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A metamorphosis so rare...
A maiden fair transformed was into a cow, then into a queen,then into a falcon and then into an idol deity.
Oh this is rare, so very very rare.
The seduction of Io (Zeus in form of a cloud modern interpretation and classic.rendition by Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – March 5, 1534)
Hera,his wife found out about her husband's latest exploits and comes to investigate. In a vain attempt to hide his new lover, Zeus transformed Io into a cow. Hera was not fooled. She demanded the cow as a present, and Zeus could not refuse her without arousing suspicion.
there is no musical score except the one in Farsi for IO but i thought Vuelvo al Sur (going south) best describes IO's trek.
One day, Zeus noticed the maiden and lusted after her. She rejected his whispered nighttime advances and ran away to the fields. There, Zeus covered her with himself in the form of a cloud and seduced her. (In continuation of the theme on God and the daughters of men, see La Calisto,Leda and the Swan )
(Hera and Zeus in better times)
Hera tethered Io to a tree ,and placed a thousand eyed ARGUS to keep watch on her . Zeus set Hermes to kill Argus with a scythe so that he can be with Io again . Hermes lulled all Argus' eyes to sleep, and then cut off Argus' head.
Hera and the cow
Hera then forced Io to wander the earth as a cow without rest ,plagued by a gadfly who stung her into madness(mad cow disease).
IO eventually crossed the Bosphorus (cow crossing) into Asia where she met Prometheus.
Prometheus had been chained the rock by Zeus for teaching humans how to handle fire.
Every day, a giant eagle fed on Prometheus' liver and then his liver would regenerate over and over again to be devoured by the eagle . Despite his agony, he comforted Io that someday she would be restored to human form.. Io wandered across the Ionian sea into Egypt where she was restored to human form by Zeus. There, she gave birth to Zeus's son Apis Epaphus, and a daughter as well,Keroessa. She later married Egyptian king Telegonus and they ruled Egypt as Isis and Osiris where she metamorphosed into a falcon and copulated with her dead husband to give birth to their son Horus.
The ancients connected Io with the Moon.
In Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, where Io encounters Prometheus, she refers to herself as "the horned virgin", both bovine and luna.( see the moon and the cow horns on her head as Isis)
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