Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Io (; ) was one of the mortal lovers of

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

. An Argive princess, she was an ancestor of many kings and heroes, such as

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of ...

, Cadmus,

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

Minos Main injector neutrino oscillation search (MINOS) was a particle physics experiment designed to study the phenomena of neutrino oscillations, first discovered by a Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) experiment in 1998. Neutrinos produced by the NuMI ...

, Lynceus, Cepheus, and Danaus. The astronomer Simon Marius named a

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

after Io in 1614. Because her brother was Phoroneus, Io is also known as Phoronis (an adjective form of Phoroneus: "Phoronean"). She was sometimes compared to the Egyptian goddess

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

, whereas her Egyptian husband Telegonus was

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

Family

In most versions of the legend, Io was the daughter of Inachus, though various other purported genealogies are also known. If her father was Inachus, then her mother would presumably have been Inachus' wife (and sister), the Oceanid nymph Melia, daughter of

Oceanus In Greek mythology, Oceanus ( ; , also , , or ) was a Titans, Titan son of Uranus (mythology), Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys (mythology), Tethys, and the father of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods ...

. She had the patronymic Inachis (Ἰναχίς) as daughter of Inachus. Io's father was called Peiren in the ''

Catalogue of Women The ''Catalogue of Women'' ()—also known as the ''Ehoiai '' (, )The Latin transliterations ''Eoeae'' and ''Ehoeae'' are also used (e.g. , ); see Catalogue of Women#Title and the ē' hoiē-formula, Title and the ''ē' hoiē''-formula, below. Th ...

'', and by

Acusilaus Acusilaus, Acusilas, Acousileos, or Akousilaos () of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos, son of Cabas or Scabras, was a Greece, Greek logographer (history), logographer and mythographer who lived in the latter half of the 6th century BC but whose work surv ...

, possibly a son of the elder Argus, also known as Peiras, Peiranthus or Peirasus. Io may therefore be identical to Callithyia, daughter of Peiranthus, as is suggested by Hesychius of Alexandria. The 2nd century AD geographer Pausanias mentions another, later Io, descendant of Phoroneus, daughter of Iasus, who himself was the son of Argus and Ismene, the daughter of Asopus, Apollodorus
2.1.3
or of Triopas and Sosis; Io's mother in the latter case was Leucane.

Mythology

Pieter Lastman - Juno Discovering Jupiter with Io - WGA12485

Io and Zeus

Io was a priestess of the goddess

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

in Argos, whose cult her father Inachus was supposed to have introduced to Argos.

noticed Io, a mortal woman, and lusted after her. In the version of the myth told in ''

Prometheus Bound ''Prometheus Bound'' () is an ancient Greek tragedy traditionally attributed to Aeschylus and thought to have been composed sometime between 479 BC and the terminus ante quem of 424 BC. The tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, ...

'' she initially rejected Zeus' advances, until her father threw her out of his house on the advice of oracles. According to some stories, Zeus then turned Io into a heifer in order to hide her from his wife; others maintain that Hera herself transformed Io. In the version of the story in which Zeus transformed Io, the deception failed, and Hera begged Zeus to give her the heifer as a present, which, having no reason to refuse, he did. Pitying the unfortunate girl, Gaia, the goddess of the earth, created the violet (), so the cow could eat, thus growing "from her from whom it has its name", based on incorrect

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

. The various colours of the violet (red, purple, white) changed on account of Io's life, red for the blushing maiden, purple for the cow, white for the stars. Hera then sent Argus Panoptes, a giant who had 100 eyes, to watch Io and prevent Zeus from visiting her, and so Zeus sent Hermes to distract and eventually slay Argus. According to Ovid, he did so by first lulling him to sleep by playing the panpipes and telling stories. Zeus freed Io, still in the form of a heifer. In some myths, Hera uses Argus' eyes to decorate her peacock's feathers to thank the giant for his help. In order to exact her revenge, Hera sent a gadfly to sting Io continuously, driving her to wander the world without rest. Io eventually crossed the path between the Propontis and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, which thus acquired the name

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

(meaning ''ox passage''), where she met

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

, who had been chained on Mt.

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

by Zeus. Prometheus comforted Io with the information that she would be restored to human form and become the ancestress of the greatest of all heroes,

(Hercules). Io escaped across the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, where she was restored to human form by Zeus. There, she gave birth to Zeus's son Epaphus, and a daughter as well, Keroessa. She later married Egyptian king Telegonus. Their grandson, Danaus, eventually returned to Greece with his fifty daughters (the Danaids), as recalled in

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' play '' The Suppliants''. The myth of Io must have been well known to

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, who often calls Hermes ''Argeiphontes'', which is often translated as "Argus-slayer", though this interpretation is disputed by Robert Beekes.

