IASION

also called Iasios, in Greek mythology, Cretan youth loved by Demeter, the corn goddess, who lay with him in a fallow field that had been thrice plowed. Their son was Plutus (q.v.), the wealth within the soil. According to another version, Iasion attempted to ravish the goddess and was struck by lightning hurled by Zeus. Iasion perhaps originated as an ancient agricultural deity associated with a fertility rite. See also Demeter.