Iamus, the son of
Apollo and Evadne, has his tale told by Pindar in his Olympian Odes. When a newborn baby, Iamus was fed by two
snakes on the 'innocuous
venom of bees' (ios, accusative ion, 'venom'), and at five days old he was found with his 'tender body bedewed with the
yellow and
red rays' of violets (ion, 'violet'), so his mother called him Iamos, 'violety'. A colourful
origin, but it is disturbing that violets do not normally have 'yellow and red rays'. Perhaps Pindar had another flower in mind, such as the gillyflower.
