View source for Iacchus

{{Short description|Minor deity  in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries}}
[[File:Terracotta votive plaque from Eleusis, 450 BC, NAMA, 190876.jpg|thumb|Iacchus (?), with a torch in each hand, on the [[Ninnion Tablet]], 350s BC, [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]] 11036.]]

In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], '''Iacchus''' (also '''Iacchos''', '''Iakchos''') ({{langx|grc|Ἴακχος}}) was a minor deity, of some cultic importance, particularly at Athens and Eleusis in connection with the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], but without any significant mythology.<ref>Graf 2005, "Iacchus"; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA134 p. 134]; Grimal, s.v. Iacchus, p. 224; Tripp, s.v. Iacchus; Rose, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' s.v. Iacchus; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DI%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Diacchus-bio-1 s.v. Iacchus].</ref> He perhaps originated as the personification of the ritual exclamation ''Iacche!'' cried out during the Eleusinian procession from Athens to Eleusis.<ref>Compare with [[Hymenaios]], whose name derived from a traditional wedding-cry, see Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA223 p. 223].</ref> He was often identified with [[Dionysus]], perhaps because of the resemblance of the names ''Iacchus'' and ''Bacchus'', another name for Dionysus. By various accounts he was a son of [[Demeter]] (or apparently her husband), or a son of [[Persephone]], identical with [[Zagreus|Dionysus Zagreus]], or a son of Dionysus.

During the [[Greco-Persian Wars]], when the [[Attica|Attic]] countryside, deserted by the Greeks, was being laid waste by the Persians, a ghostly procession was supposed to have been seen advancing from Eleusis, crying out “Iacchus”. This miraculous event was interpreted as a sign of the eventual Greek victory at the [[Battle of Salamis]] (480 BC).<ref>[[Herodotus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.65 8.65].</ref> Iacchus was also possibly involved in an Eleusinian myth in which the old woman [[Baubo]], by exposing her genitals, cheered up the mourning Demeter.

==Cult==
Iacchus was one of the deities, along with [[Demeter]] and Kore ([[Persephone]]), worshipped as part of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]].<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA125 p. 125].</ref> The late 1st-century BC geographer [[Strabo]] called him the ''ἀρχηγέτην'' ("leader-in-chief" or "founder") "of the mysteries".<ref>[[Strabo]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.10 10.3.10]; Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up p. 146]. However Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n169/mode/2up p. 148], arguing that Iacchus was a late addition to the Eleusinian Mysteries, discounts Iacchus as "founder of the mysteries" saying: "if Strabo, in styling [Iacchus] the ἀρχηγέτης τῶν μυστηρίων, means more than that he led the mystae down the saced way to the mystic shrine, we need not be influenced by Strabo against better evidence."</ref>

===Statue, temple, and feast day===
[[File:The Pompeion in Kerameikos Cemetery on March 1, 2021.jpg|thumb|The ruins of the Pompeion]]
There was a statue of Iacchus kept in a temple at Athens. According to the 2nd-century AD geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], the statue held a torch and was by the Athenian sculptor [[Praxiteles]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.2.4 1.2.4], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.37.4 1.37.4].</ref> A passage from [[Aristophanes]]' ''[[The Frogs]]'' (405 BC) suggests it wore a crown of myrtle.<ref>Mylonas, [https://books.google.com/books/princeton?id=syzWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA253 p. 253]; [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:323-336 323&ndash;330].</ref> According to Pausanias, the statue was kept in a temple of Demeter located near the [[Dipylon]] gate, the main entrance to ancient Athens. The temple was perhaps the one that Plutarch referred to as the "so called Iaccheion".<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA129 pp. 129&ndash;130];  Graf 2005, "Iacchus"; Mylonas, [https://books.google.com/books/princeton?id=syzWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA253 pp. 253&ndash;254]; Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up p. 147]; [[Plutarch]], ''Aristides'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg024.perseus-eng1:27.3 27.3].</ref> Nearby was the Pompeion, the building which was the assembly point for the procession celebrating the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]. According to the 10th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] encyclopedia the ''[[Suda]]'', Iacchus was also the name of his "feast" day, presumably the day that Iacchus was carried to Eleusis as part of the Eleusinian procession.<ref>[[Suda]], s.v. [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=iota,16 Ἴακχος (iota,16)]; Rose, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' s.v. Iacchus; Harrison, [https://archive.org/stream/prolegomenatostu00harr#page/542/mode/2up p. 542]; Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up p. 147].</ref>

===Eleusinian procession===
Iacchus and his statue played an important part in the Eleusinian procession.<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA125 p. 125]; Versnel, p. 25; Kerényi 1967, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ds1Wg01wzeYC&pg=PA62 pp. 62&ndash;66]; Mylonas, [https://books.google.com/books/princeton?id=syzWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 pp. 252&ndash;258].</ref> [[Plutarch]] referred to the procession as ''ἐξαγόντων Ἴακχον'' (“leading out Iacchus”).<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Themistocles'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg010.perseus-eng1:15.1 15.1]; Graf 2005, "Iacchus". See also Plutarch, ''Camillus'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg011.perseus-eng1:19.6 19.6], ''Alcibiades'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg015.perseus-eng1:34.3 34.3], ''Phocion'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg049.perseus-eng1:28.1 28.1].</ref> On 19 [[Boedromion]] (probably), the statue of Iacchus was taken from its temple and carried as part of the procession of the participants in the Mysteries who walked from [[Athens]] to [[Eleusis]], arriving on 20 Boedromion (corresponding to the 28th or 29 September).<ref>Leaving Athens on 19th Boedromion, and arriving in Eleusis on the 20th, are the most likely dates for the procession, see Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA125 125], [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA129 129]; Versnel, p. 25; Kerényi 1967, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ds1Wg01wzeYC&pg=PA62 p. 62]; Mylonas, [https://books.google.com/books/princeton?id=syzWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 p. 252]; Dow, pp. 113&ndash;115; Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up p. 147 n. a].</ref> Along the way, the participants in the procession would cry out the cultic exclamation, ''Iacche!''<ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA149 p. 149]; Graf 2005, "Iacchus"; Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up p. 147]; [[Herodotus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.65 8.65]; [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]]'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/arrian-anabasis_alexander/1976/pb_LCL236.181.xml?rskey=NlzLtT&result=1&mainRsKey=nBdH9M 2.16.3]. See also [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:316-322 316&ndash;336], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:340-353 340&ndash;353], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:396-398 396&ndash;404].</ref>

