IXION, in Greek legend, son of Phlegyas, king of the Lapithae in Thessaly (or of Ares), and husband of Dia. According to custom he promised his father-in-law, Deïoneus, a handsome bridal present, but treacherously murdered him when he claimed the fulfilment of the promise. As a punishment, Ixion was seized with madness, until Zeus purified him of his crime and admitted him as a guest to Olympus. Ixion abused his pardon by trying to seduce Hera; but the goddess substituted for herself a cloud, by which he became the father of the Centaurs. Zeus bound him on a fiery wheel, which rolls unceasingly through the air or (according to the later version) in the underworld (Pindar, Pythia, ii. 21; Ovid, Metam. iv. 461; Virgil, Aeneid, vi. 601). Ixion is generally taken to represent the eternally moving sun. Another explanation connects the story with the practice (among certain peoples of central Europe) of carrying a blazing, revolving wheel through fields which needed the heat of the sun, the legend being invented to explain the custom and subsequently adopted by the Greeks (see Mannhardt, Wald- und Feldkulte, ii. 1905, p. 83). In view of the fact that the oak was the sun-god’s tree and that the mistletoe grew upon it, it is suggested by A. B. Cook (Class. Rev. xvii. 420) that Ἰξίων is derived from ἰξός (mistletoe), the sun’s fire being regarded as an emanation from the mistletoe. Ixion himself is probably a by-form of Zeus (Usener in Rhein. Mus. liii. 345).
“The Myth of Ixion” (by C. Smith, in Classical Review, June 1895) deals with the subject of a red-figure cantharus in the British Museum.
IXTACCIHUATL, or Iztaccihuatl (“white woman”), a
lofty mountain of volcanic origin, 10 m. N. of Popocatepetl and
about 40 m. S.S.E of the city of Mexico, forming part of the short
spur called the Sierra Nevada. According to Angelo Heilprin
(1853–1907) its elevation is 16,960 ft.; other authorities make it
much less. Its apparent height is dwarfed somewhat by its
elongated summit and the large area covered. It has three
summits of different heights standing on a north and south line,
the central one being the largest and highest and all three rising
above the permanent snow-line. As seen from the city of Mexico
the three summits have the appearance of a shrouded human
figure, hence the poetic Aztec appellation of “white woman”
and the unsentimental Spanish designation “La mujer gorda.”
The ascent is difficult and perilous, and is rarely accomplished.
Heilprin says that the mountain is largely composed of trachytic rocks and that it is older than Popocatepetl. It has no crater and no trace of lingering volcanic heat. It is surmised that its crater, if it ever had one, has been filled in and its cone worn away by erosion through long periods of time.
IYRCAE, an ancient nation on the north-east trade route
described by Herodotus (iv. 22) beyond the Thyssagetae, somewhere
about the upper basins of the Tobol and the Irtysh.
They were distinguished by their mode of hunting, climbing a
tree to survey their game, and then pursuing it with trained
horses and dogs. They were almost certainly the ancestors
of the modern Magyars, also called Jugra.
The reading Τῦρκαι is an anachronism, and when Pliny (N.H. vi. 19) and Mela (i. 116) speak of Tyrcae it is also probably due to a false correction. (E. H. M.)
IZBARTA, or Sparta [anc. Baris], the chief town of the
Hamid-abad sanjak of the Konia vilayet, in Asia Minor, well
situated on the edge of a fertile plain at the foot of Aghlasun
Dagh. It was once the capital of the Emirate of Hamid. It
suffered severely from the earthquake of the 16th–17th of
January 1889. It is a prosperous place with an enlightened Greek
element in its population (hence the numerous families called
“Spartali” in Levantine towns); and it is, in fact, the chief
inland colony of Hellenism in Anatolia. Pop. 20,000 (Moslems
13,000, Christians 7000). The new Aidin railway extends from
Dineir to Izbarta via Buldur.
IZHEVSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Vyatka,
140 m. S.W. of Perm and 22 m. W. from the Kama, on the Izh
river. Pop. (1897) 21,500. It has one of the principal steel and
rifle works of the Russian crown, started in 1807. The making
of sporting guns is an active industry.
IZMAIL, or Ismail, a town of Russia, in the government
of Bessarabia, on the left bank of the Kilia branch of the Danube,
35 m. below Reni railway station. Pop. (1866) 31,779, (1900)
33,607, comprising Great and Little Russians, Bulgarians,
Jews and Gipsies. There are flour-mills and a trade in cereals,
wool, tallow and hides. Originally a Turkish fortified post,
Izmail had by the end of the 18th century grown into a place
of 30,000 inhabitants. It was occupied by the Russians in
1770, and twenty years later its capture was one of the brilliant
achievements of the Russian general, Count A. V. Suvarov.
On that occasion the garrison was 40,000 strong, and the assault
cost the assailants 10,000 and the defenders 30,000 men. The
victory was the theme of one of the Russian poet G. R. Derzhavin’s
odes. In 1809 the town was again captured by the
Russians; and, when in 1812 it was assigned to them by the
Bucharest peace, they chose it as the central station for their
Danube fleet. It was about this time that the town of Tuchkov,
with which it was later (1830) incorporated, grew up outside of
the fortifications. These were dismantled in accordance with
the treaty of Paris (1856), by which Izmail was made over to
Rumania. The town was again transferred to Russia by the
peace of Berlin (1878).
IZU-NO-SHICHI-TŌ, the seven (shichi) islands (to) of Izu,
included in the empire of Japan. They stretch in a southerly
direction from a point near the mouth of Tokyo Bay, and lie
between 33° and 34° 48′ N. and between 139° and 140° E.
Their names, beginning from the north, are Izu-no-Oshima,
To-shima, Nii-shima, Kozu-shima, Miyake-shima and Hachijo-shima.
There are some islets in their immediate vicinity.
Izu-no-Oshima, an island 10 m. long and 512 m. wide, is 15 m.
from the nearest point of the Izu promontory. It is known to
western cartographers as Vries Island, a name derived from that
of Captain Martin Gerritsz de Vries, a Dutch navigator, who is
supposed to have discovered the island in 1643. But the group
was known to the Japanese from a remote period, and used as
convict settlements certainly from the 12th century and probably
from a still earlier era. Hachijo, the most southerly, is often
erroneously written “Fatsisio” on English charts. Izu-no-Oshima
is remarkable for its smoking volcano, Mihara-yama
(2461 ft.), a conspicuous object to all ships bound for Yokohama.
Three others of the islands—Nii-shima, Kozu-shima and
Miyake-shima—have active volcanoes. Those on Nii-shima and
Kozu-shima are of inconsiderable size, but that on Miyake-shima,
namely, Oyama, rises to a height of 2707 ft. The most
southerly island, Hachijo-shima, has a still higher peak, Dsubo-take
(2838 ft.), but it does not emit any smoke.
