Icarius. An Athenian who received Dionysus in Attica and learned from him the cultivation of the vine. Some peasants to whom he gave wine slew him in drunkenness. His daughter Erigone was led to his grave by his dog Maera, and hanged herself on the tree under which he lay. Dionysus placed the three in heaven as Arcturus, The Virgin, and Procyon (the lesser dog-star).
Icarus. See Daedalus.
Ida. Mountain close to Troy.
Ilissus. A small river at Athens.
Ilithyia. Goddess of child-birth, generally identified with Artemis.
Ino. See Athamas.
Io. Daughter of Inachus, king of Argos. Zeus in love with her and changed her to a heifer for concealment; Hera discovering it placed her under the care of Argus, who however was slain by Hermes at Zeus's command. Io swam to Egypt, conducted by Hermes, and there bore a son to Zeus.
Iolaus. Nephew of Heracles, and helped him against the hydra. Restored to youthful vigour by Hebe.
Iphigenia. Daughter of Agamemnon, was to be sacrificed to Artemis to secure the passage of the Greek fleet to Troy; but Artemis substituted a hart, and transported her to Tauri in Scythia, where as priestess she had to sacrifice all strangers. She saved her brother Orestes, on the point of being thus immolated, and fled with him to Greece.
Iris. Goddess of the rainbow, sometimes charged with messages from heaven to earth.