{
  "id": "iapetus",
  "type": "entity",
  "name": "Iapetus",
  "summary": "Titan son of Earth and Heaven, father by the Oceanid Clymene (Hesiod) or Asia (Apollodorus) of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus; the patronymic \"son of Iapetus\" is how Hesiod names Prometheus. Homer places him with Cronus in deep Tartarus, without sun or breeze.",
  "locale": "en",
  "tags": [
    "greek",
    "deities",
    "titans"
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "rel": "child_of",
      "target": "gaia"
    },
    {
      "rel": "child_of",
      "target": "uranus"
    },
    {
      "rel": "parent_of",
      "target": "atlas"
    },
    {
      "rel": "parent_of",
      "target": "prometheus"
    },
    {
      "rel": "sibling_of",
      "target": "cronus"
    },
    {
      "rel": "related",
      "target": "tartarus"
    },
    {
      "rel": "defined_by",
      "target": "titan"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "theogony"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "iliad"
    },
    {
      "rel": "attested_in",
      "target": "bibliotheca"
    }
  ],
  "questions": [
    "Who is Iapetus?",
    "Who are the sons of Iapetus?",
    "Who is the wife of Iapetus?",
    "Is Prometheus the son of Iapetus?",
    "Where is Iapetus in the Iliad?"
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "c1",
      "text": "Iapetus is a Titan son of Earth and Heaven, named with \"Hyperion and Iapetus\" (Theog. 134) and praised by the Muses beside Cronus, \"Leto, Iapetus, and Cronos the crafty counsellor\" (Theog. 18); Apollodorus lists him fifth (Apollod. 1.1.3).",
      "sources": [
        "hesiod-theogony",
        "apollodorus-library"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c2",
      "text": "\"Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled maid Clymene, daughter of Ocean … And she bore him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bore very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus\" (Theog. 507–511).",
      "sources": [
        "hesiod-theogony"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.95
    },
    {
      "id": "c3",
      "text": "Apollodorus names the mother differently: \"to Iapetus and Asia was born Atlas, who has the sky on his shoulders, and Prometheus, and Epimetheus, and Menoetius\" (Apollod. 1.2.3). Asia is one of Hesiod's Oceanids (Theog. 359), so both wives are daughters of Ocean.",
      "sources": [
        "apollodorus-library",
        "hesiod-theogony"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.92
    },
    {
      "id": "c4",
      "text": "In the Iliad Zeus tells Hera he cares nothing for her anger \"though thou shouldst go to the nethermost bounds of earth and sea, where abide Iapetus and Cronos, and have joy neither in the rays of Helios Hyperion nor in any breeze, but deep Tartarus is round about them\" (Il. 8.478–481).",
      "sources": [
        "homer-iliad"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.93
    },
    {
      "id": "c5",
      "text": "Hesiod names Prometheus by his father — \"the son of Iapetus\" (Theog. 528, 543, 559, 565, 614; WD 50, 54) — and Atlas likewise, \"the son of Iapetus stands immovably upholding the wide heaven\" (Theog. 746).",
      "sources": [
        "hesiod-theogony",
        "hesiod-works-and-days"
      ],
      "confidence": 0.93
    }
  ],
  "takeaways": [
    "Father of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus (Theog. 507–511).",
    "The mother is Clymene in Hesiod and Asia in Apollodorus — both Oceanids.",
    "Homer's only notice of him puts him beside Cronus in Tartarus (Il. 8.478–481)."
  ],
  "faqs": [
    {
      "q": "Who are the sons of Iapetus?",
      "claim": "c2"
    },
    {
      "q": "Who is the wife of Iapetus?",
      "claim": "c3"
    },
    {
      "q": "Is Prometheus the son of Iapetus?",
      "claim": "c5"
    },
    {
      "q": "Where is Iapetus in the Iliad?",
      "claim": "c4"
    }
  ],
  "evidence_tier": "primary",
  "evidence": {
    "level": "theoretical",
    "source_types": [
      "paper"
    ]
  },
  "moat_flag": false,
  "winning_edge": "Records the two names of Iapetus's wife and the one Homeric line that places him, so \"son of Iapetus\" in any translation resolves to the passages behind it.",
  "confidence": 0.93,
  "last_verified": "2026-09-03",
  "media": [],
  "x": {
    "myth": {
      "pantheon": "greek",
      "kind": "titan",
      "group": "titan",
      "wikidata": "Q179543"
    }
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/iapetus",
  "api_url": "https://mythosdata.dev/api/k/iapetus.json",
  "jsonld": {
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "name": "Iapetus",
    "description": "Titan son of Earth and Heaven, father by the Oceanid Clymene (Hesiod) or Asia (Apollodorus) of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus and Epimetheus; the patronymic \"son of Iapetus\" is how Hesiod names Prometheus. Homer places him with Cronus in deep Tartarus, without sun or breeze.",
    "url": "https://mythosdata.dev/k/iapetus",
    "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html",
    "dateModified": "2026-09-03",
    "citation": [
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Hesiod, Theogony — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0020/tlg001/tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Hesiod, Works and Days — tr. Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb, 1914), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0020/tlg002/tlg0020.tlg002.perseus-eng2.xml"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca) — tr. Sir James George Frazer (Loeb, 1921), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0548/tlg001/tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng2.xml"
      },
      {
        "@type": "CreativeWork",
        "name": "Homer, Iliad — tr. A. T. Murray (Loeb, 1924), Perseus TEI edition",
        "url": "https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg0012/tlg001/tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng3.xml"
      }
    ],
    "@type": "Article",
    "headline": "Iapetus"
  }
}