Iole

In Greek mythology, Iolë (Ancient Greek: Ἰόλη) was the daughter of Eurytus, king of the city Oechalia. According to the brief epitome in the Bibliotheca, Eurytus had a beautiful young daughter named Iole who was eligible for marriage. Iole was claimed by Heracles for a bride, but Eurytus refused her hand in marriage. Iole was indirectly the cause of Heracles's death because of his wife's jealousy of her.

There are different versions of the mythology of Iole from many ancient sources. The Bibliotheca gives the most complete story followed by slight variations of his from Seneca and Ovid. Other ancient sources (i.e. Diodorus Siculus, Gaius Julius Hyginus, and Pseudo-Plutarch) have similar information on Iole with additional variations.

Heracles' love for Iole leads to his death

Apollodorus says one day Eurytus promised Iole to whoever could beat him and his sons in an archery contest. Eurytus was an expert archer and taught his sons his knowledge of the bow and arrow. The sons of the king shot their arrows and hit their targets. In fact, they shot so well that they beat all the others from the kingdom. Heracles heard of the prize and eagerly entered the contest for he very much wanted Iole. Heracles shot and hit the bullseye and even beat Eurytus's scores. The irony is Eurytus years earlier had taught Heracles to become an archer.

Iole (genus)

Iole is a genus of bulbuls, songbirds in the family Pycnonotidae. They are native to tropical eastern Asia, from India to China and south through Southeast Asia to northern Indonesia.

It includes the following species:

Some older sources merge this genus into Hypsipetes. But this is neither advisable nor technically correct. The two genera stand well apart, and to phylogenetically justify their merging, the entire "Hypsipetes group" of bulbuls would need to be united in a single genus. That would include Hemixos, Ixos, Microscelis and Tricholestes, and probably also Alophoixus and the monotypic Setornis. The hook-billed bulbul (S. criniger) may in fact be the closest living relative of Iole, but altogether the present genus may well be a quite basal lineage of the traditional "Hypsipetes group" of bulbuls, with no particularly close relatives among these.