 626 and above under Iakchagogos p.613) teaches us that the image of the god was brought, cf. ἐξάγειν, ἐξελαύνειν τὸν Ἴακχον. The procession was accompanied by a large crowd of initiates, which Herodotus loc. cit. means with the words ἰδεῖν δὲ κονιορτὸν χωρέοντα ἀπ’ Ἐλευσῖνος ὡς ἀνδρῶν μάλιστά κη τρισμυρίων. <10> Originally, all initiates travelled on foot; from the 4th century onwards the rich women travelled on wagons, which was then soon imitated by the others, namely the officials. Lykurgos (Ps.-Plut. vit. X orat. 348 F; cf. Aelian. var. hist. XIII 24) unsuccessfully forbade women from using the wagons. The order of the procession can no longer be determined with certainty. Either way, it is likely that the wagon carrying the Iakchos-image was followed immediately by the high officials from Athens and Eleusis, <20> and the theoroi of the foreign cities. The ἱερά were certainly lead by the epheboi, which the kosmetes would be leading: they carried weapons and were crowned with myrtle. They seem to have mostly worn white clothing (λευκοφορήσαντες IG III 1132 [between 166/7 and 168/9 CE]; cf. Philostrat. vit. sophist. II 1, 8), which also went for the initiates, who followed in the procession. Men and women were separated (Aristoph. Frogs l. 411f. and l. 447f.), <30> like even today in many orthodox Greek religious festivals. The route from Eleusis to Athens is about four hours long: the Iakchos-procession would, of course, have needed much more times, since there were continuous stops at the shrines, altars, votive-offerings, and funerary monuments surrounding the ἱερὰ ὁδός (on this, cf. A. Mommsen loc. cit. 225ff.). There was a book by Polemon of Ilion about the ἱερὰ ὁδός, which Pausanias almost certainly used. <40> In terms of more modern authors, Lenormant (Monographie de la voie Sacrée, Paris 1864) has written in detail about it: however, a new investigation into and description of the ἱερὰ ὁδός seems to me to be necessary; cf. D. Philios Ἐφημ. ἀρχαιολ. 1904, 61ff. Kern vol. V p. 2336f. and Bölte vol. VIII p. 1400. Out of the ceremonies which took place during the procession and relieved the boredom of the monotonous marching, the Gephyrismoi are the most famous. <50> The little that we know about it is collected in vol. VII p. 1229; they probably took place on the Kephisos-bridge at Eleusis (cf. Pfuhl loc. cit. 41). First, in the evening, the initiates headed to Eleusis in their ceremonial processions, and then, despite the dust (cf. Herodot. loc. cit.) and the heat, they had to show that they had completed ἄνευ πόνου πολλὴν ὁδόν (cf. Aristophan. Frogs 402f.). In Eleusis, the Iakchos-image was then lead by torches and lights to the hieron. <60> This torch-procession clearly had a peculiar effect on the initiates, the best sources for which are Aristophan. Frogs l. 313ff. and Euripides Ion l. 1074ff. αἰσχύνομαι τὸν πολύυμνον θεόν, εἰ παρὰ καλλιχόροισι παγαῖς λαμπάδα θεωρὸν εἰκάδων ὄψεται ἐννύχιος ἄυπνος ὤν. The hymn sung there was called Ἴακχος, cf. Aristophan. l. 320. cf. also Hesych. s. Διαγόρας (δι’ ἀγορᾶς) ⋅ ᾄδειν τὸν Ἴακχον δι’ ἀγορῶν βαδίζοντας. <page break 617/618> The image of Iakchos was then brought into the temple: Iakchos was received into Eleusis. People spoke officially of the Ἰαόκχου ὑποδοχή, IG IV 2, 385 d; about Philios’ later reading Ἰαάκχου (Ἐφημ. ἀρχαιολ. 1890, 131) cf. Kern Athen. Mitt. XVII 1892, 141, 1. The reception of Iakchos was followed by the παννυχίς masterfully described by Aristoph. Frogs l. 370ff. <10> In which temple (or in which ἱερὰ οἰκία) the Iakchos-image was kept during the mystery-festivals is unknown. <10> How much of a role Iakchos played in the Telesterion is just as unknown. It is very uncertain whether Iakchos is meant by the boy of the holy night, whose birth the hierophant accompanied with the cry ἱερὸν ἔτεκε πότνια κοῦρον Βριμὼ Βριμόν (Hippolytos Ref. omn. haeres. V 8 p. 164 Scheid.; on this cf. Kern Eleusinische Beiträge, Halle 1909, 10). <20> It also cannot be proven that the omphalos shown to be about Eleusis through two vases and two painted pinakes (cf. Pringsheim loc. cit. 65) had anything to do with Iakchos, as Skias (on this, cf. Pringsheim) thought. This is because, although the Eleusinian Dionysos is closely connected with the omphalos according to these depictions, the identity of Dionysos and Iakchos should be rejected for the Eleusinian cult. About the importance of the omphalos, although it is misguided at its core in my opinion, <30> cf. the learned analysis by W. H. Roscher Abh. der Sächs. Ges. des Wiss. XXIX 1913 nr. IX, which seems to have entirely forgotten about the Eleusinian omphalos; about this cf. Pringsheim loc. cit. as well as Kern Beitr. zur griech. Philos. u. Religion (with Paul Wendland) 1895, 86. Naturally, the image must have been brought back to Athens after the mystery-celebrations in a ceremonial procession again, where it had its spot in the Iakcheion; <40> but amazingly nothing has been handed down to us about that. On this, cf. Kern Nordgriech. Skizzen 122f.