There was a special official associated with Iacchus and his statue called the ''Ἰακχαγωγός'' ('leader/bearer of Iacchus'), whose function presumably was to carry or accompany the statue of Iacchus during the procession.<ref>Clinton 1974, p. 96; Farnell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wwyysmmnAUkC&pg=PA147 p. 147].</ref> The ''Ἰακχαγωγός'' is listed as one of the Eleusinian officials receiving an endowment (c. 160&ndash;170 AD),<ref>The "Eleusinian endowment": ''[[Inscriptiones Graecae]]'' [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/3307?&bookid=5&location=1360 ||<sup>2</sup> 1092.31].</ref> appears in a list of Eleusinian priests given by the 2nd-century AD [[Julius Pollux]],<ref>[[Julius Pollux]], ''Onomasticon'' [https://archive.org/stream/onomasticon01polluoft#page/n121/mode/2up I 35].</ref> and had a reserved seat in the ''prohedria'' ("seats in front") of the [[Theater of Dionysus]] at Athens.<ref>''[[Inscriptiones Graecae]]'' [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/7348?&bookid=5&location=1360 II<sup>2</sup> 5044.2].</ref> An incumbent of the office (126/7 AD) is mentioned on four dedications.<ref>''[[Inscriptiones Graecae]]'' ||<sup>2</sup> [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/6017?bookid=5&location=1360 3733.20&ndash;21], [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/6018?&bookid=5&location=1360 3734.1&ndash;3], [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/7069?bookid=5&location=1360 4771.11&ndash;12], [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/7070?bookid=5&location=1360 4772.7&ndash;9].</ref>

A parody of the Eleusinian procession appears in Aristophanes' comedy ''[[The Frogs]]'', set in [[Hades]] (the underworld).<ref>Versnel, p. 24;  Kerényi 1967, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ds1Wg01wzeYC&pg=PA9 p. 9]; Harrison, [https://archive.org/stream/prolegomenatostu00harr#page/540/mode/2up pp. 540&ndash;541].</ref> There a chorus of dead mystics, singing and dancing in procession, chant their "hymn to Iacchus": "O Iacchus, Iacchus O!", and sing,
:Iacchus, here abiding in temples most reverend,
:Iacchus, O Iacchus,
:come to dance in this meadow;
:to your holy mystic bands
:Shake the leafy crown
:around your head, brimming
:with myrtle,
:Boldly stomp your feet in time
:to the wild fun-loving rite,
:with full share of the Graces, the holy dance, sacred
:to your mystics.<ref>[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:323-336 323&ndash;336].</ref>

and,

:Awake, for it has come tossing torches in hand,
:Iacchos, Oh Iacchos,
:the light-bringing star of our nocturnal rite.
:Now the meadow brightly burns
:Old men's knees start to sway.
:They shake away their pains
:and the long cycles of ancient years
:Through your holy rite.
:Beaming with your torch,
:lead forth to the flowering stretch of marsh
:the youth that makes your choruses, o blessed one!<ref>[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:340-353 340&ndash;353].</ref>

and,

:Now then
:Summon the god of the hour with your songs
:the partner of this dance of ours.
:Iacchus, honored by all, deviser of our festal song
:most sweet, follow us here
:to the goddess and show us how
:you travel a long road with ease.
:Iacchus, lover of the dance, lead me onward,<ref>[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0019.tlg009.perseus-eng1:396-398 396&ndash;404].</ref>

===The Lenaea===
Iacchus also played a role in the [[Lenaia]], the winter [[Dionysia|Athenian festival of Dionysus]].<ref>Guía, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 pp. 109&ndash;113]; Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA149 p. 149]. Guía, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 p. 110], suggests that at the Lenaia, Iacchus, in addition to being a young man, and torchbearer, was possibly personified as a child, 'The son of Semele'.</ref> According to the scholiast on the ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' of [[Aristophanes]], participants at the Lenaia responded to the command to "Invoke the god" with the invocation, "Hail, Iacchos, son of Semele, thou giver of wealth."<ref>Translation by Farnell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9J0wnXWZmL8C&pg=PA149 p. 149] (citing scholiast on ''Frogs'' 482). See also Guía, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 103], [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 109]; Bowie, A. M., p. 233; Rose, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' s.v. Iacchus; Versnel, p. 25; scholiast on [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' 479  (Rutherford, [https://archive.org/stream/scholiaaristopha01ruthuoft#page/332/mode/2up p. 332]); ''PMG'' 879 (Page, p. 466).</ref> According to the scholiast, the command to call on the god was proclaimed by the [[Daduchos]], a high Eleusinian official <ref>(Farnell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9J0wnXWZmL8C&pg=PA149 p. 149]; Guía, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 p. 103]).</ref>

