Iaso (/aɪˈeɪsoʊ/;Greek:Ἰασώ,Iāsō) orIeso (/aɪˈiːsoʊ/;Greek:Ἰησώ,Iēsō) was theGreek goddess of recuperation from illness. The daughter ofAsclepius, she had four sisters:Aceso,Aegle,Hygieia, andPanacea. All five were associated with some aspect of health or healing. For more information on thegenealogy of Iaso, seePanacea.
Pausanias (author ofPeriegesis of Greece) wrote this ofAmphiaraus inOropos,Attica, in the 2nd century A.D.:
The altar shows parts. One part is toHeracles,Zeus, andApollo Healer, another is given up to heroes and to wives of heroes, the third is toHestia andHermes and Amphiaraus and the children ofAmphilochus. ButAlcmaeon, because of his treatment ofEriphyle, is honored neither in the temple of Amphiaraus nor yet with Amphilochus. The fourth portion of the altar is toAphrodite and Panacea, and further to Iaso, Hygeia, andAthena Healer. The fifth is dedicated to thenymphs and toPan, and to the riversAchelous andCephisus.
Aristophanes mentions Iaso humorously inPloutos, when one of the characters, Cario, reports that Iaso blushed upon his passing gas.
In the temple of Amphiaraus at Oropus a part of the altar was dedicated to her, in common with Aphrodite, Panaceia, Hygieia, and Athena Paeonia.
Iaso had many children.[citation needed]
Media related toIaso at Wikimedia Commons