[Greek] Io was an Argive princess and the daughter of Inachus, an ancient hero or river god of Argos. She also had the misfortune to be subjected to the lust of Zeus. Zeus, in an attempt to avoid the rage and jealousy of Hera, his wife, transformed Io into a handsome white heifer. Hera, who knew Zeus was up to no good, asked for the heifer as a present. Zeus could not refuse. Hera deposited Io in the safe keeping of Argus, the watchman with a hundred eyes. She was eventually rescued by Hermes, though Hera still dogged her by sending a gadfly to sting her wherever she went. This tale she eventually ended up telling to Prometheus, while he was bound to his rock. Prometheus, though he couldn't provide direct comfort, told her that, though her future would be fraught with hardship and toil, she would, upon reaching Egypt and the Nile, be restored by Zeus and bore him a son, Epaphus. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, she is the progenitor, thought removed by many generations, of Hercules, ...
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