===At Delphi?===
The name Iacchus&mdash;identified with Dionysus&mdash;was also possibly associated with cultic ritual at [[Delphi]].<ref>Guía, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 pp. 109&ndash;113], which adds the qualification "at least in Attic tragedy" ([https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 p. 110]).</ref> [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'', referring to nocturnal rites occurring on Mount Parnassus above Delphi, contains the invocation: <blockquote>O Leader of the chorus of the stars whose breath is fire, overseer of the chants in the night, son begotten of Zeus, appear, my king, with your attendant Thyiads, who in night-long frenzy dance and sing you as Iacchus the Giver!<ref>[[Sophocles]], ''[[Antigone (Sophocles play)|Antigone]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1146-1154 1146&ndash;1154].</ref></blockquote>

==Name and origin==
Iacchus seems to have originated as the personification of the cultic exclamation, ''Iacche'', cried out by participants during the Eleusinian procession,<ref>Harrison, [https://archive.org/stream/prolegomenatostu00harr#page/413/mode/2up p. 413]; Foucart, [https://archive.org/stream/lesmystresdl00foucuoft#page/110/mode/2up pp. 110&ndash;113]; Persson, [https://archive.org/stream/MN40011ucmf_0#page/n167/mode/2up p. 151]; Guthrie, [https://books.google.com/books?id=T0a749gm0IgC&pg=PA287 pp. 287&ndash;288]; Mylonas, [https://books.google.com/books/princeton?id=syzWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA238 p. 238]; Versnel, p. 26; Clinton 1974, p. 96; Grimal, s.v. Iacchus; Graf 2005, "Iaccus"; Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA149 p. 149]; Guía, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 p. 112], who asserts that "the figure of Iacchos probably originated in Athens as a ritual song or cry, not initially in relation to the mysteries and the Eleusinian festival, but in the context of the agricultural festivals of Dionysos".</ref> with the exclamation itself, having apparently derived from ''ιαχή'' ("cry"), ''ιάχω'' ("to cry").<ref>Versnel, p. 27; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA127 p. 127].</ref> It has been suggested that the cry "iacche’’ over time came to be interpreted as the vocative form of a name "Iacchus".<ref>Versnel, p. 27; Encinas Reguero, p. 350.</ref> 
In addition to being the cultic cry, "iacchus" was also a term for a kind of song or hymn of worship, possibly unassociated with the god.<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA128 p. 128]; Guía, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA110 p. 110 n. 46]; [[Henry Liddell|Liddell]] & [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Scott]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*)%2Fiakxos ''s.v.'' Ἴακχος]; [[Suda]] [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=iota,16 Ἴακχος (iota,16)]. For example see [[Euripides]], ''[[The Trojan Women]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg011.perseus-eng1:1226-1231 1230]: ''νεκρῶν ἴακχον'', where ''ἴακχον'' is used to denote a [[threnody]], a lament for the dead, thus Coleridge translates the line as  "Wail for the dead";  ''[[Cyclops (play)|Cyclops]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg001.perseus-eng1:63-81 68&ndash;71], where the song "Iacchos Iacchos" is sung to Aphrodite; ''Palamedes'' fr. 586 Kannicht [''apud'' [[Strabo]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.13 10.3.13]] (= fr. 586 Nauck) (Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.57.xml pp. 56, 57]), where the word ''ἰάκχοις'', translated by Collard and Cropp as "revel-cries", is used to refer to the sound of Dionysiac tambourines (''τυμπάνων'').</ref>

==Identification with Dionysus==
Iacchus is associated with Dionysus at least as early as the 5th century BC.<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA125 p. 125]; Bowie, A. M., p. 232; Harrison, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdJMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA540 pp. 540&ndash;542].</ref> The association may have arisen because of the homophony of the names Iacchus and Bacchus, one of the names of Dionysus. Two [[black-figure]] [[Lekythos|lekythoi]] (c. 500 BC) may represent the earliest evidence for such an association. The nearly-identical vases, one in Berlin<ref>[[Antikensammlung Berlin]] F1961 ([http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/1C4DA6AF-C361-4BE2-BD81-0CCBE7B2C1EA Beazley Archive 302354]).</ref> and the other in Rome,<ref>[[National Etruscan Museum]] 42884, ([http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/C884C067-90A7-4F97-9E31-08D54C75039A Beazley Archive 9017720]).</ref> depict Dionysus along with the inscription ''IAKXNE'', a possible miswriting of ''IAKXE''.<ref>Versnel, pp. 32 ff.; Bowie, A. M., p. 232.</ref>

