It is known that ancient Greek myths were often built on plots drawn from real life, and the authors endowed fictional characters with their own features. That is why many ancient deities are far from examples of morality in their modern sense. An example of this is the story of the supreme thunderer Zeus and the young goddess Io.
The young mistress of the master of Olympus
The goddess Io, who came to the modern world from Ancient Greece, was of a very foggy origin. According to some sources, she was the daughter of the river god Inach, according to others - one elderly, but very loving king. Other options are also provided. However, this is an everyday matter, because it is known that even the mother of a child can not always confidently name the name of his father.
One way or another, but the goddess Io spent her adolescence in the temple of Hera, the all-powerful patroness of the marriage, who inadvertently took her to the staff of her priestesses. The young girl acted quite decently until she fell in love with her husband - the supreme god and master of Olympus, Zeus, who impressed all the representatives of the weaker sex with his male beauty. He did not force himself to persuade for a long time, and a love affair ensued between them - one of those that are repeated in different versions from the time of the universe.
Failed trick
To lull the vigilance of his wife, and perhaps wanting to give the novel some piquancy, Zeus temporarily turned his beloved into a cow - white and beautiful, which the world had never seen. However, Hera, knowing her husband's inclinations, quickly saw through him and brought down her righteous anger on the heads of her lovers.
Having told her husband everything they say in such cases, and threatening to “go to her mother”, she demanded that, in a sign of remorse, he would give her “this nasty slut”. He cowardly agreed, and the unfortunate goddess Io was in the power of Hera, who spared no effort to avenge her with all the ruthlessness that a loving but deceived woman is capable of.
The Beast Struck by Hermes
To top it off, Hera assigned an all-seeing guard to her captive - the multi-eyed giant Argus, who constantly harassed the poor thing with empty nit-picking. Perhaps the story of the goddess Io would have ended on this, if not for the conscience awakened in the soul of her former lover.
Seeing the suffering he had condemned the unfortunate girl, Zeus instructed his son Hermes (also, I must say, a fair womanizer) to kill the giant and free the captive. Without telling his father, he fulfilled his order, having previously euthanized the monster with his speeches. It should be noted that the art of bringing a dream to listeners is not only not lost today, but has also been brought to perfection by some speakers.
Hera's Revenge
Upon learning of the incident, Hera came in indescribable anger. First of all, she cast a spell on the fugitive, by virtue of which she was doomed to remain forever in the guise of a cow. In addition, by the power of magic she created a terrible gadfly - a giant insect that was supposed to everywhere pursue the goddess Io and, mercilessly stinging, inflicting unbearable torment on her.
A vainly bitten cow ran from an evil gadfly. She did not find salvation either in the ancient city of Dodon, famous for an exquisite temple, once erected in honor of the culprit of her troubles - Zeus, nor in the vastness of Asia, where she vainly dreamed of finding peace, neither on the shores of the seas, nor in the river valleys. Everywhere a vile insect from the family of "parasitic dipterans" (as is commonly expressed in the scientific world) pursued its prey.
A ray of hope glinting in the ice of Scythia
Only within the distant northern country of Scythia did a ray of hope awaken for the order of the already desperate goddess Io. An ancient legend tells that at the time when it reached the polar latitudes, there, its fellow countryman Prometheus was chained to one of the rocks - a mighty titan who gave people fire and doomed to suffer from day and night the eagle tormented his chest. Realizing as no one else the problems of his compatriot, he comforted her with the prediction that deliverance from troubles awaited her on the banks of the Nile.
Hearing this good news, Io hurried to Egypt, and in the wake of her flew a pretty chilled and covered with hoarfrost gadfly. From the frost, he became even angrier and rushed to the runaway like a rabid dog. The drafters of the legend are silent about how much and what torment she underwent along the way, allowing the readers themselves to imagine it. However, with all certainty, it is reported that on the banks of the great African river, the romance between the goddess Io and Zeus received an unexpected and happy continuation.
The fruit of love, ripened on the banks of the Nile
After longing for his former passion, the thunderer pretty strained and by the power of witchcraft managed to break the spell that entangled her insidious Hera. The vile gadfly has died out, and the cow's skin, which hid the delicate girl's skin for so long, suddenly melted and revealed to the world the old Io, shining with its unearthly beauty.
Zeus, languishing without a woman's affection (the spouse was in no hurry to return his former favor to him), hastened to wrap her in her arms - so hot and passionate that after a certain period she gave him his son Epaphus. To this fruit of love that broke out between the goddess Io and Zeus, the myths of Ancient Greece attribute the honor of being the first king of Egypt. He, according to the generally accepted version, is the ancestor of the mighty and glorious tribe of heroes, the legendary Hercules became the most famous representative of it.
Two versions of one event
And where did the jealous Hera look? On this issue, the opinions of later commentators differ. For example, the ancient Roman poet Ovid claimed that he knew for certain that she herself lifted the curse from Io, and did this after her husband repented and vowed never to break marital fidelity again. Oh, I can’t believe in his sincerity, oh, I can’t believe it! In addition, a meeting with his beloved, which ended with the birth of a son, Zeus did not appoint in his native Athens, but in a stranger to him in Egypt, that is, away from his wife.
There is another version of the event that occurred on the banks of the Nile. She was never very popular with the Greeks for this reason: evil tongues claimed that Zeus conceived the unborn child before his girlfriend regained her human form. In other words, he did not commit an act of love with a woman, but with a cow. Hera learned about such a strange fantasy of her husband and, in order to avoid publicity and shame, she hurried to restore her former appearance to the horned rival. However, some believe that she did this, solely out of compassion for the unborn child, but she long waved her hand at Zeus.
Afterword
It is curious that after the “happy end” crowned the story described in our article, the young lover of Zeus began to be identified by the Greeks with the moon goddess Selena. The reason for this was the two-horned form of an earth satellite visible at certain periods, forever wandering the sky surrounded by countless stars, so similar, according to ancient Hellenes, to the eyes of the giant Argus. The name of the goddess, according to the researchers, came from the ancient Egyptian word “iw” (io), which means “cow”.
Her love affairs, which became the plot of one of the most famous and popular ancient Greek myths, found a new meaning in the works of classics of ancient dramatic art. Thus, the love story of the almighty thunderbolt and the young priestess formed the basis of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Heremon and Action, and also inspired Plato, Anaxilus and Anaxandrid to create comedies very popular at the time. The name of the goddess Io is not forgotten in our days. It is carried by the closest of the four largest moons of Jupiter.