In Athens, the name of the god was always Ἰακχος; since Ἰάοκχος (see above) as well as Ἴαχχος (IG II 1592 Ἱππόνικος Ἱππονίκου Ἁλωπεκῆθεν Ἰάχχωι ἀνέθηκεν) and Ἴαχος (see Mommsen loc. cit. 224) are probably mistakes made by the stone masons. Cult-names of Iakchos are unknown; Iakchos Κυαμίτης is an invention by Salmasius, <50> which Blümner and Hitzig have justifiably rejected in their Pausanias commentary. Iakchos is called ἡγεμών in the epigram from Rome (3rd century CE) in Kaibel nr. 588, alongside Βοναδίη, μήτηρ θεῶν and Dionysos. The poetic epithets (πολυτιμητός, φιλοχορευτής, etc.) have been collected by C. F. H. Bruchmann Epitheta deorum 160. However, νυκτερίοις τε χοροῖςιν ἐριβρεμέταο Ἰάκχου Orph. hymn. XLIX 3 and λύσειον Ἴακχον εἴτ’ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνος τέρπῃ νηῷ θυόεντι ibid. XLII 4, <60> where Iakchos is identified with Mise, also need to be added. The mentions of Iakchos in the Orphic hymns are not unimportant, since the Eleusinian worship did not remain uninfluenced by the Pergamene worship of Demeter (Kern Herm. XLVI 431f.; in contrast, without correct knowledge of the Eleusinian cult, Ippel Athen. Mitt. XXXVII 1912, 288ff.). <page break 618/619>

Understandably, we can also assume that Iakchos was worshipped in the subsets of the Eleusinian cults, though he could never have had the same importance anywhere like he had in Athens, which was always proud from the victory at Salamis. The relationship to a nationality must have stepped back, and the Dionysian character of Iakchos, which the god had already gained in Athens in the 5th century, must have been exaggerated further, <10> as perhaps happened in Alexandreia (cf. Pringsheim loc. cit. 24). In Adramytteion, according to evidence from a copper coin (Pringsheim loc. cit. 92), Antinoos was honoured as Iakchos, but not like an Eleusinian god, but instead as a νέος Διόνυσος. cf. Riewald De imperator. Romanor. cum certis dis comparat., Halle 1912, 320. The poets identified Iakchos with Dionysos very early on, eg. Sophokles frg. 874 Nauck² <20>

ὅθεν κατεῖδον τὴν βεβακχιωμένην

βροτοῖσι κλεινὴν Νῦσαν, ἣ ὁ βουκέρως

Ἴακχος αὑτῷ μαῖαν ἡδίστην νέμει,

ὅπου τίς ὄρνις οὐχὶ κλαγγάνει;

and the unknown tragic poet (Nauck² Adespota frg. 140) in Dionysios of Halikarnassos de composit. verbor. c. 17 (II 172 Us.-Rad.)

