Io
Priestess of Hera transformed into a white cow by Zeus (or Hera), driven across the world by a gadfly until she reached Egypt.
The Legend of Io
Zeus turned his lover into a cow to hide her from Hera — then Hera sent a gadfly to chase the cow across three continents. Io was a priestess of Hera at Argos whom Zeus desired. To conceal the affair, Zeus transformed her into a beautiful white heifer. Hera was not fooled and demanded the cow as a gift, setting hundred-eyed Argus Panoptes to guard her. After Hermes killed Argus, Hera sent a gadfly that drove Io mad with pain across Europe, through the Ionian Sea (named for her), across the Bosphorus (literally ox-ford), and finally to Egypt. There Zeus restored her human form, and she bore Epaphus, ancestor of Danaus, Perseus, and Heracles.
Parents
Inachus
Children
Epaphus
Symbols
Fun Fact
Both the Ionian Sea and the Bosphorus (ox-ford) are named for Io's wanderings as a cow.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Io
🗡 heroPriestess transformed into a cow
Io was a priestess of Hera whom Zeus seduced and then transformed into a white cow to hide from his jealous wife — she wandered the world in torment.
Wanderings of Io
💭 concepttransformation, exile
The myth of Io, priestess of Hera transformed into a cow by Zeus to hide their affair, who wandered the earth pursued by a gadfly until reaching Egypt.
Io's Metamorphosis
💭 concepttransformation, exile
The transformation of the priestess Io into a white heifer by Zeus, her torment by Hera's gadfly, and her restoration in Egypt — connecting Greek and Egyptian mythology.
Io
🌿 nymphPriestess turned white cow who roamed the earth
Io was a priestess of Hera transformed into a white cow by Zeus to hide their affair — she wandered in torment across the world before being restored in Egypt.
Pasiphaë
🗡 heroQueen of Crete, mother of the Minotaur
Pasiphaë was the queen of Crete whom Poseidon cursed with an unnatural desire for a bull — the mother of the Minotaur and a sorceress in her own right.
Cadmus
🗡 heroFounder of Thebes who brought the alphabet to Greece
The Phoenician prince who founded Thebes, sowed dragon's teeth to raise an army, and gave Greece the gift of writing.
Arcas
🗡 heroKingship, hunting, Arcadia
Eponymous founder and king of Arcadia who was nearly tricked into eating his own transformed mother
Phaea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Monstrous sow of Crommyon that terrorised the countryside until slain by Theseus
Autolycus
🗡 herotheft, cunning
The master thief and shapeshifter, grandfather of Odysseus, whose gift for deception was inherited by the most cunning hero in Greek mythology.
Peleus
🗡 heroheroism
King of Phthia, Argonaut, and father of Achilles who wrestled the shape-shifting sea goddess Thetis to win her as his bride.
Lycaon
🗡 heroKing transformed into a wolf
Lycaon was the king of Arcadia who tested Zeus by serving him human flesh at a banquet — and was transformed into a wolf as punishment.
Caeneus
🗡 herotransformation
Born as the woman Caenis, raped by Poseidon, who granted her wish to become an invulnerable man.