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IACHIMO, an arch-villain in Shakespeare’s “Cymbeline,” who attempts to violate the chastity of Imogen.

IACHUS, the son of Zeus and Demeter, and the solemn name of Bacchus in the Eleusinian Mysteries.

IAGO, a cool, selfish, malignant, subtle, evil-scheming knave in “Othello,” his “ancient” or ensign, who poisoned his mind against Desdemona.

IAMBLICHUS, a Neo-Platonic philosopher of the 4th century, in the time of Constantine, struggled, as it proved, in vain for the revival of Greek philosophy, in the hope of thereby stemming the advance of Christianity.

IAMBUS, a metrical foot, consisting of two syllables, of which the first is short and the second long, or in which the stress is on the second.

IAPETOS, in the Greek mythology a Titan, father of Atlas, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, as the Greeks fabled the ancestor of the human race.

IBERIA, the ancient and still poetic name of Spain; anciently also a territory inhabited by an agricultural population between the Black Sea and the Caspian, now called Georgia.

IBIS, the Nile bird, regarded as an avatar of deity, and held sacred by the Egyptians; it did not breed in Egypt, and was supposed to be of mystic origin; it arrives in Egypt when the Nile begins to rise.

IBRAHIM BEY, chief of the Mamelukes of Egypt at the time of Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt in 1798 (1789-1816).

IBRAHIM PASHA, viceroy of Egypt, son and successor of Mehemet-Ali; appointed generalissimo of the Egyptian army, remodelled it after the French fashion; was leader of the Turks against the Greeks; gained several victories over them in 1828, but was obliged to retire; overran and conquered Syria from the Sultan, but was forced by the Powers to surrender his conquest and restore it; he was Viceroy of Egypt only for a single year, and died at Cairo (1789-1848).

IBSEN, HENRIK, Norwegian dramatist and poet, born at Skein, in Norway; bred to medicine; is author of a succession of plays of a new type, commencing with “Catalina,” a poor attempt, followed by “Doll’s House,” “Ghosts,” “Pillars of Society,” and “Brand,” deemed his masterpiece, besides others; his characters are vividly drawn as if from life; he is a psychologist, and his productions have all more or less a social bearing; b. 1828.

IBYCUS, a Greek lyric poet, who was murdered by robbers, and who appealed to a flock of cranes that flew past before he died to avenge his death, and that proved the means of the discovery of the murderers.

ICARUS, son of DAEDALUS (q. v.), who, flying with his father from Crete on wax-fastened wings, soared so high that the sun melted the wax and he dropped into the sea, giving name to that part of it.

ICE BLINK, the name given to a white light seen on the horizon, due to reflection from a field of ice immediately beyond.