More certain early evidence can be found in the works of the 5th-century BC Athenian tragedians [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]].<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA127 p. 127]; Graf 2005, "Iacchus".</ref> In [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'' (c. 441 BC), an ode to Dionysus begins by addressing Dionysus as the "God of many names" (''πολυώνυμε''), who rules over the glens of Demeter's Eleusis, and ends by identifying him with "Iacchus the Giver", who leads "the chorus of the stars whose breath is fire" and whose "attendant Thyiads" dance in "night-long frenzy".<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA279 p. 279], Bowie, A. M., pp. 232&ndash;233; Sophocles, ''Antigone''  [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1115-1125 1115&ndash;1125], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg002.perseus-eng1:1146-1154 1146&ndash;1154]; Versnel, pp. 23&ndash;24. Jebb, in his [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0023%3Atext%3Dcomm%3Acommline%3D1146 note to line 1146 '''χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων'''], understands the Sophoclean use of the name "Iacchus" as specifically denoting the Eleusinian Dionysus.</ref> And in a fragment from a lost play, Sophocles describes [[Nysa (mythology)|Nysa]], Dionysus' traditional place of nurture: "From here I caught sight of Nysa, haunt of Bacchus, famed among mortals, which Iacchus of the bull's horns counts as his beloved nurse".<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA279 pp. 279&ndash;280]; Bowie, A. M., p. 233; [[Sophocles]], fragment 959 Radt (Lloyd-Jones, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-fragments_not_assignable_any_play/1996/pb_LCL483.415.xml pp. 414, 415]).</ref> In [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Bacchae|Bacchae]]'' (c. 405 BC), a messenger, describing the Bacchic revelries on mount [[Cithaeron]], associates Iacchus with [[Bromius]], another of the names of Dionysus, saying, they "began to wave the thyrsos ... calling on Iacchus, the son of Zeus, Bromius, with united voice."<ref>Encinas Reguero, p. 350; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 p. 282, with n. 41]; Bowie, A. M., p. 233; [[Euripides]], ''[[The Bacchae|Bacchae]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg017.perseus-eng1:677-727 725]. Jiménez San Cristóbal also sees possible associations between Iacchus and Dionysus in Euripides: ''[[Ion (play)|Ion]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg010.perseus-eng1:1074-1089 1074&ndash;1086], ''[[The Trojan Women]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg011.perseus-eng1:1226-1231 1230], ''[[Cyclops (play)|Cyclops]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg001.perseus-eng1:63-81 68&ndash;71], and fr. 586 Kannicht (''apud'' [[Strabo]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.13 10.3.13]) = fr. 586 Nauck (Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.57.xml pp. 56, 57]).</ref>

An inscription found on a stone [[stele]]  (c. 340 BC), found at [[Delphi]], contains a paean to Dionysus, which describes the travels of Dionysus to various locations in Greece where he was honored.<ref>Bowie, E. L., [https://books.google.com/books/about/Hymnic_Narrative_and_the_Narratology_of.html?id=7MVWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 pp. 101&ndash;110]; Fantuzzi, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=K73Tt_X1YaoC&pg=PA189 189], [https://books.google.com/books?id=K73Tt_X1YaoC&pg=PA190 190], [https://books.google.com/books?id=K73Tt_X1YaoC&pg=PA191 191]; PHI Greek Inscriptions, [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/text/237910 BCH 19 (1895) 393].</ref> From [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], where he was born, he first went to [[Delphi]] where he displayed his "starry body", and with "Delphian girls" took his "place on the folds of Parnassus",<ref>21&ndash;24, Bowie, E. L., [https://books.google.com/books/about/Hymnic_Narrative_and_the_Narratology_of.html?id=7MVWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 pp. 101&ndash;102].</ref> then next to [[Eleusis]], where he is called "Iacchus":

:And in your hand brandishing your night-
:lighting flame, with god-possessed frenzy
:you went to the vales of Eleusis
:...
:where the whole people of Hellas'
:land, alongside your own native witnesses
:of the holy mysteries, calls upon you
:as Iacchus: for mortals from their pains
:you have opened a haven without toils.<ref>27&ndash;35, Bowie, E. L., [https://books.google.com/books/about/Hymnic_Narrative_and_the_Narratology_of.html?id=7MVWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA102 p. 102].</ref>

[[Strabo]] says that Greeks "give the name 'Iacchus' not only to Dionysus but also to the leader-in-chief of the mysteries".<ref>[[Strabo]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.3.10 10.3.10].</ref> For the identification of Iacchus with Dionysus in an [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] context see ''Orphic Hymn'' 42.4, 49.3.<ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA37 37], [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA41 41].</ref>

===Dionysus Zagreus===
In particular Iacchus was identified with [[Zagreus|Dionysus Zagreus]], who was a son of [[Zeus]] and Persephone.<ref>Parker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA358 p. 358];  Grimal, s.v. Iacchus; Tripp, s.v. Iacchus; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DI%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Diacchus-bio-1 s.v. Iacchus].</ref> This [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] Dionysus was, as an infant, attacked and dismembered by the Titans, but later reborn as Dionysus, the wine-god son of Zeus and [[Semele]], the daughter of [[Cadmus]], the first king of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]]. As noted above, Sophocles mentions "Iacchus of the bull's horns", and according to the 1st-century BC historian [[Diodorus Siculus]], it was this older Dionysus who was represented in painting and sculpture with horns, because he “excelled in sagacity and was the first to attempt the yoking of oxen and by their aid to effect the sowing of the seed”.<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FmTnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA279 pp. 279&ndash;280]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4A*.html#4 4.4.2], see also [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html#64 3.64.1–2].</ref> [[Arrian]], the 2nd-century Greek historian, wrote that it was to this Dionysus, the son of Zeus and Persephone, "not the Theban Dionysus, that the mystic chant ‘Iacchus’ is sung".<ref>[[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]]'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/arrian-anabasis_alexander/1976/pb_LCL236.181.xml?rskey=NlzLtT&result=1&mainRsKey=nBdH9M 2.16.3]</ref> And the 2nd-century poet [[Lucian]] refers to the "dismemberment of Iacchus".<ref>[[Lucian]], ''De Saltatione'' ("The Dance") 39 ([https://archive.org/stream/lucianhar05luciuoft#page/250/mode/2up Harmon, pp. 250, 251]).</ref>

