Iasion- Greek DemigodDemigod"Founder of the Samothracian Mysteries"

Origins on Samothrace

Iasion was the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra, daughter of Atlas. He was born on the island of Samothrace alongside his brother Dardanus, who would later found the Trojan royal line. Some traditions name the mortal Corythus as their father, but divine parentage dominates the earliest sources. Iasion is credited with founding the Samothracian Mysteries, rites centered on the Kabeiroi that promised initiates protection at sea and divine favor. Cadmus himself came to the island for initiation and there met Harmonia.

The Thrice-Plowed Field

At the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia on Samothrace — one of the rare occasions when the gods descended to feast alongside mortals — Demeter was overcome with desire for Iasion. She lay with him in a thrice-plowed field. From their joining was born Plutus, the personification of agricultural wealth. Hesiod records this union in the closing lines of the Theogony.

The Thunderbolt

Zeus discovered the union and struck Iasion dead with a thunderbolt. In the Odyssey, Calypso cites his death to Hermes as proof that the gods destroy mortal men whenever goddesses love them, naming him alongside Orion. After Iasion's death, his brother Dardanus left Samothrace in grief and sailed to the Troad, where he founded the city of Dardania, beginning the line that would build Troy.