Walter Burkert Walter Burkert (; 2 February 1931 – 11 March 2015) was a German scholar of Greek mythology and cult. A professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, he taught in the UK and the US. He has influenced generations of student ...

notes that the story of Io was told in the ancient epic tradition at least four times of which we have traces: in the '' Danais'', in the '' Phoronis''— Phoroneus founded the cult of Hera, according to Hyginus' '' Fabulae'' 274 and 143—in a fragment of the Hesiodic ''Aigimios'', as well as in similarly fragmentary Hesiodic ''

''. A mourning commemoration of Io was observed at the Heraion of Argos into classical times. The ancients connected Io with the Moon, and in

' ''

'', where Io encounters Prometheus, she refers to herself as "the horned virgin". From her relationship with Phoroneus, as sister (or descendant), Io is sometimes called Phoronis. According to the

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

by William Smith, Io at some point landed at Damalis, and the Chalcedonians erected a bronze cow on the spot.

Io as Isis

Lygdus and his wife, Telethusa, were a poor couple living in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

. When Telethusa becomes pregnant, her husband tells her that they cannot afford to have a daughter, and that they have no other option than to kill the child if it is a daughter. Eight months later Io, later in the story mentioned as

, comes in a vision to Telethusa telling her that she should keep her daughter when it is born and must tell her husband that it is a boy named Iphis. Later in the story, Isis (Io) changes Iphis' sex when she is supposed to marry her fiancée, Ianthe.

Gallery

File:Antonio Allegri, called Correggio - Jupiter and Io - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Jupiter and Io'' by Antonio da Correggio File:Victor-Janssens Io-recognized-by-her-father.jpg, ''Io Recognised by Her Father'' by Victor Honoré Janssens (second half of 17th century) File:Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem the Younger - Hera and Io, 1669.jpg, ''Hera and Io'' by Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem the Younger (circa 1669) File:Jupiter and Io) by John Hoppner, RA.jpg, ''Jupiter and Io'' by John Hoppner (1785) at Denver Art Museum File:Io changed into a cow, Mercury cuts of Argus's head.jpg, ''From Neueröffneter Musen-Tempel'' by Bernard Picart (1733), University of Heidelberg File:Francesco de Mura – Giunone affida Io ad Argo.tiff, ''Juno (Hera) commits Io to Argus Panoptes'' by Francesco de Mura (1740–1750) at Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Italy File:Italian School - Jupiter and Io, espied by Juno (1600-1699).jpg, ''Jupiter and Io, espied by Juno'' by Andrea Sacchi and Pier Francesco Mola (1600 - 1699) at

Kedleston Hall Kedleston Hall is a neo-classical manor house owned by the National Trust, and seat of the :Curzon family, Curzon family, located near Kedleston in Derbyshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Derby. The medieval village ...

, Derbyshire (Accredited Museum) File:Gerbrand van den Eeckhout - Juno, Jupiter and Io.jpg, ''Juno, Jupiter and Io'' by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout File:Arnold Houbraken - Jupiter, Juno and Io.jpg, ''Jupiter, Juno and Io'' by

Arnold Houbraken Arnold Houbraken (28 March 1660 – 14 October 1719) was a Dutch people, Dutch Painting, painter and writer from Dordrecht, now remembered mainly as a biographer of Dutch Golden Age painters. Life Houbraken was sent first to learn ''threadt ...

File:Jacob Symonsz. Pynas - Jupiter and Io.jpg, ''Jupiter and Io'' by Jacob Pynas at The Fitzwilliam Museum, UK File:Jupiter and Io LACMA M.71.76.16.jpg, ''Jupiter and Io'' by Hendrik Goltzius (1589) at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

Notes

References

Bibliography

, '' Suppliants'' in ''Persians. Seven against Thebes. Suppliants. Prometheus Bound'', edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

No. 145, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2009.
Online version at Harvard University Press
* * * Apollodorus, ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts,

; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

. ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

, Volume I: Books 1-8''. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold.

No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

, 1916
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Peck, William Thane (editor), ''The First and Second Books of Ovid's Metamorphoses'', Ginn & Company, 1900. * Tsagalis, Christos, ''Early Greek Epic Fragments I: Antiquarian and Genealogical Epic'', Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2017.

External links

Assembles the essential references in Greek and Latin literature, in translation.
Io engravings by Goltzius from the De Verda collection

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 250 images of Io and Argus)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Io (Mythology) Greek mythological priestesses Mortal women of Zeus Mythological bovines Children of Inachus Metamorphoses characters Metamorphoses into animals in Greek mythology Isis Mythological Argives Mythological rape victims Egyptian characters in Greek mythology Egypt in Greek mythology Deeds of Hera Deeds of Hermes Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology Deeds of Gaia