Ioke (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Ioke (/aɪˈoʊkiː/; Ancient Greek: Ἰωκή) is the female personification of onslaught, battle-tumult, routing, and pursuit. In the Iliad, she is one of the daimones, or spirits, of Zeus's aegis and occasionally listed among the Machai. The other daimones are Phobos, Eris, and Alke. Ioke was probably the same as Proioxis.

The ancient Greek word ἰωκή is a rare doublet for διωκή "rout, onslaught, pursuit" from the common verb διώκω "drive, pursue, chase away".^[1]

Ioke's parentage is never stated, but she may have been a daughter of Eris, as were many daimones. She is described in the Iliad as thus:^[2]

"Across her [Athena's] shoulders she threw the betasselled, terrible aigis (aegis), all about which Phobos (Terror) hangs like a garland, and Eris (Hatred) is there, and Alke (Battle Strength), and heart-freezing Ioke (Onslaught) and thereon is set the head of the grim gigantic Gorgo (Gorgon), a thing of fear and horror, portent of Zeus of the aigis."

• Ioke is mentioned in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan as the goddess of onslaught.

• Ioke is featured in the Turning Creek novel series by Michelle Boule depicted as the crossbow-carrying member of the Aegis, which is the group of four warriors who act as Zeus's bodyguards.^[3]

• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

• IOKE from the Theoi Project