Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Iolaus (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Ἰόλαος ''Iólāos'') was a Theban divine hero. He was famed for being

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

' charioteer and squire, and for helping with some of his Labors, as well as for being one of the

Argonauts The Argonauts ( ; ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo'', named after it ...

Family

Iolaus was the son of

Iphicles In Greek mythology, Iphicles ( or ; ''Iphiklēs''), also called Iphiclus, was the maternal half-twin brother of Heracles and one of the Calydonian boar hunters. Family Iphicles was the son of Alcmene and her human husband Amphitryon, wher ...

and Automedusa, daughter of King

Alcathous Alcathous (; Ancient Greek: Ἀλκάθοος) was the name of several people in Greek mythology: * Alcathous, a Calydonian prince as the son of King Porthaon and Euryte, daughter of Hippodamas. He was the brother of Oeneus (successor of Porth ...

Megara Megara (; , ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, Heracles gave his wife,

, age thirty three, to Iolaus, then only sixteen years old. According to Pausanias, who cites Hesiod as the source, they had a daughter,

Leipephilene In Greek mythology, Leipephilene (Ancient Greek: Λειπεφιλήνη) was the daughter of Iolaus and Megara. She was renowned for her beauty which was compared to that of an Olympian goddess. Leipephilene married Phylas and bore two children to ...

, though the name is corrupt and has been amended by various editors to "Leipephile" (Λειπεφίλη), "Hippophile" (Ἱπποφίλη) or "Deiphile" (Δηιφίλη). Through this daughter, Iolaus was considered to have fathered the mythic and historic line of the kings of

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

, ending with

Telestes ''Telestes'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. Many of the species in this genus were formerly usually included in ''Leuciscus''. Sp ...

Mythology

Relationship with Heracles

Iolaus often acted as Heracles' charioteer and companion. Plutarch, describing the Theban Sacred Band in his life of

Pelopidas Pelopidas (; ; died 364 BC) was an important Theban statesman and general in Greece, instrumental in establishing the mid-fourth century Theban hegemony. Biography Athlete and warrior Pelopidas was a member of a distinguished family and p ...

, said "It is a tradition likewise that Iolaus, who assisted Hercules in his labours and fought at his side, was beloved of him; and Aristotle observes that, even in his time, lovers plighted their faith at Iolaus's tomb." Plutarch also described Heracles' male lovers in the ''Amatorius'', saying there were too many too count, but that Iolaus and

Admetus In Greek mythology, Admetus (; Ancient Greek: ''Admētos'' means 'untamed, untameable') was a king of Pherae in Thessaly. Biography Admetus succeeded his father Pheres after whom the city was named. His mother was identified as Periclymene o ...

were two of the most notable. He said that Iolaus was honored by many for this love, and that it was popular for lovers to make reciprocal vows of affection at his tomb.

Adventures

Iolaus provided essential help to Heracles in his battle against the Hydra, his second

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

. Seeing that Heracles was being overwhelmed by the multi-headed monster (the Lernaean Hydra), who grew two heads in place of each one cut off, Iolaus helped by

cauterizing Cauterization (or cauterisation, or cautery) is a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. It destroys some tissue in an attempt to mitigate bleeding and damage, remove an undesired growth, or ...

each neck as Heracles beheaded it. According to

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

, Iolaus was sent by

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, together with nine of the sons that he had with the fifty daughters of

Thespius In Greek mythology, Thespius (; Ancient Greek: Θέσπιος ''Théspios'') or Thestius (; Ancient Greek: Θέστιος) was a legendary founder and king of Thespiae, Boeotia. His life account is considered part of Greek mythology. Biography Th ...

(the Thespiades), to colonize the island, giving rise to the Iolei people. Iolaus and the Thespians were buried in Sardinia.

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

said that Sardinia had practiced the rite of incubation, which is the liberation ritual of the people who were affected by

nightmares A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety, disgust or sadness. The dream may contain situations o ...

and obsessions. These rituals included that the persons suffering from nightmares should sleep next to the tombs of heroes.

Simplicius of Cilicia Simplicius of Cilicia (; ; – c. 540) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century, and was forced for ...

adds, in the eight books of the Commentaries

, that "the places where they were deposited and preserved corpses of the nine heroes that Heracles got from the Thespians and who came to Sardinia with the colony of Iolaus, became the famous oracles."

Solinus __NOTOC__ Gaius Julius Solinus, better known simply as Solinus, was a Latin grammarian, geographer, and compiler who probably flourished in the early 3rd century AD. Historical scholar Theodor Mommsen dates him to the middle of the 3rd century. ...

says: "The Iolians, so named by him (Iolaus), added a temple to his tomb, because he had freed Sardinia from many ills".

Legacy

The Theban gymnasium was named after Iolaus because it was next to his tomb and the Heracleia, an annual festival in honor of Heracles, was held there, hence also known as ''Iolaeia'', ''Iolaia'' or ''Iolaea'' (), an athletic festival consisting of gymnastic and equestrian events. The victors at the ''Iolaea'' were crowned with garlands of myrtle. A genus of Lycaenid butterfly has been named after him. An

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

around star HAT-P-42 (now named

Lerna In classical Greece, Lerna () was a region of springs and a former lake located in the municipality of the same name, near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, south of Argos. Even though much of the area is marshy, Lerna is located on a geogra ...

) is named after him as part of the

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

NameExoWorlds NameExoWorlds (also known as IAU NameExoWorlds) were various projects managed by the International Astronomical Union (I.A.U.) to encourage names to be submitted for astronomical objects, notably exoplanets. The accepted names would later be cons ...

project.

Notes

External links

{{Commons category-inline Argonauts Male lovers of Heracles Mythological Thebans Theban mythology Mythology of Heracles