See U In History
Hermes and Argos
The Goddess Hera was looking for her husband Zeus,
but could not find him anywhere in the Olympus.
From the top of Olympus, the goddess looked at a black cloud which was hovering over the Inachos.
And she had no doubt whatsoever that that was the place where her husband was hidden.
Zeus had descended to earth to have yet another meeting with his lover, the Princess Io.
The young girl noticed that the Goddess Hera was getting nearer and warned Zeus about it,
who suddenly decided to turn the girl into a beautiful cow.
Pretending that she did not notice her husband’s trick, the goddess said:
- Zeus, what are you doing right beside that cow? You haven’t...
- No, no! Not by a mile, my lovely wife. I'm just admiring this stunning animal.
- Yes, indeed, it reallyis a splendorous cow. I want to have it.
Without a way out, Zeus could not do anything and so he let Hera took the poor cow with her to the Olympus.
When they arrived at the Olympus, the goddess called her lackey Argos, who was a one hundred-eye creature.
The monster took the beautiful little cow to Egypt, hidden from everyone.
There he let her go, but remained vigilant at all times.
Even when he was resting,
Argos kept some of his eyes opened, watching the cow-shaped nymph.
After noticing Io’s disappearance, Zeus asked Hermes to find and kill the creature who had taken her.
Hermes walked through every pasture, every field and even swamps, looking for Zeus’ missing cow.
The subtle god finally found Argos watching the nymph while she was grazing.
The God decided to disguise himself as a shepherd and walked towards both of them, as if he did not want anything at all.
Hermes approached them playing the flute and the melody pleased the creature.
- Come here, shepherd! And play more of that instrument for me.
The god was playing the instrument and realized that the monster was getting more and relaxed,
and every one of his eyes began to close, but he still had a lot of them open.
Argos asked about the story of the instrument.
And the sagacious Hermes decided to tell the story as if he was saying a bedtime story.
When the creature closed his last eye, Hermes hit him you with his caduceus, which had the power to throw anyone into a deep sleep.
The god unsheathed his sword and beheaded the monster.
The nymph was free but still had the shape of a cow.
The goddess Hera, now aware of the death of her faithful servant,
decided to honor him by putting each one of his eyes in the feathers of her royal peacock,
The goddess Hera, now aware of the death of her faithful servant,
She ordered the Erinyes, entities of vengeance, to torment her wherever she decided to go.
From that day forward, the poor cow was plagued by a cloud of flies, which never gave her any moment of peace.
Tired of the torment brought by the flies, the cow tumbled down and, with her moo,
begged the gods to put an end to her suffering.
Zeus promised to Hera that he would never go after the princess again if she released Io from her punishment.
So Hera lifted the young princess’s punishment and Zeus gave her former shape back.
The only cow-resembling trace was the white color of her skin.
The people of Egypt, witnessing the transformation, started to worship the young girl as a divine figure.
The princess was pregnant of Zeus and gave birth to Epaphus.
Both reigned in Egypt for many years.
Io started to be revered as the goddess Isis,
and her son Epaphus as the god Apis and founder of the great city of Memphis.