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Homer
called her Iambe, but she is best
known as Baubo, the elderly servant of the King of Eleusis, whose bawdy jests
roused the grieving Demeter from her profound depression during
her search for her daughter, Persephone, who had been abducted by Hades*.
Other than her appearance as Baubo in the myths of Demeter and
the abduction of Persephone, little is known of the
goddess Iambe.
Iambe was the daughter of the union
of Pan and Echo, it is said. Some scholars, however, believe
that she was actually a regional goddess from much earlier,
pre-agricultural times.
Her identity was shared with those of earlier
goddesses, such
mother/vegetation goddesses as Atargatis, a goddess originating
in northern Syria, and Kybele (Cybele), a goddess from Asia
Minor.
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Iambe :: Baubo
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Indeed
Iambe's name has survived even though her legends have
not fared so well. We recognize
her name, for it is 'She of Iambic Pentameter Fame', the da Dum, da Dum,da Dum rhythm that we hear in some of
the world's most popular poetry and song, not to
mention the works of William Shakespeare.
"To be,
or not to be" is a good example. |
Iambe was married to a swineherder. Perhaps that doesn't sound
very fancy today, but it may have been quite a
lucrative occupation when acorns were in abundance
as a free source of feed for the livestock of the
region!
Her sons all rose to prominence.
One was a famous warrior and another
the high priest of the religion of the followers of
Demeter.
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Iambe
was worshipped in many of her guises, long before the goddess Demeter taught humans how to grow
grain, a time when the magnificent goddesses of vegetation fed their subjects with the
berries, acorns and fish, not the fruits of the
harvest.
*Learn more about this amusing episode
in the story of
Demeter and Baubo.
References/sources can be found at
Baubo :: Iambe Sources.
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