Ἴαχκε διθύραμβε⋅ σὺ τῶνδε χοραγέ.

On this, cf. also Strab. X 3, 10; the scholiasts to Aristoph. Frogs 324 and 404 and on Soph. Antigone 1115. <30> Eustath. on Il. XIII 834 (p. 962, 60), Etym. M. p. 462, 49 s. Ἴαχκος. Hesych. s. Ἴακχον. Suid. s. Ἴακχος and Ἴακχος Διόνυσος ἐπὶ τῷ μαστῷ. On the other hand, the separation between Iakchos and Dionysos is clear in Cic. de nat. deor. 24, 62 (p. 288 Plasberg); Arrian anab. II 16, 3 and Schol. Aristophan. Frogs 324; cf. Kaibel nr. 588. Plato, however, in Phaedr. 265 B <40> τῆς δὲ θείας τεττάρων θεῶν τέτταρα μέρη διελόμενοι, μαντικὴν μὲν ἐπίπνοιαν Ἀπόλλωνος θέντες, Διονύσου δὲ τελεστικήν, Μουσῶν δ’ αὖ ποιητικήν, τετάρτην δὲ Ἀφροδίτης καὶ Ἔρωτος κτλ. probably doesn’t have the Eleusinian Iakchos in mind, but instead the orphic Dionysos. However, if he does have Eleusis in mind, he would have been more correct to speak of Ἰάκχου τελεστική.

We should be careful with the assumption about the Eleusinian subsets, and observe the necessary caution with Iakchos, <50> since a properly attested cult of Iakchos is found nowhere apart from Athens; it is, for example, purely arbitrary to assume a cult in Arcadia with Hoefer (in Roschers Myth. Lex.). This assumption is also very problematic for Sikyon, because Timarchidas ἐν ταῖς Γλώσσαις (about this cf. Blinckenberg La Chronique du temple Lindien [special print from Exploration archéoligique de Rhodes VI], Copenhague 1912, 346. 405) in Athenaios XV 678 A only attests that the crowns dedicated to Dionysos were called ἰάκχαι, <60> which is also confirmed by a distich by Philitas:

ἕστηκ’ ἀμφὶ κόμας εὐώδεας ἀγχόθι πατρὸς

καλὸν Ἴακχαῖον θηκαμένη στέφανον.

cf. also Hesych. s. ἰάχκα : στεφάνωμα εὐῶδες ἐν Σικυῶνι, cf. the same ?? θ’ ἱακχά: ἄνθη ἐν Σικυῶνι. <page breal 619/620> Just as uncertain is whether the Corinthian and Sikyonian Dionysos Βακχεῖος is identical to Iakchos; on this, cf. Odelberg Sacra Corinthia Sicyonia Phliasia, Upsaliae 1896, 74ff.; especially since the orphic hymn XXX should be kept far out of consideration here, since it was definitely composed for the Pergamene Dionysos, as is easily shown.

