Wanderings of Io
conceptThe 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.
The Myth
Io was a priestess of Hera at Argos and a daughter of the river god Inachus. Zeus desired her and, to conceal the affair from Hera, transformed her into a beautiful white heifer. Hera, suspicious, demanded the cow as a gift and set Argus Panoptes, the hundred-eyed giant, to guard her. Zeus sent Hermes to free Io — Hermes lulled Argus to sleep with the story of Pan and Syrinx, then killed him. Hera placed Argus's eyes on the peacock's tail and sent a maddening gadfly to torment Io. The heifer fled across the world — the Ionian Sea and the Bosphorus ("ox ford") were named for her crossing. She swam the straits and wandered through Asia until reaching Egypt, where Zeus restored her human form with a touch. She bore him a son, Epaphus, whose descendants included the Danaids, Cadmus, Perseus, and ultimately Heracles.
Children
Epaphus
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Bosphorus — the strait connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, one of the most strategically important waterways on earth — literally means "ox ford" in Greek, named after Io's crossing in cow form. Istanbul straddles this strait. Every tanker, warship, and cruise ship passing between Europe and Asia sails through a waterway named after a divine love affair gone wrong and a cow swimming for her life.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
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Hera
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Hera Teleia
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Heracles
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