Iacchus

Iakchos (Greek Ἴακχος ) is one of the most revered in the Mysteries of Eleusis deities. It is closely linked with the procession of the mystics from Athens to Eleusis, and particularly since the ejected by the participants ecstatic cry ( ἰαχή iache " shouting ", " shout "). His portrait, which carries a torch, was kept in a temple of Demeter at Pompeion the Holy Gate of Athens. When you train to Eleusis the image of the procession was carried ahead.

In the Frogs of Aristophanes the train the mystic appears:

CHORUS

Xanthias quietly.

DIONYSUS.

CHORUS

Although illustrated in somewhat ironically broken form, the essential elements are clearly linked with Iakchos lifted, namely reputation, dancing and wearing the torch.

Iakchos has been equated with the tragedians with Dionysus. In Plato, after all, he is also identified with Hermes as psychopomp who leads the souls to the underworld, while Dionysus brings them from the underworld to reincarnation. In the Orphic hymns he is identified with other figures of the Eleusinian myths like Eubuleus and Dysaules and appears as a male counterpart of the male-female Mise.

A mythological genealogy receives Iakchos late in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus. There Iakchos is the son of Dionysus and raped by him virgin huntress Aura. Aura gives birth to twins and kills one twin, the other - Iakchos - but is saved by Artemis and brought at the behest of Dionysus to Eleusis, where the maenads of the sanctuary to take care of him.

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