Lerna should also be handled with caution here. <10> The cult of Iakchos is clearly attested by Libanios in his speech for Aristophanes of Corinth sent to Emperor Julian at the end of the year 362 (or. XIV 7 [II p. 90 Foe.]), about which he says: οἶδα ταῦτα Δημήτηρ καὶ Κόρη καὶ Σάραπις καὶ Ποσειδῶν καὶ ὁ τήν Λέρνην κατέχων Ἴακχος καὶ πολλοὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἕτεροι δαίμονες, περὶ οὓς ἅπαντα φιλοτίμως ἐξεπλήρωσε. However, the Lernaean god, which the mysteries there connected with Demeter and Kore, is named instead of Dionysos. The main location is in Paus. II 37, 2ff., <20> which mentions a grove mostly made up of sycamore trees between the rivers Pontinos and Amymone, which stretched to the sea and contained stone images of Demeter Prosymna and Dionysos, as well as a small image of the same goddess seated; in another location (ἑτέρωθι) in a temple, there was a sitting wooden image (καθήμενον ξόανον) of Dionysos Saotas, and by the sea was a stone image of Aphrodite (the latter donated by the Danaids). <30> The cult of Dionysos Saotas only turns up elsewhere in Troezen and Epidauros (see vol. V p. 1032). According to Pausanias, Philammon donated the Lernaean τελετή. However, against the λεγόμενα ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁρωμένοις, (ἃ ἤκουσα ἐπὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ γεγράφθαι τῇ πεποιημένῃ τοῦ ὀρειχάλκου), he gives thoughts himself with reference to Arrhiphon of Trikonion (on this, cf. the article Arrhiphon suppl. vol. III). Then, once Pausanias has mentioned the spring Amymone and has talked about the Hydra, <40> he begins to speak about the πηγὴ Ἀμφιαράου καλουμένη and the Alkyonian sea, which he describes in more detail. Here, Dionysos supposedly descended into Hades in order to call back his mother Semele; Polymnos is supposed to have shown him the κάθοδος. However, no man had ever yet reached the bottom of this sea. Pausanias couldn’t share the nightly Dromena, which took place in the sea (ἐς αὐτήν) here every year to honour Dionysos (οὐχ ὅσιον ἐς ἅπαντας ἦν μοι γράψαι). <50> The fact that torches also played a big role in these nocturnalia can be concluded from the report shared by Paus. VIII 15, 9 that the Argives used to get their fire for the Lernaea from the shrine of Artemis Pyronia on Mount Krathis in Arkadia in ancient times. Today, a close relationship between these Lernaean mysteries and Eleusis is mostly assumed (see the literature in Hoefer in Roschers Myth. Lex. II 9); <60> but the legend mentioned in the Iliad-scholia XIV 319 refers rather to the Orphic mysteries than to Eleusis (Lobeck Aglaophamus I 574). In addition, even the name Iakchos for Lerna is only attested by the late account of Libanios. In the epigram from Myloi (Lerna) IG IV 666, which probably comes from the 3rd century CE, it says at the beginning: <page break 620/621>

Βάκχῳ με βάχκον καὶ Προσυμναίᾳ θεῶσι

στάσαντο Δηοῦς ἐν κατηρεφεῖ δόμωι

and in the Latin inscription from Rome CIL VI 1780 (Dessau 1260) sacratae apud Laernam Deo Libero et Cereri et Corae. In the Athenian epigram (Kaibel Epigr. nr. 866), which the Lernaean hierophant Kleadas had dedicated to his father, the Eleusinian hierophant Erotion, neither Dionysos nor Iakchos is mentioned, just as in the door-epigram of Argos from the same man Anthol. Palat. IX 688. <10>

The identification of Iakchos and Dionysos is then of course connected to the fact that Iakchos is named as the god of wine in Greek and Roman poets, as eg. in the epigram of Antipater of Thessalonike to a boatman who had been unfortunate while drinking Anth. Pal. IX 82 ἐχθὸς Ἰάκχῳ | πὀντος : Τυρσηνοὶ τοῦτον ἔθεντο νόμον. The same is found in the epigram of Makedonios Hypatos Anth. Pal. XI 59 Χανδοπόται, βασιλῆος ἀεθλητῆρες Ίακχου, <20> and Anth. Pal. XI 64 (Agathias Scholastikos) ἡμεῖς μὲν πατέοντες ἀπείρονα καρπὸν Ἰάκχου. From Latin poets, Iakchos is used instead of Bakchos in Catullus 64, 251 at parte ex alia florens volitabat Iacchus (Ariadne-myth). As metonymy for wine, Iakchos is found in Verg. Ecl. VI 15 from the drunk Silenus: inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, Iaccho and Stat. Theb. II 85f. at Ogygii si quando adflavit Iacchi saevus odor. <30> In the fragments of a hymn to Dionysos, which must have been very similar to the extant orphic hymns, in Ovid. met. IV 15 Iakchos is also named amongst other names for the god; on this, cf. Kern Berl. Philol. Wochenschr. 1912, 1440.

