Io | Victoria Olt

2020

Acrylic and handmade matte and color changing watercolor on paper.

12 x 16 in
31 x 41 cm + frame included for free in shipments within Estonia

} Io {

One day, while looking down on earth, Zeus noticed the beautiful princess Io. Io is considered the first priestess of Hera and Zeus knew that if his wife found outthat he was conducting an affair with one of her priestesses, then there would be no end to her wrath. But Zeus’s desire was so great that he could not ignore Io and decided to cover the earth in clouds to hide their affair. But Hera, knowing her husband, became suspicious and descended down to earth. In panic Zeus turned Io into a cow. Hera, still suspicious, demanded the cow as a gift and Zeus had to oblige, as he could not have any legitimate reasons to refuse her. Hera set Argus Panoptes (a giant with hundred eyes) to watch over the cow. Zeus, still mad for Io, sent Hermes to play Argus to sleep and then kill him. Hera, grieving over her loyal servant, took Argus’s eyes and put them on the feathers of the peacock's tail and sent the mother of all flies to torment Io. Although Io was now free to escape, the flies and the ghost of Argos drove her close to madness. During her escape she ran across Prometheus, chained to a wall as a punishment for stealing fire from the Gods, who predicted that she would have to wander many years before she would be turned back into human form. The prophecy came true and only after reaching the Nile did Zeus turn her back into a woman. She then bore a child and many generations later, one of her descendants would be Heracles, who would finally set Prometheus free.