ZEUS LOVERS ZEUS, HERA AND IO. PAUL REID, HERMES, IO AND ARGUS, 1975-

ZEUS’ LOVERS

ZEUS, HERA AND IO

PAUL REID, HERMES, IO AND ARGUS, 1975-

LATIN SOURCESOriginal text: OVID, Metamorphoses, liber I, vv 568-678, 722-746 http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ovid/ovid.met1.shtmlTranslation into English: http://etext.virginia.edu/latin/ovid/trans/Metamorph.htm#488381111

ZEUS TURNS IO INTO A YOUNG COW

OVID’S TEXT

 Interea medios Iuno despexit in Argoset noctis faciem nebulas fecisse volucressub nitido mirata die, non fluminis illasesse, nec umenti sensit tellure remitti;atque suus coniunx ubi sit circumspicit, ut quae               605deprensi totiens iam nosset furta mariti.quem postquam caelo non repperit, 'aut ego falloraut ego laedor' ait delapsaque ab aethere summoconstitit in terris nebulasque recedere iussit.coniugis adventum praesenserat inque nitentem               610Inachidos vultus mutaverat ille iuvencam;bos quoque formosa est. speciem Saturnia vaccae,quamquam invita, probat nec non, et cuius et undequove sit armento, veri quasi nescia quaerit.Iuppiter e terra genitam mentitur, ut auctor                615desinat inquiri: petit hanc Saturnia munus.quid faciat? crudele suos addicere amores,non dare suspectum est: Pudor est, qui suadeat illinc, hinc dissuadet Amor. victus Pudor esset Amore,sed leve si munus sociae generisque torique                620vacca negaretur, poterat non vacca videri!

ZEUS TURNS IO INTO A YOUNG COW

KLINE’S VERSION    

Meanwhile Juno looked down into the heart of Argos, surprised that rapid mists had created night in shining daylight. She

knew they were not vapours from the river, or breath from the damp earth. She looked around to see where her husband was, knowing by

now the intrigues of a spouse so often caught in the act. When she could not find him in the skies, she said ‘Either I am wrong, or being wronged’ and gliding down from heaven’s peak, she stood on earth

ordering the clouds to melt. Jupiter had a presage of his wife’s arrival and had changed Inachus’s daughter into a gleaming heifer. Even in

that form she was beautiful. Saturnia approved the animal’s looks, though grudgingly, asking, then, whose she was, where from, what herd, as if she did not know. Jupiter, to stop all inquiry, lied, saying she had been born from the earth. Then Saturnia claimed her as a

gift. What could he do? Cruel to sacrifice his love, but suspicious not to. Shame urges him to it, Amor urges not. Amor would have

conquered Shame, but if he refused so slight a gift as a heifer to the companion of his race and bed, it might appear no heifer!

The Titan Prometheus, bound in the Caucaso, tells Io about her

futureAESCHYLUS, Prometheus bound

vv 846-852

ἔστιν πόλις Κάνωβος ἐσχάτη χθονός,Νείλου πρὸς αὐτῷ στόματι καὶ προσχώματι:ἐνταῦθα δή σε Ζεὺς τίθησιν ἔμφροναἐπαφῶν ἀταρβεῖ χειρὶ καὶ θιγὼν μόνον.ἐπώνυμον δὲ τῶν Διὸς γεννημάτωντέξεις κελαινὸν Ἔπαφον, ὃς καρπώσεταιὅσην πλατύρρους Νεῖλος ἀρδεύει χθόνα:

Translation into English by Herbert WEIR SMYTH, Ph. D., Ed

There is a city, Canobus, on the extremity of the land at the very mouth and silt-

bar of the Nile. There at last Zeus restores you to your senses by the mere stroke and touch of his unterrifying hand. And you shall bring forth dark Epaphus,thus named from the manner of Zeus' engendering; and he shall gather the fruit of all

the land watered by the broad-flowing Nile.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus:collection:Greco-Roman

HENRY FUSELI, British painter and draughtsman 1741-1825

THE MYTHIo is a priestess of the Roman goddess Juno, Jupiter’s

jealous wife. Jupiter, the king of the gods, is very unfaithful to his wife.

When Jupiter falls in love with Io, he turns himself into the shape of a dark cloud to hide from his jealous wife.

However, Juno notices the small cloud and suspects that it is one of Jupiter's tricks. So, she approaches to check the true

nature of the cloud. As soon as Juno arrives, Jupiter transforms Io into a white cow to avoid his wife's wrath. But Juno suspects

and asks Jupiter to give her the cow as a gift and Jupiter cannot refuse such a little gift.

Later, Juno ties the poor cow and sends Argus, her faithful, servant to watch over Io. Argus has a hundred eyes so

he is never fully asleep because he can always keep most of his eyes open.