The genealogies are characteristic for the development of the nature of Iakchos. He was quickly seen as a son of Demeter (Lucret. de rerum natura IV 1160 at tumida et mammosa Ceres est ipsa ab Iaccho [on this, cf. Arnobius adv. nationes III 10 p. 118 Reiff.], Diodor. III 64, 1, Schol. Aristid. III p. 648 Dind., Suidas, Photios), <40> then as a son of Persephone (Diodor. III 64, 1. Schol. Aristophan. Frogs 324. Schol. Euripid. Orest. 964. on the words Περσέφασσα καλλίπαις θεά. Schol. Euripid. Troad. 1230 τὸν θρῆνον εἰς τὸν Ἴακχον, ὅν φασι Περσεφόνης εἶναι υἱόν). In the latter case, he was seen as Demeter’s husband, cf. Schol. Aristophan. Frogs 324 καθὸ συνίδρυται τῇ Δήμητρι ὁ Διόνυσος⋅ εἰσὶ γοῦν οἱ φασι Περσεφόνης αὐτὸν εἶναι⋅ οἱ δὲ τῇ Δήμητρι συγγενέσθαι. <50> He is also identified with Zagreus (see there) as a son of Persephone, as it seems, by the orphics (Tatian. orat. adv. Graecos p. 9, 10ff. Schwartz. Athenagoras de legatione pro Chritianis p. 23, 5 Schwartz [cf. 42, 22f.]; on this Schol. Pind. Isthm. VII 3. Etym. M. 406, 47). This is how the tearing-apart of Zagreus was also transferred onto him, and the Ἰάχκου σπαραγμός was spoken about (Lukian περὶ ὀρχήσεως 39). <60> In an orphic version of the Eleusinian advent-myth, Iakchos must have served towards the obscene jokes of Baubo, as the lines (Abel frg. 215) extant in Clemens Alexandrinus Protepr. p. 16, 14ff. show: <page break 621/622>

ὥς εἰποῦσα πέπλους ἀνεσύρετο, δεῖξε δὲ πάντα

σώματος οὐδὲ πρέποντα τύπον⋅ παῖς δ’ ἧεν Ἴακχος,

χερί τέ μιν ῥίπτασκε γελῶν Βαυβοῖς ὓπὸ κόλποις

ἡ δ’ ἐπεὶ οὖν μείδησε θεά, μείδησ’ ἐνὶ θυμῷ,

δέξατο δ’ αἰόλον ἄγγος, ἐν ὧ κυκεὼν ἐνέκειτο.

On this, cf. Suid. and Phot. s. Ἴακχος Διόνυσος ἐπὶ τῷ μαστῷ and the Dionysos ὑποκόλπιος Orph. Hymn. LII 11 (on this also Dieterich Mithrasliturgie 136ff.). Iakchos as the son of Dionysos: Hymn. LII 11 (on this also Dieterich Mithrasliturgie 136ff.). Iakchos as the son of Dionysos: Schol. Aristid. III 648 Dind. <10> Because there wasn’t a strong tradition about his origin present, it seems unlikely to me that the birth of Iakchos was a δρώμενον in the Eleusinian cult. However, if that did become the case in later centuries, Iakchos would have taken the place of the Plutos-boy, whose birth in Eleusis the famous vase found in Rhodos shows (S. Reinach Revue archéol. III. Sér. XXXVI 1900, 87ff.).

2)

Hymn to Iakchos, see above p.614 and 618.

[Kern.]

This article is referenced by: Dionysos (1-2)