Search results
Io. A victim of Zeus's love. Io is exiled from her home because Zeus wishes to deflower her. Transformed into a cow, she wanders the earth awaiting salvation. Io is seen as a parallel to Prometheus: though she suffers, in the end she will be freed and rewarded. Her descendant will free Prometheus, bonding their fates together.
- Quick Quiz
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year...
- Full Play Summary
Prometheus almost reveals his prophecy to the Chorus, but...
- Quick Quiz
Prometheus comforted Io with the information that she would be restored to human form and become the ancestress of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules). Io escaped across the Ionian Sea to Egypt , where she was restored to human form by Zeus.
Io is an example of Zeus’s power and ability to confine and imprison others through various means and to inflict endless suffering, but she is also the woman from whom Prometheus’s savior will eventually come. “My savior will descend from your womb,” Prometheus says to Io.
We don't know much about Io, but we do get a sense that she's a nice girl/cow. When she first meets Prometheus, she insists on learning his story, asking him "For what crime are you thus being murdered" (563) and "Tell me who bound you in this ravine" (618).
Zeus reluctantly handed Io, in the form of a cow, to Hera, who had a plan to keep her away from Zeus. She handed Io into the charge of Argus . Since he had a hundred eyes, he was able to sleep with some of his eyes and guard Io with the rest.
Summary. Io enters wearing the horns of a cow. She asks where she is, complains about the ghost of Argos pursuing her and the gadfly stinging her, and asks why Zeus tortures her in this way. Prometheus addresses her by name and shows knowledge of her wanderings.
People also ask
Who is Io in Prometheus?
How did Prometheus help Io?
What does Prometheus say to Io?
How are Prometheus and IO bound together?
Dec 26, 2016 · Prometheus consoles Io, assuring her that her transformation isn’t permanent. He also predicts that one of her descendants would prove to be the greatest of all Greek heroes, Heracles (Hercules) – a useful coincidence for the suffering god, as it is Heracles who eventually liberates the bound Titan.
