Iacchus

Iacchus was the son of Persephone. However, he was also identified with Bacchus- Dionysus, son of Semele. Although this seems like an internal inconsistency, Orphism tells a composite tale. Zeus had lain with Persephone in the form of a serpent. The result of their union was Zagreus. Zeus had intended Zagreus to be his heir, but jealous Hera persuaded the Titans to kill the child. Like the infant Zeus in Cretan myth, the child Zagreus was entrusted to the Titans, who distracted him with toys. While he gazed into a mirror, they tried to seize him and he fled, changing into various animal forms in his attempt to escape. Finally he took the form of a bull, and in that form they caught him, tore him to pieces, and devoured him.

Zeus, discovering the crime, hurled a thunderbolt at the Titans, turning them to ashes, but Persephone managed to recover Zagreus' heart. Zeus implanted the still-beating heart into the mortal woman Semele. Some accounts say that he was reassembled and resurrected by Demeter; others, that Zeus fed his heart to Semele in a drink, making her pregnant with Dionysus.

Hera influenced Semele to request that Zeus reveal his true form to her. Once Zeus had promised his lover that he would grant her any wish, she asked to see him in his godly appearance. Semele's mortal frame could not withstand the overwhelming spectacle, which was accompanied by lightning and fire, and she was destroyed. Semele was pregnant with Dionysus, and Zeus plucked the child from her womb and puts it in his thigh until it was ready to be born.

Iacchus was the torch bearer of the procession from Eleusis, the divine child of the goddess. He was called a riotous dancer in the meadow, who "tosses torches" and is likened to "the light-bringing star of our nocturnal rite".

[quote]"They [the Athenians] honoured him as a god next after the son of Persephoneia, and after Semele's son; they established sacrifices for Dionysos lateborn and Dionysos first born, and third they chanted a new hymn for Iakkhos. In these three celebrations Athens held high revel; in the dance lately made, the Athenians beat the step in honour of Zagreus and Bromios and Iakkhos all together."
- Nonnus[/quote]