Zeus and Io

      Io was the daughter of Inachus, a river god. While Zeus was with Io, he caught a glimpse of Hera coming. Zeus quickly turned Io into a heifer, swearing that he had never seen it before; that just now the earth gave birth to it; a newborn, from the earth. Hera did not believe Zeus. She said how beautiful it was and asked Zeus if he would please make her a present of it. Sorry as Zeus was, he saw that he could not refuse. He turned Io over to his wife who knew quite well how to keep Io away from him.

      Hera gave Io into the charge of Argus, a one hundred-eyed watchman, who could sleep with some of his eyes on guard. Zeus commanded Hermes, the messenger god, to find a way to kill Argus as Hermes was so clever. Hermes approached Argus as a shepherd playing on pan pipes.
"Come, sit by me. It's shady here. Just right for us!" Hermes said to Argus.

      Hermes continued by playing a drowsy and monotonous song; a song about how the reeds became pan pipes. It was the love story of Syrinx, a nymph and Pan, a satyr. Oh, how Pan had fallen in love with Syrinx, yet she not her. Pan chased her and just as he was about to seize her, her sister nymphs turned her into reeds. Pan told Syrinx, "Still you shall be mine." He cut the reeds and joined them with beeswax- thus the shepherd's pipe. The combination of the story and music put most of Argus' eyes to sleep. Hermes in his quickness cut off Argus' head. Io was only able to walk away still in her cow form.

      Hera soon found Io gone and Argus dead. She took Argus' one hundred eyes and sprinkled them in the tail feathers of her sacred bird, the peacock. Hera then sent a gad-fly (horse fly) to torment Io in her heifer form. Io swam across the Ionian Sea and the Bosphorus (Ford of a Cow) until she came to the Nile river. There Zeus restored her to her human form. Io gave birth to Epaphus, of whom Hercules is a descendant.

Zeus and Callisto

      Both Callisto and her father, Lycaon, suffered from Zeus' hand but she was innocent. Callisto was the daughter of Lycaon, a king of Arcadia, whom Zeus changed into a wolf for offending him at a banquet in Zeus' honor. Lycaon had set human flesh in disguise on the table for Zeus.

      Much later when Zeus saw Callisto hunting in the train of Artemis, he fell in love with her. Hera, furiously angry, turned Callisto into a bear sometime after Callisto's and Zeus' son, Arcas, was born. When the boy was grown and out hunting, the goddess broght Callisto before him, intending for him to shoot Callisto, his own mother, in ignorance. But Zeus snatched Callisto in her bear form and placed her among the stars. She became the Great Bear, the Ursa Major. Later Arcas was placed beside her as the Lesser Bear, the Ursa Minor. Hera in rage persuaded Poseidon to forbid the Bears to descend into the ocean like the other stars do. They alone of the constellations never set below the horizon, always hanging in the sky.

Zeus and Europa

      Europa and her companions went to their favorite meeting place. t was very fashionable for princesses to go with other maidens to a secret bathing river and pick flowers. Zeus caught sight of Europa from Mt. Olympus and fell in love with her beauty, as she was the fairest of all the maidens. He, being cautious, appeared to Europa as a bull; but not such a one as you might see grazing in a field, but a magnificent one, so gentle and so lovely. Europa drew near to the bull. It lowed so musically and so melodiously that she continued drawing nearer. He laid down at her feet. Smiling she sat on his back. Quickly he leaped up and at full speed, rushed to the sea shore, and then to the wide water.

      Zeus took Europe to Crete, his favorite island, where the Seasons, the gatekeepers of Olympus, arrayed for her bridal attire. There she gave birth to Minos and Rhadamanthus. Minos became King of Crete and both later became two of the three judges of the Underworld. Thus the continent Europe received its name.