===Nonnus===
The 4th- or 5th-century poet [[Nonnus]], associates the name Iacchus with a "third" Dionysus.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n61/mode/2up 1.26&ndash;28 I pp. 4, 5 with Rouse' note a]; Bernabé and García-Gasco, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sLW9CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 p. 109].</ref> He describes the Athenian celebrations given to the first [[Zagreus|Dionysus Zagreus]] son of [[Persephone]], the second Dionysus [[Bromios]] son of [[Semele]], and the third Dionysus Iacchus:
:They [the Athenians] honoured him as a god next after the son of Persephoneia, and after Semele's son; they established sacrifices for Dionysos late born and Dionysos first born, and third they chanted a new hymn for Iacchos. In these three celebrations Athens held high revel; in the dance lately made, the Athenians beat the step in honour of Zagreus and Bromios and Iacchos all together.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/492/mode/2up 48.962&ndash;968 III pp. 492, 493].</ref>

==Herodotus' "Iacchus"==
Possibly the oldest testimony related to Iacchus, is given by the 5th-century Greek historian [[Herodotus]].<ref>Versnel, p. 23; Kerényi 1967, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ds1Wg01wzeYC&pg=PA7 pp. 7&ndash;10];  Harrison, [https://archive.org/stream/prolegomenatostu00harr#page/542/mode/2up p. 542]; [[Herodotus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.65 8.65]. Versnel describes the Herododean passage as the "oldest testimony". However, Encinas Reguero, p. 350, says only that it "could be the oldest". Though the event described by Herodotus supposedly took place prior to the [[Battle of Salamis]] in 480 BC, as Encinas Reguero points out, it is not known whether Herodotus wrote before or after the reference made to Iacchus in Sophocles' ''Antigone'' (c. 442–441 BC). Also possibly older testimony are the two lekythoi vases (c. 500 BC) mentioned above, as well as certain inscriptions from [[Berezan Island|Berezan]] and [[Olbia]] ("possibly as early as the 6th century BC") noted by Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA127 p. 127].</ref> According to Herodotus, Dicaeus an Athenian exile told the story that, he and the former [[Sparta]]n king [[Demaratus]], who had become an advisor to the Persian king  [[Xerxes I]], witnessed a miraculous event which Dicaeus interpreted as predicting the defeat of the Persian fleet at the [[Battle of Salamis]] (480 BC), during the [[Greco-Persian Wars]]:

:Dicaeus son of Theocydes, an Athenian exile who had become important among the Medes, said that at the time when the land of Attica was being laid waste by Xerxes' army and there were no Athenians in the country, he was with Demaratus the Lacedaemonian on the Thriasian plain and saw advancing from Eleusis a cloud of dust as if raised by the feet of about thirty thousand men. They marvelled at what men might be raising such a cloud of dust and immediately heard a cry. The cry seemed to be the “Iacchus” of the mysteries, and when Demaratus, ignorant of the rites of Eleusis, asked him what was making this sound, Dicaeus said, “Demaratus, there is no way that some great disaster will not befall the king's army. Since Attica is deserted, it is obvious that this voice is divine and comes from Eleusis to help the Athenians and their allies. If it descends upon the Peloponnese, the king himself and his army on the mainland will be endangered. If, however, it turns towards the ships at Salamis, the king will be in danger of losing his fleet. Every year the Athenians observe this festival for the Mother and the Maiden, and any Athenian or other Hellene who wishes is initiated. The voice which you hear is the ‘Iacchus’ they cry at this festival.” To this Demaratus replied, “Keep silent and tell this to no one else. If these words of yours are reported to the king, you will lose your head, and neither I nor any other man will be able to save you, so be silent. The gods will see to the army.” Thus he advised, and after the dust and the cry came a cloud, which rose aloft and floated away towards Salamis to the camp of the Hellenes. In this way they understood that Xerxes' fleet was going to be destroyed. Dicaeus son of Theocydes used to say this, appealing to Demaratus and others as witnesses.<ref>[[Herodotus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0016.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.65 8.65].</ref>

However, while the "cloud of dust" and the ritual cry "Iacchus" are apparent references to the Eleusinian procession, no explicit reference is made by Herodotus to Iacchus' statue, nor in fact to the god himself&mdash; either here or elsewhere.<ref>Versnel, p. 23; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA126 p. 126], [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA127 p. 127].</ref> Some scholars have taken this passage as evidence that, for Herodotus, Iacchus was not yet a god.<ref>Jiménez San Cristóbal 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zmgXMbOtX9cC&pg=PA127 p. 127]; see for example Foucart, [https://archive.org/stream/lesmystresdl00foucuoft#page/110/mode/2up p. 110]: ''Au temps des guerres médiques, il n'avait pas encore de personnalité, il désignait les chants et les acclamations poussées par le cortège des mystes, lorsqu'il se rendait d'Athènes a Éleusis. C'est le sens qu'il a très nettement dans le récit qu'Hérodote a fait du prodige qui annonça le désastre des Perses à Salamine. Dans la plaine déserte de Thria, un exilé athénien, au service du Grand Roi, aperçut un nuage de poussière, comme celui qu'aurait soulevé une troupe de trente mille hommes, et il entendit un grand bruit de cris qui lui semblèrent être le Iacchos mystique, xαί οἱ φαίνεσθαι τὴν φωνὴν εἶναι τὸν μυστιxὸν ἴαxχον.''</ref> This story, associating Iacchus with such an important Greek victory, presumably led to an increase in his fame, popularity and importance throughout Greece,<ref>Mylonas, p. 255; Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up p. 147].</ref> and so conceivably, helped to establish Iacchus as a god.

