~From Iacchus to Ixion~

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Iacchus- The solemn name of Bacchus in the Eleusinian mysteries, derived from a boisterous song of the same name. In these mysteries Iacchus was regarded as the son of Zeus and Ceres, not of Zeus and Semele.
Iapetus- The father of Atlas and ancestor of the human race.
Icarius- An Athenian, who hospitably received Dionysus in Attica and was taught the cultivation of the vine.
Icarus- See Dćdalus.
Ida- A mountain range of Mysia in Asia Minor, celebrated in mythology as the scene of the rape of Ganymede and of the judgement of Paris. In Homer, the summit of Ida is the place from which the gods watch the battles in the plain of Troy. It is an ancient seat of the worship of Cybele. A mountain in Crete, known as Mount Ida, was closely connected with the worship of Jupiter.
Idćan Mother- Cybele, who had a temple on Mount Ida in Asia Minor.
Idomeneus- The heroic leader of the Cretans against Troy. He vowed to sacrifice to Poseidon whatever he should first meet on his landing, if the god would grant him a safe return. This was his own son, whom he accordingly sacrificed. As Crete was thereupon visited by a plague, the Cretans expelled Idomeneus, who went to Italy.
Iduna or Idun- Daughter of the dwarf Ivald, and wife of Bragi. She kept in a box the golden apples which the gods tasted as often as they wished to renew their youth. Loki on one occasion stole the box, but the gods compelled him to restore it. Iduna seems to personify that part of the year when the sun is north of the equator. Her apples indicate fruits generally. Loki carries her off to Giant-land, when the sun descends below the equator, and he steals her apples. In time, Iduna makes her escape, in the form of a sparrow, when the sun again rises above the equator and fruits return.
Ifing- In Scandinavian mythology, the great stream between the earth and the sacred lands, whose waters never froze.
Inachus- One of the river gods, a son of Oceanus and Tethys, and father of Phoroneus and of Io. He was the legendary first king of Argos.
Indra- In Hindu mythology, the ever youthful god of the firmament, and the omnipotent ruler of the elements. In the Vedic period of the Hindu religion, he occupied a foremost rank, and, though degraded to an inferior position in the Epic period, he long enjoyed a great legendary popularity. In works of art, he is represented as riding on an elephant.
Io- The daughter of Inachus, beloved by Zeus, and changed by him, because he feared Hera’s jealousy, into a heifer. Wandering in this from she crossed the sea named after her, Ionian.
Iolaus- The son of Automedusa and of Iphicles, who was the half brother of Hercules. Iolaus is known as the latter’s faithful companion and charioteer.
Iole- The daughter of Eurytus of Śchalia, beloved by Hercules. Eurytus promised his daughter to the man who should conquer him and his sons in shooting with the bow. Hercules defeated them; but Eurytus and his sons, with the exception of Iphitus, refused to give Iole to the victor, on the ground that he had, in a fit of insanity, murdered his own children.
Ion- The fabulous ancestor of the Ionians, son of Apollo and Creusa, and grandson of Erechtheus. According to some traditions he reigned in Attica.
Ipalnemohuani- The sun god and supreme deity of the Toltecs. Human sacrifices were offered to him.
Iphigenia- A daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and sister to Orestes. Iphigenia was about to be sacrificed at Aulis to obtain fair sailing for the expedition against Troy; but she was rescued by Diana, who carried her to Tauri, where she became a priestess in her temple. She was afterwards recognized by her brother Orestes, who, with his friend Pylades, was wrecked on the Taurian coast and brought, according to local custom, to be sacrificed to Diana as shipwrecked sailors. Iphigenia succeeded in saving them.
Irene- Goddess of peace, called Pax by the Romans, daughter of Zeus and Themis, and one of the Horć.
Iris- Name given among the Greeks to the rainbow, as personified and considered a goddess. Her father was said to be Thaumas, and her mother, Electra, one of the daughters of Oceanus. Her residence was near the throne of Juno, whose commands she bore as messenger to the rest of the gods and to mortals. Sometimes, but rarely, she was Jupiter’s messenger and was employed even by other deities.
Irus- The beggar of gigantic stature, who kept watch over the suitors of Penelope and carried their messages for them. His real name was Arnćus, but the suitors nicknamed him Irus, by analogy with Iris.
Isis- In Egyptian mythology, the sister-wife of Osiris. She was the type of motherhood and fertility in nature. The Greeks identified her with Demeter. Her worship as a nature goddess, in various forms, spread over most of the ancient world.
Islands of the Blessed- The early Greeks, as we learn from Homer, placed the Elysian fields, into which favored heroes passed without dying, at the extremity of the earth, near the river Oceanus. In poems later than Homer, an island is spoken of as their abode; hence, when certain islands were discovered in the ocean, off the western coast of Africa, the name of Fortunatś Insulś was applied to them. They are now called the Canary and the Madeira islands.
Ismene- Daughter of Śdipus and Jocasta. When her sister Antigone was condemned to be buried alive by the order of King Creon for defying his edict and burying her brother Polynices, Ismene declared that she had aided her sister, and requested to be allowed to share the same punishment. Denied this, she is said to have died from grief. The story is told by Sophocles, and the modern artist, Teschendorf, has made a noted picture of the two sisters.
Israfel- Known among Arabians as the angel of music, who possessed the most melodious voice of all God’s creatures. It was his duty to sound the resurrection trump and make music for the saints in paradise. Israfel, Gabriel, and Michael were the three angels that warned Abraham of Sodom’s destruction.
Italapas, the Coyote- Among the Chinook Indians and the Coyote was regarded as a helper of Ikanam, the creator, and as a teacher of men. Among certain Californian tribes, Coyote was a mischievous god.
Ithaca- In Greek mythology, the island kingdom of Ulysses.
Ixion- A fabled king of Thessaly, who became father of the centaurs. The story by which he is most noted runs: When Deioneus demanded of Ixion certain gifts he had promised, Ixion treacherously invited him to a banquet and contrived to make him fall into a pit filled with fire. Zeus pardoned Ixion, but later for an insult to Hera he was chained by his hands and feet to an ever-revolving wheel.

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