IAPETUS, in Greek mythology, son of Uranus and Ge, one of the Titans, father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius (Hesiod, Theog. 507). As a punishment for having revolted against Zeus, he was imprisoned in Tartarus (Homer, Iliad, viii. 479) or underneath the island of Inarime off the coast of Campania (Silius Italicus xii. 148). Hyginus makes him the son of Tartarus and Ge, and one of the giants. The etymology of the name is doubtful, but it certainly has nothing to do with the Hebrew Japhet.
See i. p. 47.