==Genealogy==
Iacchus, when identified with Dionysus, as he was at the [[Lenaia]] in Athens (see above), was considered to be the son of Zeus and Semele,<ref>Scholiast on [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' 479  (Rutherford, [https://archive.org/stream/scholiaaristopha01ruthuoft#page/332/mode/2up p. 332]).</ref> and when identified with [[Zagreus|Dionysus Zagreus]], was considered to be the son [[Zeus]] and Persephone.<ref>Parker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA358 p. 358]; Grimal, s.v. Iacchus.</ref> However, several sources associate Iacchus (or Dionysus/Iacchus) with Demeter, either explicitly or implicitly, as her son.<ref>Marcovich, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nh8VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA23 p. 23]; Parker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA358 p. 358]; Graf 1974, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PDoL_7pzJhEC&pg=PA198 p. 198].</ref> The earliest such source, a 4th-century BC vase fragment at Oxford, shows Demeter holding the child Dionysus on her lap.<ref>Marcovich, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nh8VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA23 p. 23]; Bianchi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PxOeT0NWzwoC&pg=PA18 p. 18]; Graf 1974, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PDoL_7pzJhEC&pg=PA198 p. 198]; [[Ashmolean Museum]] at Oxford, Inv. 1956-355.</ref> [[Diodorus Siculus]] tells us about a "second Dionysus" (i.e. [[Zagreus|Dionysus Zagreus]]) who "the writers of myths relate, was born to Zeus by Persephonê, though some say it was Demeter".<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html#64 3.64.1].</ref> By the 1st-century BC, Demeter suckling Iacchus had become such a commonplace, that the Latin poet [[Lucretius]] could use it as an apparently recognizable example of a lover's euphemism.<ref>Parker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA358 p. 358 n. 139]; [[Lucretius]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0550.phi001.perseus-eng1:4.1141-4.1191 4.1168&ndash;1169]. [[Arnobius]], ''Adversus Gentes'' (also called ''Adversus Nationes'') [https://archive.org/stream/thesevenbooksofa00arnouoft#page/n183/mode/2up 3.10 (p. 157)] referring to the Lucretius verse, lists "the full-breasted Cerses nursing Iaccus" as a sight "the mind longs" to see. Compare with [[Photius]], [https://dcthree.github.io/photios-images/#nanogallery/photios/pages/02_00215_0 s.v. Ἴακχος] and [[Suda]], [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?login=guest&enlogin=guest&db=REAL&field=adlerhw_gr&searchstr=iota,16 s.v. Ἴακχος (iota,16)], which identify Iacchus with ''Διόνυσος ἐπὶ τῷ μαστῷ'' ('Dionysus at the breast').</ref> A scholiast on the 2nd-century AD [[Aelius Aristides|Aristides]], explicitly names Demeter as Iacchus' mother.<ref>Parker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ff51JeXhHXUC&pg=PA358 p. 358 n. 139]; scholiast on [[Aelius Aristides|Aristides]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=6N1EAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA648 Vol. 3, p. 648 213, 18 Dindorf].</ref>

By other accounts apparently, Iacchus was the husband of Demeter.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA134 p. 134]; Grimal, s.v. Iacchus; Tripp, s.v. Iacchus; Rose, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' s.v. Iacchus; scholiast on [[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' 324 (Rutherford, [https://archive.org/stream/scholiaaristopha01ruthuoft#page/316/mode/2up p. 316]).</ref> And according to [[Nonnus]], Iacchus was the son of Dionysus and the nymph [[Aura (mythology)|Aura]], who was the daughter of the [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] [[Lelantos]] and the [[Oceanid]] [[Periboea|Periboia]] (or [[Cybele]]?).<ref>Bernabé and García-Gasco, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sLW9CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 p. 109]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n61/mode/2up 1.26&ndash;28 I pp. 4, 5], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/442/mode/2up 48.245&ndash;247 III pp. 440&ndash;443], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/484/mode/2up 48.848&ndash;968 III pp. 484&ndash;493]. At 48.245&ndash;247, Nonnus seems to imply that Aura is the daughter of Lelantos by his wife Periboia, however at 1.27&ndash;28, he calls Aura the "daughter of Cybele".</ref>