THE MYTH

To free Io, Jupiter sends his son Mercury to sing and tell boring stories so as to make Argus sleep with all his eyes.

Mercury tells so many stories that finally Argus closes all his hundred eyes. Only then, Mercury kills Argus and unties Io,

who runs home free.

Yet when Juno discovers what has happened, she is so furious that she sends a vicious gadfly to sting the cow

forever. Moreover, to honour the memory of her faithful servant, Juno puts Argus’ hundred eyes on the tail of her

favourite bird, the peacock.

Meanwhile, Io, who is still a prisoner in the shape of a cow, cannot get rid of the malicious gadfly. Finally, after

Jupiter vows to no longer pursue his beloved Io, Juno releases her from her inhuman prison, and Io settles in Egypt,

becoming the first queen of this country.

IO IS SEDUCED BY ZEUS

JOHN HOPPNER1785

CORREGGIO1532

IO IS TURNED INTO A COW

HERA DISCOVERS IO IN THE SHAPE OF A COWby Pieter Pietersz LASTMAN, 1618

Hera asks Jupiter to give her the cow

AMBROGIO FIGINO

1553-1608.ITALIAN MANIERISM

MERCURY MAKES ARGUS FALL ASLEEP

VELÁZQUEZ, 1659

RUBENS, 1635-38

JACOB JORDAENS, 1593-1678

MERCURY KILLING ARGUS

by PETER PAUL RUBENS

HERA PUTS ARGUS’ EYES ON THE TAIL OF HER SACRED ANIMAL, THE PEACOCK, by RUBENS

SPANISH LITERTURE

THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN MERCURY AND ARGUS IS ONE OF THE IMAGES USED TO SHOW HOW THE SWEET SOUNDS OF ADULATION

COULD EVENTUALLY CAUSE A GREAT EVIL

BALTHASAR DE LA VICTORIA,Theatro de los dioses de la

gentilidad1620

Muy mal podrás huyr de un graue engaño,

Si hay celada encubierta, y paliada,

Que no ay firmeza donde sobra engaño:

Que vigilante es Argos, pero nada,

Al canto de Mercurio tan estrano

Le fue imposible el impedir la entrada

J. DE HOROZCOEmblemas morales

1589

Ordena de tañerle, y uno a uno

Los ojos todos ciento se han cerrado

Y así le hurto la vaca que por Juno

Guardava, en que a las gentes à mostrado

Que al mas despierto engaña de ligero

El dulce son del falso lisonjero

IO IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

Io in Egyptby RICHARD GARNETT, 1859

N0 palm-grove, green 'mid lion-coloured sands,No forest-heaving mount, no river coil' d Involving in clear silver fair champaigns, Saw Io, mad and dizzied vagabond,Full thirty days, so long the visible wrathOf Hera as a gad-fly followed her. (…)

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/imageviewer.asp?ean=9781144439239&imId=55355452

THE MYTH IN MUSIC

Io is an unfinished opera by JEAN-PHILLIPE RAMEAU in the form of a one-act acte de ballet.

The date of its composition is unknown and it was probably unperformed during Rameau's lifetime.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(opera)

THE IO PASSION is a chamber opera written by SIR HARRISON PAUL BIRTWISTLE, who is a British contemporary composer, born in 15th July

1934.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Birtwistle

THE MYTH IN ASTRONOMY:IO IN THE SKY

When Galileo discovered the major

moons of Jupiter in 1610, they were named for the

mythological sweethearts of Jupiter, one of them, of

course, being Io.When Voyager 1 passed

Io in March 1979 and took a photo of the

surface, the image showed the hoofprint

of a young cow!

THE ERUPTING VOLCANO PROMETHEUS ON IO

This volcano, called Prometheus, found on Jupiter's moon Io, could

be called the Old Faithful of the outer solar system, because its

volcanic plume of smoke has been visible every time it has been

observed since 1979. This particular image, one of the

highest-resolution pictures ever taken of Io, was obtained by

NASA's Galileo spacecraft as it approached Io on July 3, 1999.

http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/solar_system/Io.html

THE MYTH IN CARTOONS: WATCH THIS FUNNY VERSION OF IO

Myth_of_Zeus___Io--Animated.flv

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION

I.E.S. Camilo José Cela(Padrón – A Coruña)

Galicia, SpainStudents:

Written by Alejandro Senín Rodríguez (4th grade of Secondary Compulsory Education)

Presented by Candela Quintáns Cristobo(2nd Grade of Post Compulsory Education)

Teachers:Chus Senín (Headmistress)Paloma Suárez de CentiMarta Gende Loli DovalEsther PérezCristina EstévezXaime González