Iapetus

Iapetus was one of the twelve Titans, a son of Uranus and Gaea, and the father of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus. He is mentioned only briefly in the earliest poems, which place him among the Titans imprisoned in Tartarus, but through his sons he stands at the head of one of the most important families in Greek myth.

Iapetus' Name and Role

Hesiod lists Iapetus with the sons born to Gaea and Uranus before Cronus, the youngest: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion and Iapetus, together with the Titanesses Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Tethys (Theogony 132–138). Apollodorus gives the same list of Titans (Library 1.1.3). The sources give Iapetus no domain of his own and no cult of his own; his place in myth is as the father of the four brothers.

Hesiod names Clymene, a daughter of Oceanus, as the wife of Iapetus (Theogony 507–508). Apollodorus names his wife Asia (Library 1.2.3). Both authors give him the same four sons.

The Sons of Iapetus

Hesiod describes each of the sons (Theogony 507–520):

• Atlas, strong-hearted, who holds up the wide sky by necessity, as Zeus allotted him, at the ends of the earth in front of the Hesperides, where Night and Day meet (Theogony 517–520, 746–748).
• Menoetius, overbearing and violent, whom Zeus struck with a thunderbolt and sent down to Erebus for his recklessness and arrogant strength (Theogony 514–516). Apollodorus says he was struck down in the battle with the Titans and sent to Tartarus (Library 1.2.3).
• Prometheus, “shifty and subtle in counsel”, the benefactor of mankind who stole fire and was punished by Zeus (Theogony 510–511, 521–569; Hesiod calls him “the fine son of Iapetus” at line 565).
• Epimetheus, “mistaken in mind”, who “was an evil from the beginning for men who eat bread”, because he was the first to accept the woman Zeus fashioned, Pandora (Theogony 511–514).

Apollodorus says that Prometheus moulded men out of water and earth and gave them fire (Library 1.7.1), though in the earliest versions he appears only as the benefactor of humankind and not as their maker. Hesiod uses the name of the father as a patronymic: Prometheus is “the son of Iapetus” and “Iapetionides” (Theogony 528, 565, 614).

The Titans' Revolt and Defeat

Hesiod says that when Gaea urged her sons to punish Uranus, only Cronus agreed, and he took a sickle and cut off his father's genitals while the others stayed silent in fear (Theogony 164–182). Apollodorus tells it differently: Gaea persuaded the Titans to attack their father, and all except Oceanus joined in the attack under Cronus (Library 1.1.4). On that version Iapetus took part in the dethroning of Uranus.

The Titans then fought Zeus and the younger gods for ten years (Theogony 636). In the end Zeus, with the help of the Hundred-Handers Cottus, Briareus and Gyes, overcame the Titans and bound them beneath the earth in Tartarus (Theogony 713–721; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.1). Homer pictures Iapetus and Cronus sitting there, below the lowest limits of the earth and sea, where they take no pleasure in the rays of Hyperion the Sun or in the winds, with deep Tartarus around them (Iliad 8.478–481).

Iapetus Sources

Homer, Iliad 8.478–481; Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 164–182, 507–520, 528, 565, 614, 636, 713–721, 746–748; Apollodorus, Library 1.1.3–4, 1.2.1, 1.2.3, 1.7.1.

See Also: Titans, Uranus, Gaea, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Menoetius, Atlas, Clymene, Crius, Coeus, Hyperion