==The  ''anasyrma'' of Baubo==
Iacchus was possibly involved in an Eleusinian myth concerning Demeter.<ref>Marcovich, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nh8VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20 pp. 20&ndash;27]; Olender, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_6qLgVl4uikC&pg=PA85 p. 85 ff.]; Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA149 p. 149]; Kerényi 1951, pp. 242&ndash;244.</ref> Following the  abduction by [[Hades]] of her daughter [[Persephone]], Demeter visits Eleusis. Because she is in mourning for her lost daughter, Demeter refuses the offered hospitality of her Eleusinian hosts. Nevertheless, she is somehow made to laugh, and breaking her fast, finally accepts the offered food and drink. There are two versions of the story. In the earliest version, given in the ''[[Homeric Hymn]] to Demeter'', an old servant woman [[Iambe]] makes Demeter laugh by telling her obscene jokes. In an apparent later [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] version of the story, the old woman [[Baubo]] makes Demeter laugh by lifting her skirts (an ''[[anasyrma]]'')  thereby exposing her genitals. One account of this second version, suggests the possible involvement of Iacchus.<ref>Farnell, [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n167/mode/2up pp. 147&ndash;148], is dismisive of Iacchus' involvement, saying "It is of no importance that a late and reckless composer of an 'Orphic' hymn chooses to introduce him into the old Eleusinian myth of Baubo", noting that "the soundness of the text may be doubted, see Lobeck, ''Aglaoph.''"</ref> The  2nd-century [[Christian apologist]] [[Clement of Alexandria]], in giving an account of this story, attributes the following lines of verse to [[Orpheus]]:
:This said, she drew aside her robes, and showed
:A sight of shame; child Iacchus was there,
:And laughing, plunged his hand below her breasts.
:Then smiled the goddess, in her heart she smiled,
:And drank the draught from out the glancing cup.<ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Protrepticus (Clement)|Protrepticus]]'' ["Exhortation to the Greeks"] (Butterworth, [https://archive.org/stream/clementofalexand00clem#page/42/mode/2up pp. 42, 43] [= [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/126/mode/2up Orphic fr. 52 Kern]]. For a discussion regarding the uncertainty of Clement's text, see Marcovich, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nh8VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20 pp. 20&ndash;27]. See also O'Higgins, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QAcycx4DyoEC&pg=PA194 p. 194 n. 53].</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [[Aristides]], ''Aristides ex recensione Guilielmi Dindorfii, Volume 3'', [[Wilhelm Dindorf]], Weidmann, G. Reimer, 1829. [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001812297 Hathi Trust Digital Library].
* [[Aristophanes]], [[The Frogs|''Frogs'']], Matthew Dillon, Ed., Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, 1995. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristoph.+Frogs Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Arnobius|Arnobius of Sicca]], ''The Seven Books of Arnobius Adversus Gentes'', translated by Archibald Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Campbell, Edinburg: T. & T. Clark. 1871. [https://archive.org/stream/thesevenbooksofa00arnouoft#page/n9/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis of Alexander]], Volume I: Books 1&ndash;4'', translated by P. A. Brunt. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 236. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1976. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99260-3}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL236/1976/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Apostolos Athanassakis|Athanassakis, Apostolos N.]], and Benjamin M. Wolkow, ''The Orphic Hymns'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013) {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0882-8}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC Google Books].
* Bernabé and García-Gasco, "Nonnus and Dionysiac-Orphic Religion" in ''Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis'', editor Domenico Accorinti, BRILL, 2016. {{ISBN|9789004310698}}.
* Bowie, A. M., ''Aristophanes: Myth, Ritual and Comedy'', [[Cambridge University Press]], 1993. {{ISBN|0521440122}}.
* Bowie, E. L., "Time and Place, Narrative and Speech in Philicus, Philodams and Limenius" in ''Hymnic Narrative and the Narratology of Greek Hymns'', edited by Andrew Faulkner, Owen Hodkinson, BRILL, 2015. {{ISBN|9789004289512}}.
* Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2008b), ''Euripides Fragments: Oedipus-Chrysippus: Other Fragments'', [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 506. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99631-1}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL506/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Clement of Alexandria]], ''The Exhortation to the Greeks. The Rich Man's Salvation. To the Newly Baptized''. Translated by G. W. Butterworth. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 92. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1919. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99103-3}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL092/1919/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press]. [https://archive.org/stream/clementofalexand00clem#page/n7/mode/2up Internet Archive 1960 edition].
* Clinton, Kevin, ''The Sacred Officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries'' Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1974.
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History''. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes. [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]]; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version by Bill Thayer]
* Dow, Sterling, "Athenian Decrees of 216-212 B. C.", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', Vol. 48 (1937), pp.&nbsp;105–126. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/310692 JSTOR]
* Encinas Reguero, M. Carmen, "The Names of Dionysos in Euripides’ ''Bacchae'' and the Rhetorical Language of Teiresias", in ''Redefining Dionysos'', Editors: Alberto Bernabé, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal, Raquel Martín Hernández. Walter de Gruyter, 2013. {{ISBN|978-3-11-030091-8}}.
* [[Euripides]], ''[[The Bacchae|Bacchae]]'', translated by T. A. Buckley in ''The Tragedies of Euripides'', London. Henry G. Bohn. 1850. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0092 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Cyclops (play)|Cyclops]]'', in ''Euripides, with an English translation by David Kovacs'', Cambridge. Harvard University Press. forthcoming. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg001.perseus-eng1:63-81 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Euripides]], ''[[Ion (play)|Ion]]'', translated by Robert Potter in ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. Volume 1. New York. Random House. 1938. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0110 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Euripides]], ''[[The Trojan Women]]'', in ''The Plays of Euripides'', translated by E. P. Coleridge. Volume I. London. George Bell and Sons. 1891. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0124 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Fantuzzi, Marco, "Sung Poetry: The Case of Inscribed Paeans" in ''A Companion to Hellenistic Literature'', editors: James J. Clauss, Martine Cuypers, John Wiley & Sons, 2010. {{ISBN|9781405136792}}.
* [[Lewis Richard Farnell|Farnell, Lewis Richard]], ''[[The Cults of the Greek States]]'', Vol. III, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1907. [https://archive.org/stream/cultsofgreekstat03farnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* Foucart, Paul François, ''Les mystères d'Éleusis'', Paris, Picard, 1914. [https://archive.org/stream/lesmystresdl00foucuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* Graf, F. 1974, ''Eleusis und die orphische Dichtung Athens in vorhellenistischer Zeit'', Walter de Gruyter, 1974. {{ISBN|9783110044980}}.
