Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Iodame or Iodama (;

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

: Ἰοδάμαν probably means 'heifer calf of Io'Graves, p. 47.) was a

Thessalian Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessa ...

princess as the daughter of King

Itonus In Greek mythology, Itonus (; Ancient Greek: Ἴτωνος means 'willow—man'), also Itonius, may refer to two individuals: * Itonus, king of Iton (Thessaly), Iton in Phthiotis and son of Amphictyon. He was married to Melanippe, a nymph, and had ...

of Iton in

Phthiotis Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is border ...

. She was the granddaughter of

Amphictyon Amphictyon or Amphiktyon (; grc, Ἀμφικτύων), in Greek mythology, was a king of Thermopylae and later Athens. In one account, he was the ruler of Locris. Pseudo-Scymnos, ''Circuit de la terre'' 587 ff. Etymology The name of Amphictyon ...

Tzetzes John Tzetzes ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης, Iōánnēs Tzétzēs; c. 1110, Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who is known to have lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He was able to p ...

Lycophron Lycophron (; grc-gre, Λυκόφρων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, sophist, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and ...

, 1206

Family

Iodame was the mother of

Thebe Thebe may refer to: * Any of several female characters in Greek mythology - see List of mythological figures named Thebe * Thebe (moon), a moon of Jupiter * Thebe (currency), 1/100 of a Botswana pula * Thebe, an Amazons, Amazon * Thebe, alternate ...

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

while some authors, adds another son,

Deucalion In Greek mythology, Deucalion (; grc-gre, Δευκαλίων) was the son of Prometheus; ancient sources name his mother as Clymene, Hesione, or Pronoia.A scholium to ''Odyssey'' 10.2 (='' Catalogue'' fr. 4) reports that Hesiod called Deucalion ...

Mythology

Iodame was a priestess at the temple of

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

Itonia built by her father. When she trespassed the precinct one night, Athena appeared in front of her; at the sight of

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

's head which was worked in the goddess' garment, Iodame turned into a block of stone. After this, a priestess lit the fire on the altar every day, repeating thrice: "Iodame lives and demands fire". An alternate story of Athena and Iodame is found in the ''

Etymologicum Magnum ''Etymologicum Magnum'' ( grc, Ἐτυμολογικὸν Μέγα, ) (standard abbreviation ''EM'', or ''Etym. M.'' in older literature) is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicograp ...

''.''

'' 479. 47, under ''Itonis'' According to it, both Iodame and Athena were daughters of Itonus. They became jealous of each other and started fighting, which resulted in Iodame being killed by Athena. The story is similar to that of Athena and

Pallas (daughter of Triton) In Greek mythology, Pallas (; Ancient Greek: Παλλάς) was the daughter of Triton (son of Poseidon) and messenger of the seas. Mythology After Athena was born fully armed from Zeus' forehead, Triton, acting as a foster parent to the godde ...

Interpretation

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

interpreted the myth of Iodama in the following passage:

"Iodama, probably meaning ‘heifer calf of Io’, will have been an antique stone image of the Moon-goddess, and the story of her petrification is a warning to inquisitive girls against violating the Mysteries."

Notes

References

* Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.'' Penguin Books Limited. 2017. *

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC *Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...

, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
{{authority control Greek mythological priestesses Mortal women of Zeus Deeds of Athena Metamorphoses into inanimate objects in Greek mythology