Editing Iacchus (section)

==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>