Io (mythology)
Argive princess transformed into a heifer and pursued by Hera.
Io was a mortal lover of Zeus and an Argive princess whose descendants included Perseus, Cadmus, Heracles, and Dionysus. A moon of Jupiter was named after her in 1614, and the Ionian Islands also bear her name. She was sometimes compared to the Egyptian goddess Isis.
Quick Facts
- Abode
- Argos, Egypt
- Consort
- Zeus, Telegonus
- Children
- Keroessa, Epaphus
- Parents
- Inachus
Facts from the source article.
Family
In most versions, Io was the daughter of the river god Inachus and the Oceanid nymph Melia. She bore the patronymic Inachis. Other genealogies give her father as Peiren, possibly a son of the elder Argus. The geographer Pausanias mentions a later Io, daughter of Iasus, whose mother was Leucane.
Mythology
Io served as a priestess of Hera in Argos. Zeus lusted after her; in Prometheus Bound she initially rejected him until her father expelled her on oracular advice. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Zeus pursued her, cast a mantle of darkness, and raped her. Some accounts say Zeus turned Io into a heifer to hide her from Hera; others say Hera herself transformed her. Hera then begged for the heifer as a gift, and Zeus complied. Gaia created the violet for the cow to eat, its colors changing to reflect Io's life: red for the maiden, purple for the cow, white for the stars. Hera set Argus Panoptes, a hundred-eyed giant, to watch Io. Zeus sent Hermes, who lulled Argus to sleep with panpipes and stories and slew him. Hera used Argus's eyes to decorate her peacock's feathers. Hera then sent a gadfly to sting Io, driving her to wander. She crossed the Bosporus, met Prometheus on Mt. Caucasus, and was comforted that she would be restored to human form and become ancestress of Heracles. Io escaped to Egypt, where Zeus restored her to human form. She bore Zeus's son Epaphus and a daughter, Keroessa, and later married the Egyptian king Telegonus. Their grandson Danaus returned to Greece with his fifty daughters.
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