Io and Zeus

A Love Story of Transformation and Exile

The myth of Io is one of the most dramatic examples of how Zeus's affairs brought suffering not to Zeus himself, but to the women he pursued and the children they bore.

Io was a priestess of Hera at Argos. Zeus desired her and seduced her (or, in some versions, assaulted her). When Hera grew suspicious, Zeus transformed Io into a beautiful white cow to hide her identity. But Hera was not fooled — she demanded the cow as a gift and set the hundred-eyed giant Argus Panoptes to guard her. Zeus sent Hermes to kill Argus, which he did by lulling all hundred eyes to sleep with music and stories before cutting off his head. Hera then placed Argus's eyes on the tail of the peacock, her sacred bird, as a memorial. But Io's suffering was far from over. Hera sent a gadfly to torment Io endlessly, driving her mad as she wandered the earth in cow form. She crossed the strait that was named after her — the Bosporus, meaning 'cow crossing' — and eventually reached Egypt, where Zeus restored her human form. There she bore Zeus's son Epaphus, who became an ancestor of many important mythological figures, including the hero Perseus and the royal house of Argos.