Io
（
Ἰώ). The beautiful daughter of Inachus, and the first
priestess of Heré at Argos. As Zeus loved her, she was changed by the jealousy of
Heré into a white heifer, and Argus of the hundred eyes was appointed to watch her.
When Hermes, at the command of Zeus, had killed Argus, Heré maddened the heifer by
sending a gad-fly which perpetually pursued her. Io thus wandered through the continents of
Europe and Asia, by land and by sea. Each of the different straits she swam across was named
after her Bosporus, or Ox-ford. At last in Egypt she recovered her original shape, and bore
Epaphus to Zeus. Libya, the daughter of Epaphus, became by Poseidon the mother of Belus, who
in turn was father of Aegyptus, Danaus, Cepheus, and Phineus. The Greek legend of Io's going
to Egypt is probably to be explained by her having been identified with the Egyptian goddess
Isis, who is always represented with cow's horns. Io (“the wanderer”) is
generally explained as a moon-goddess wandering in the starry heavens, symbolized by Argus of
the hundred eyes; her transformation into a horned heifer representing the crescent moon.
