Iacchus
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Iacchus (also Iacchos, Iakchos) () was a minor deity, of some cultic importance, particularly at Athens and Eleusis in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, but without any significant mythology. He perhaps originated as the personification of the ritual exclamation "Iacche!" cried out during the Eleusinian procession from Athens to Eleusis. 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 Dionysus Zagreus, or a son of Dionysus.

During the Greco-Persian Wars, when the 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). Iacchus was also possibly involved in an Eleusinian myth in which the old woman Baubo, by exposing her genitals, cheered up the mourning Demeter.
Q855270
ancient Greek religion
Concept
Q34726
mythology
Concept
Q26314
Eleusinian mysteries
TIME
Q41680
Dionysus
MISC
Q40730
Demeter
MISC
Q45967
Persephone
MISC
Q140406
Dionysus Zagreus
MISC
Q76026
Greco-Persian Wars
EVE
Q122443
Attic
LOC
Q178850
Battle of Salamis
EVE
Q239633
Baubo
MISC
Q690603
Iacchus
MISC
Q690603
Iacchus
MISC
Q690603
Iacchus
MISC
Q690603
Iacchus
MISC
+480^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
480
NUMBER
worshipped by
instance of
child