* Graf, F. 2005, "Iacchus" in ''[[Brill's New Pauly|Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World]]. Antiquity, Volume 6'', Lieden-Boston 2005.
* Grimal, Pierre, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOx6de8LUNAC ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''], Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}.
* Guía, Miriam Valdés, "Redefining Dionysus in Athens from Written Sources: The Lenaia, Iacchos and Attic Women" in ''Redefining Dionysos'', Editors: Alberto Bernabé, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal, Raquel Martín Hernández. Walter de Gruyter, 2013. {{ISBN|978-3-11-030091-8}}.
* [[W. K. C. Guthrie|Gutherie, W. K. C.]], ''The Greeks and Their Gods'', Beacon Press, 1950. {{ISBN|9780807057933}}.
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC Google Books].
* [[Jane Ellen Harrison|Harrison, Jane Ellen]], ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion'', second edition, Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1908. [https://archive.org/stream/prolegomenatostu00harr#page/n7/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Herodotus]]; [[The Histories of Herodotus|''Histories'']], [[A. D. Godley]] (translator), Cambridge: [[Harvard University Press]], 1920; {{ISBN|0674991338}}. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+1.1.0 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Jiménez San Cristóbal, Anna Isabel, 2012, "Iacchus in Plutarch" in ''Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical Discourse of Late Antiquity'', edited by Fernando Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta and Israel Mu Oz Gallarte, Brill, {{ISBN|9789004234741}}.
* Jiménez San Cristóbal, Anna Isabel 2013, "The Sophoclean Dionysos" in ''Redefining Dionysus'', Editors: Alberto Bernabé, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal, Raquel Martín Hernández, Walter de Gruyter. {{ISBN|978-3-11-030091-8}}.
* [[Károly Kerényi|Kerényi, Karl]] 1951, ''The Gods of the Greeks'', Thames and Hudson, London.
* [[Károly Kerényi|Kerényi, Karl]] 1967, ''Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter'', [[Princeton University Press]], 1991. {{ISBN|9780691019154}}.
* [[Károly Kerényi|Kerényi, Karl]] 1976, ''Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'', [[Princeton University Press]], 1996. {{ISBN|9780691029153}}.
* [[Otto Kern|Kern, Otto]]. ''Orphicorum Fragmenta'', Berlin, 1922. [https://archive.org/stream/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Hugh Lloyd-Jones|Lloyd-Jones, Hugh]], ''Sophocles: Fragments'', Edited and translated by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 483. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99532-1}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL483/1996/pb_LCL483.v.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Lucian]], ''Lucian, with an English Translation'' by A. M. Harmon, Volume 5, [[Loeb Classical Library]] N. 302. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1962. [https://archive.org/stream/lucianhar05luciuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Lucretius]], ''[[De rerum natura|De Rerum Natura]]'', William Ellery Leonard. E. P. Dutton. 1916. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0131%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Marcovich, Miroslav, ''Studies in Graeco-Roman Religions and Gnosticism'', BRILL, 1988. {{ISBN|9789004086241}}.
* Mylonas, George Emmanuel, ''Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries'', Princeton University Press, 2015 (1961). {{ISBN|9781400877294}}.
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse|Rouse, W H D]], I Books I&ndash;XV. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]]; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/n7/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]''; translated by [[W. H. D. Rouse|Rouse, W H D]], III Books XXXVI&ndash;XLVIII. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* O'Higgins, Laurie, ''Women and Humor in Classical Greece'', Cambridge University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|9780521822534}}.
* Olender, Maurice, "Aspects of Baubo: Ancient Texts and Contexts", in ''Before Sexuality: The Construction of Erotic Experience in the Ancient Greek World'', Editors:	David M. Halperin, [[John J. Winkler]], Froma I. Zeitlin, Princeton University Press, 1990. {{ISBN|9780691002217}}.
* [[Denys Page|Page, D. L. (Denys Lionel)]], 1908–1978, ''Poetae melici Graeci'', Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962.
* Parker, Robert, ''Polytheism and Society at Athens'', OUP Oxford, 2005. {{ISBN|9780191534522}}.
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Persson, Axel W., ''The Religion of Greece in Prehistoric Times'', Berkeley, Los Angeles : University of California press, 1942. [https://archive.org/stream/MN40011ucmf_0#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[Plutarch]]. ''Lives, Volume II: Themistocles and Camillus. Aristides and Cato Major. Cimon and Lucullus.'' Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 47. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1914. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99053-1}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL047/1914/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Plutarch]]. ''Lives, Volume IV: Alcibiades and Coriolanus. Lysander and Sulla.'' Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 80. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1916. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99089-0}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL080/1916/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Plutarch]]. ''Lives, Volume VIII: Sertorius and Eumenes. Phocion and Cato the Younger''. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 100. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1919. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99111-8}}. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL100/1919/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Julius Pollux|Pollux, Julius]], ''Onomasticon'', [[Wilhelm Dindorf]], Leipzig: Kuehn. 1825. [https://archive.org/stream/onomasticon01polluoft#page/n3/mode/2up Internet Archive].
* [[Herbert Jennings Rose|Rose, Herbert Jennings]], "Iacchus" in ''[[The Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', second edition, [[N. G. L. Hammond|Hammond, N.G.L.]] and [[Howard Hayes Scullard]] (editors), [[Oxford University Press]], 1992. {{ISBN|0-19-869117-3}}.
* Rutherford, William G., ''Scholia Aristphanica'', London, Macmillan and Co. and New York, 1896. [https://archive.org/stream/scholiaaristopha01ruthuoft#page/n5/mode/2up Internet Archive]
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1867). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* [[Strabo]], [[Geographica|''Geography'']], translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]]; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Books 6&ndash;14, at the Perseus Digital Library]
* [[Sophocles]], ''The Antigone of Sophocles, Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb'', Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1891. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0186%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). {{ISBN|069022608X}}.
* Versnel, H. S., “ΙΑΚΧΟΣ. Some Remarks Suggested by an Unpublished Lekythos in the Villa Giulia”, ''[[Talanta]]'' [http://www.talanta.nl/publications/previous-issues/1969-1973-●-volume-i-v/1972-volume-iv/ '''4''']{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 1972, 23–38. [http://www.talanta.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Versnel-23-38.pdf PDF]

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Eleusinian Mysteries]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Epithets of Dionysus]]
[[Category:Chthonic beings]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Dionysus]]
[[Category:Children of Demeter]]
[[Category:Consorts of Demeter]]