Io

Also known as: Isis / daughter of Inachus · Family: divine · Role: nymph · First appears: Fable 13

Io, also known as Isis and the daughter of Inachus, is a divine nymph. In fable 13, Jupiter sees her returning from her father’s stream and pursues her; after she passes the pastures of Lerna and the Lircæan plains, he darkens the earth, arrests her flight, and forces her modesty: “the God covered the earth far and wide with darkness overspreading, and arrested her flight, and forced her modesty.”

In fable 14, Jupiter changes Io into a sleek heifer to conceal her from Juno, then gives her to Juno as a gift despite his reluctance. Juno, Io’s rival and enemy, entrusts her to Argus, son of Aristor, for guarded custody; meanwhile Inachus discovers that the cow is his transformed daughter when letters traced by her foot in the dust reveal the truth.

In fable 17, terrified and maddened by dreadful visions sent through Juno’s wrath, Io wanders across many regions and reaches Egypt. When Juno is pacified, Io’s former shape is restored and she is permitted to be worshipped there under the name Isis. She is also associated with Phoroneus as his granddaughter, and Epaphus is believed to have been born to her from Jupiter’s divine seed.

Relationship record

Life events

• Jupiter darkens the earth, stops Io’s flight, and ravishes her.(Fable13)
  • With: Jupiter
  • “And now she had left behind the pastures of Lerna,[98] and the Lircæan plains planted with trees, when the God covered the earth far and wide with darkness overspreading, and arrested her flight, and forced her modesty.”
• Jupiter transforms Io into a heifer to conceal her from Juno.(Fable14)
  • With: Jupiter
  • “He had foreseen the approach of his wife, and had changed the features of the daughter of Inachus into a sleek heifer.”
• Jupiter gives Io to Juno as a gift despite his reluctance.(Fable14)
  • With: Jupiter Juno
  • “The daughter of Saturn begs her of him as a gift.”
• Juno entrusts Io to Argus for guarded custody.(Fable14)
  • With: Juno Argus
  • “until she gave her to Argus, the son of Aristor, to be kept {by him}.”
• Inachus discovers that the cow is his transformed daughter Io.(Fable14)
  • With: Inachus
  • “Instead of words, letters, which her foot traced in the dust, completed the sad discovery of the transformation of her body.”
• Juno ends Io’s punishment, restores her human form, and allows her worship as a goddess.(Fable17 · 📍 Egypt)
  • With: Juno
  • “As soon as the Goddess is pacified, {Io} receives her former shape, and she becomes what she was before;”
• Epaphus is believed to be born to Io from Jupiter’s divine seed.(Fable17)
  • With: Epaphus Jupiter
  • “To her, at length, Epaphus[113] is believed to have been born from the seed of great Jove,”

Fable 13

• parent: Inachus “Jupiter, pursuing Io, the daughter of Inachus, covers the earth with darkness, and ravishes the Nymph.”
• with Jupiter (Jupiter pursues and ravishes Io.) “Jupiter, pursuing Io, the daughter of Inachus, covers the earth with darkness, and ravishes the Nymph.”
• admirer: Jupiter (Jupiter pursues Io and speaks to her in terms of marriage.) “Jupiter had seen Io as she was returning from her father’s stream, and had said, “O maid, worthy of Jove, and destined to make I know not whom happy in thy marriage, repair to the shades of this lofty grove”

Fable 14

• with Jupiter (Jupiter and Io are lovers.) “It is a cruel thing to deliver up his {own} mistress”
• rivals with Juno “The rival now being given up {to her}”
• guardian: Juno “until she gave her to Argus, the son of Aristor, to be kept {by him}”
• guardian: Argus “she gave her to Argus, the son of Aristor, to be kept {by him}”
• parent: Inachus “art thou my daughter”
• with Phoroneus (Phoroneus is Io's grandfather) “Nor can the ruler of the Gods above, any longer endure so great miseries of the granddaughter of Phoroneus;[102]”

Fable 17

• with Juno (Juno restores Io to her former shape and permits her worship under the name Isis.) “Io, terrified and maddened with dreadful visions, runs over many regions, and stops in Egypt, when Juno, at length, being pacified, restores her to her former shape, and permits her to be worshipped there, under the name of Isis.”
• child: Epaphus (Epaphus is described as born to Io; the parenthetical pronoun refers to Io.) “To her, at length, Epaphus[113] is believed to have been born from the seed of great Jove, and throughout the cities he possesses temples joined to {those of} his parent.”
• enemies with Juno (The preceding sentence identifies the wrathful figure as Juno and the wandering victim as Io.) “Immediately, she was inflamed with rage, and deferred not the time of {expressing} her wrath; and she presented a dreadful Fury before the eyes and thoughts of the Argive mistress,[111] and buried in her bosom invisible stings, and drove her, in her fright, a wanderer through the whole earth.”
• with Jupiter (Io is suffering punishment associated with Jupiter.) “Soon as she arrived there, she fell upon her knees, placed on the edge of the bank, and raising herself up, with her neck thrown back, and casting to Heaven those looks which then alone she could, by her groans, and her tears, and her mournful lowing, she seemed to be complaining of Jupiter, and to be begging an end of her sorrows.”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.