Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/590

Rh 570 10. tied her to an olive tree in the grove of Hera at Mycenae. But Hermes was commissioned by Zeus to deliver lo, and carry her off. Hermes being guided by a bird (<epa|, ttTkou), who was Zeus himself (Suid. s. v. 'Ice), slew Ar^us with a stone. Hera then sent a gad-fly, which tormented lo, and persecuted her through the whole earth, until at length she found rest on the banks of the Nile. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 2 ; Hygin. Fab. 145 ; comp. Virg. Georg. iii. 148, &c.) This is the common storj'^, which appears to be very ancient, since Homer con- stantly applies the epithet of Argeiphontes (the Biayer of Argus) to Hermes. But there are some slight modifications of the story in the different writers. Some, for example, place the scene of the murder of Argus at Nemea (Lucian, Dial. Deor. 3 ; Etymol. Mag. s. v. 'A(p4aios). Ovid (Met. i. 7'22) relates that Hermes first sent Argus to sleep by the sweetness of his music on the flute, and that he then cut off the head of Argus, whose eyes Hera trans- ferred to the tail of the peacock, her favourite bird. (Comp. Mosclms, Idi/ll. ii. 59.) A peculiar mourn- ful festival was celebrated in honour of lo at Argos, and although we have no distinct statement that she was worshipped in the historical ages of Greece, still it is not improbable that she was. (Suid. I. c. ; Palae- phat. p. 43 ; Strab. xiv. p. 673.) There are indeed other places, besides Argos, where we meet with the legends of lo, but they must be regarded as importa- tions from Argos, either through colonies sent by the latter city, or they were transplanted with the wor- ship of Hera, the Argive goddess. We may mention Euboea, which probably derived its name from the cow lo, and where the spot was shown on which lo was believed to have been killed, as well as the cave in which she had given birth to Epaphus. (Strab. vii. p. 320 ; Steph. Byz. s. v. "Apyovpa ; Ety- mol. Mag. s. V. EvSoia.) Another place is Byzan- tium, in the foundation of which Argive colonists had taken part, and where the Bosporus derived its name, from the cow lo having swam across it. From the Thracian Bosporus the story then spread to the Cimmerian Bosporus and Panticapaeum. Tarsus and Antioch likewise had monuments to prove that lo had been in their neighbourhood, and that they were colonies of Argos. Jo was further said to have been at Joppa and in Aethio- pia, together with Perseus and Medusa (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 835, &c.) ; but it was more especially the Greeks residing in Egypt, wlio maintained that lo had been in Egypt, where she was said to have given birth to Epaphus, and to have introduced the worship of Isis, while Epaphus became the founder of a family from which sprang Danaus, who sub- sequently returned to Argos. Tiiis part of the story seems to have arisen from certain resem- blances of religious notions, which subsequently even gave rise to the identification of lo and Isis. Herodotus (i. 1, &c., ii. 41) tells us that Isis was represented like the Greek lo, in the form of a woman, with cows' horns. 2. The wanderings of lo. — The idea of lo having wandered about after her metamorphosis appears to have been as ancient as the mythus respecting her, but those wanderings were extended and poeti- cally embellished in proportion as geographical knowledge increased. The most important pas- sage is in the Prometheus of Aeschylus, 705, &c., although it is almost impossible to reconcile the poet's descnption with ancient geography, so far as we know it. From Argos To first went to Molossis | TO. and the neighbourhood of Dodona, and from thence to the sea, which derived from her the name of the Ionian. After many wanderings through the un- known regions of the north, she arrived in the place where Prometheus was fastened to a rock. As the Titan proscribes to her the course she has yet to take, it is of importance to ascertain the spot at which he begins to describe her course ; but the expressions of Aeschylus are so vague, that it is a hopeless attempt to determine that spot. According to the extant play, it is somewhere in European Scythia, perhaps to the north of the river Istrus ; but in the last play of the Trilogy, as well as in other accounts, the Caucasus is mentioned as the place where the Titan endured his tortures, and it remains again uncertain in what part of the Cau- casus we have to conceive the suffering Titan. It seems to be the most probable supposition, that Aeschylus himself did not form a clear and djstinct notion of the wanderings he describes, for how little he cared about geographical accuracy is evi- dent from the fact, that in the Supplices (548, &c.) he describes the wanderings of lo in a very differ- ent manner from that adopted in the Prometheus. If, however, we place Prometheus somewhere in the north of Europe, the course he prescribes may be conceived in the following manner. lo has first to wander towards the east, through unknown countries, to the Scythian nomades (north of 01- bia), whom, however, she is to avoid, by travelling through their country along the sea-coast ; she is then to have on her left the Chalybes, against whom she must likewise be on her guard. These Chaly- bes are probably the Cimmerians, who formerly in- habited the Crimea and the adjacent part of Scy- thia, and afterwards the country about Sinope. From thence she is to arrive on the river Hybristea (the Don or Cuban), which she is to follow up to its sources, in the highest parts of Mount Caucasus, in order there to cross it. Thence she is to proceed southward, where she is to meet the Amazons (who at that time are conceived to live in Colchis, after- wards in Themiscyra, on the river Thennodon), who are to conduct her to the place where the Sal- mydessian rock endangers all navigation. This latter point is so clear an allusion to the coast north of the mouth of the Bosporus, that we must sup- pose that Aeschylus meant to describe lo as cross- ing the Thracian Bosporus from Asia into Europe. From thence he leads her to the Cimmerian Bos- porus, which is to receive its name from her, and across the palua Maeotis, In this manner she would in part touch upon the same countries which she had traversed before. After this she is to leave Europe and go to Asia, according to which the poet must here make the Maeotis the boundary between Europe and Asia, whereas elsewhere he makes the Phasis the boundary. The description of the wanderings of lo is taken up again at verse 788. She is told that after cross- ing the water separating the two continents, she is to arrive in the hot countries situated under the rising sun. At this point in the description there is a gap, and the last passage probably described her further progress through Asia. lo then has again to cross a sea,after which she is to come to the Gor- ffonaean plains of Cisthenes (which, according to the scholiast, is a town of Aethiopia or Libyji), and to meet the Graeae and Gorgones. The sea here mentioned is probably the so-called Indian Bospo- rus (Steph. Byz. s. v. B6airopos ; Eustath. ad IH-