 
The prophesy of PrometheusThe death of Argos only increased Hera’s rage and escalated her desire to punish Io. The goddess set a gadfly on the heifer that stung her to madness, and Hera decreed that the torment would go on forever. In Io’s frenzy to escape the biting she ran endlessly, for “he drives me along the long sea strand, I may not stop for food or drink, he will not let me sleep.” Her course became so famous that sites were named for her memory: Ionia, in Greece, and the Bosphorus River, which means “ford the cow.” As Io clambered up a mountain in the Caucasus accompanied by the unrelenting buzzing, she saw a strange sight. A giant lay bound to the peak with heavy chains. He called Io by name and welcomed her. She stood still, amazed at one who knew her in this lonely place. In the drama Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus recounted the scene. The distracted Io says, Where am I?And he answered, “You see Prometheus who gave mortals fire.” The giant, sorry for humankind with no fire for warmth or for roasting meat, stole from Mount Olympus the flame sacred to the gods. An offense of such magnitude caused Zeus to chain Prometheus to the mountain. Each day an eagle came to eat the giant’s liver, which regenerated every morning. The suffering Pro-metheus tried to comfort the suffering Io, although he could only point to the distant future. “You will still wander in distant lands,” he told her, “but be consoled.” Prometheus predicted that when Io came to Egypt and reached the Nile, Zeus would secure her mortal return. She would bear the god a son and live an honored life forever. And Prometheus promised, Know this, that from your race will spring One glorious with the bow, bold-hearted, And he shall set me free. Solaced by the giant’s divination, the little heifer scrambled down the mountain in pursuit of her destiny. Io restored The gadfly continued to do what gadflies do best, and Io continued to wander the world in torment. Finally she arrived in Egypt at the Nile riverbank. Here the heifer kneeled, twisting her long neck upward and gazing at the sky. She pleaded with Zeus to end her long ordeal, an occasional moo punctuating long-neglected words. The god was moved by the prayers. Zeus put his arms around Hera, coaxing an end to vengeance and swearing that Io would never again be a source of pain. Hera always found it difficult to resist her beloved, and in a moment of weakness agreed. Slowly the heifer transformed. “The rough hair leaves her body, the horns disappear, the great eyes grow smaller, the gaping mouth shrinks, the shoulders and hands return, and the hooves vanish. Nothing of the heifer is left except her whiteness. And here by the Nile, far from her native Greek river, stands the nymph in all her loveliness. Io restored.” Zeus kept his promise to his wife, for she never again felt pain about Io. Hera simply never learned that the lovers reunited with renewed passion. And infinite caution. They had a son, Epaphus, and all went as Prometheus had predicted. Io lived a blissful life with her divine lover. And eleven generations later their descendant Heracles appeared, mightiest of heroes, the “bold-hearted.” And it was Heracles, also known as Hercules, who set Prometheus free as envisioned. |
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