Iakchos
Iakchos ( Greek Ἴακχος ) is one of the deities revered in the Mysteries of Eleusis . It is closely connected with the procession of the mystics from Athens to Eleusis and especially with the ecstatic scream emitted by the participants („ αχή iache “shouting”, “war cry”). His image, which carries a torch, was kept in one of the temples of Demeter near Pompeion at the Holy Gate of Athens. During the procession to Eleusis, the image was carried forward to the procession.
The procession of the mystics appears in the frogs of Aristophanes :
CHOIR
- Iakchos, who you in the honorable
- Sanctuary live here,
- Iakchos, Iakchos!
- Leave the lush, berry rich
- Myrtle wreath, swelling around your head,
- Shake yourself fragrantly!
- Stamp the beat with a cheeky foot
- To the unbridled, blissful drinking,
- Teasing celebration!
- Dance with him, the lovely ones,
- Graceful, three times holy
- Mystical dance!
XANTHIAS softly.
- Persephone, you holy man, Benedeite,
- How mystical the pork smells here!
DIONYSOS.
- Shut up, then you might get a sausage too!
CHOIR
- Let the flashing ones light up
- Torches! Yes, you come, oh Iakchos,
- And swing it in your hands
- You, the morning star at the night festival!
- The meadow sparkles with lights,
- Greisen himself moves his knee,
- And they shake the worry
- And the burden of the pale years
- From the head, rejuvenated
- Through the holy feast!
- But you, blessed one,
- Shine ahead with the torch
- Shining guiding star
- To the flowery dewed field
- The floating dance of youths!
Although shown in a somewhat ironically broken form, the essential elements associated with Iakchos are clearly emphasized, namely call, dance and the carrying of the torch.
Iakchos was already equated with Dionysus among the tragedians . Finally, with Plato he is identified as psychopompos with Hermes , who leads the souls into the underworld, while Dionysus brings them to reincarnation from the underworld . In the Orphic hymns he is identified with other figures from the Eleusinian myths such as Eubuleus and Dysaules and appears as the male counterpart of the male-female Mise .
Iakchos received a mythological genealogy late in the Dionysiacs of Nonnos . There Iakchos is the son of Dionysus and the virgin huntress Aura who he raped . Aura gives birth to twins and kills one twin, the other - Iakchos - is saved by Artemis and, at the behest of Dionysus, brought to Eleusis, where the maenads of the sanctuary take care of him.
literature
- Fritz Graf : Iakchos. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , column 843 f.
- Erika Simon : Iakchos . In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Volume V, Zurich / Munich 1990, pp. 612-614.
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Iakchos . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.1, Leipzig 1894, Sp. 1-11 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Iacchus in the Theoi Project