Home1842 Edition

IOLAS

Volume 12 · 142 words · 1842 Edition

or Iolaus, in Fabulous History, a son of Iphicles, king of Thessaly, who assisted Hercules in conquering the hydra, and burned with a hot iron the place where the heads had been cut off, to prevent the growth of others. He was restored to youth and vigour by Hebe, at the request of his friend Hercules. Some time afterwards Iolas assisted the Heraclidae against Eurystheus, and killed the tyrant with his own hand. According to Plutarch, Iolas had a monument in Boeotia and Phocis, where lovers used to go and bind themselves by the most solemn oaths of fidelity, considering the place as sacred to love and friendship. According to Diodorus and Pausanias, Iolas died and was buried in Sardinia, where he had gone to make a settlement at the head of the sons of Hercules by the fifty daughters of Thespius.