Giapeto

Giapeto (in greco antico: Ιαπετός, Iapetós) è un personaggio della mitologia greca, figlio di Urano (il cielo) e di Gea (la terra).
Giapeto rappresenta il pilastro dell'Ovest.

Genealogia

Le fonti danno versioni differenti riguardo ai suoi matrimoni e alla sua prole:
Secondo Apollodoro Giapeto è sposo dell'oceanina Asia ed è il padre di Prometeo, Epimeteo e Menezio.
Secondo Esiodo la madre dei suoi figli non è l'oceanina Asia ma l'oceanina Climene ed i nomi dei figli sono gli stessi tre già citati da Apollodoro.
Igino invece, conferma la sposa in Climene ma cita Atlante al posto di Menezio tra i tre figli.

Etimologia

L'etimologia di Iapetos è incerta. Il linguista olandese Robert S. P. Beekes ha ipotizzato un'origine pre-ellenica.

Mitologia

I figli di Giapeto sono stati talvolta considerati come gli antenati del genere umano, si diceva che alcune delle peggiori qualità dell'umanità fossero state ereditate da queste quattro divinità. Essi sono stati descritti con una particolare colpa morale che spesso ha portato alla loro rovina. Ad esempio lo scaltro e intelligente Prometeo potrebbe forse rappresentare la furbizia, l'inetto Epimeteo la stupidità, il durevole Atlante l'eccessiva audacia e l'arrogante Menezio la violenza.
Come la maggior parte dei Titani, Giapeto fu fatto precipitare nel Tartaro da Zeus.

Iapetus: Titan of the West by LeDemonDeRazgriz

In Greek mythology, Iapetus (/aɪˈæpɪtəs/), also Japetus (Ancient Greek: Ἰαπετός Iapetos), was a Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia, and father (by an Oceanid named Clymene or Asia) of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was also called the father of Buphagus and Anchiale in other sources.
Iapetus as the progenitor of mankind has been equated with Japheth (יֶפֶת), the son of Noah, based on the similarity of their names and the tradition, reported by Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews), which made Japheth the ancestor of the "Japhetites". Iapetus was linked to Japheth by 17th-century theologian Matthew Poole and, more recently, by Robert Graves and by John Pairman Brown.

Mythology

Iapetus ("the Piercer") is the one Titan mentioned by Homer in the Iliad as being in Tartarus with Cronus. He is a brother of Cronus, who ruled the world during the Golden Age. His name derives from the word iapto ("wound, pierce") and usually refers to a spear, implying that Iapetus may have been regarded as a god of craftsmanship, though scholars mostly describe him as the god of mortality.^{[citation needed]}
Iapetus's wife is normally a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys named either Clymene (according to Hesiod and Hyginus) or Asia (according to Pseudo-Apollodorus).
In Hesiod's Works and Days Prometheus is addressed as "son of Iapetus", and no mother is named. However, in Hesiod's Theogony, Clymene is listed as Iapetus' wife and the mother of Prometheus. In Aeschylus's play Prometheus Bound, Prometheus is son of the goddess Themis with no father named (but still with at least Atlas as a brother). However, in Horace's Odes, in Ode 1.3 Horace writes "audax Iapeti genus ... Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit" ("The bold offspring of Iapetus [i.e. Prometheus] ... brought fire to peoples by wicked deceit").
The sons of Iapetus were sometimes regarded as mankind's ancestors, and as such some of humanity's worst qualities were said to have been inherited from these four gods, each of whom were described with a particular moral fault that often led to their own downfall. For instance, sly and clever Prometheus could perhaps represent crafty scheming; the inept and guileless Epimetheus, foolish stupidity; the enduring Atlas, excessive daring; and the arrogant Menoetius, rash violence.