Mythology: Various Myths

Mythology: Various MythsMythology: Various Myths

Io, Europa, Callisto, Leda; Io, Europa, Callisto, Leda; Narcissus; Cupid and PsycheNarcissus; Cupid and Psyche

Zeus and Mortal WomenZeus and Mortal Women

IO

Io was a priestess in one of the temples of Hera. As he so often did, Zeus fell in love with her because she was beautiful. When he went down to meet her, she fell in love with him as well.


IO

They began to have an affair, which Zeus hid from Hera by covering the earth with clouds.

But by this time Hera knew about her husband’s ways, and one day she decided to come to Earth to see what Zeus was up to.


IO

At the last minute, Zeus saw Hera coming; she whisked the clouds away, and there she saw Zeus, whistling as if nothing was going on. Io was standing beside him, but Zeus had cleverly changed her into a beautiful white cow.


IO

“So Zeus… who’s the cow hmm?”

“What… this cow?”

“Yeah. That one right there. The pretty heifer.”

“Um… Actually its weird. Believe it or not she just popped out of the ground! I was like, Whoa, a cow, out of the ground!”


IO

“That is weird. Huh. (awkward pause)

Can I have her then?”

“What?”

“Can I have her?”

“Can you have her, you say? What, this cow?”


IO

“Yeah, Zeus. Can I have that cow?”

“Oh… oh yeah! Pfft! Who cares? Just a cow, right? All yours hun.”


IO

So Hera took Io and put her in the custody of Argus, a being with a hundred eyes all around his head. She knew this would keep Zeus away, because Argus never slept with all of his eyes at the same time.


IO

Zeus eventually felt sorry for the way he had treated Io, turning her into a cow and all– that’s no kind of thing to do to your girlfriend, really– and he decided to get rid of Argus. He sent his son Hermes to kill him so he could change Io back.


IO

Hermes tried to put Argus to sleep by playing music on the pan-pipes, but Argus would just fall asleep with fifty or maybe even sixty eyes, and the other forty would be right there, glued to Io.


IO

Finally Hermes told the story of Pan and Syrinx (Pan was chasing Syrinx, but Syrinx didn’t want him– so she was transformed into reeds in the river. Pan kept her anyway– he made her into the pan-pipes) and this story put Argus to sleep. Hermes killed him.

Zeus and Mortal WomenZeus and Mortal WomenIO

Hera then sent a gadfly to torment her, and poor Io ran all over the Mediterranean trying to escape it. She ran across the strait leading to the Black Sea, and afterward that strait was called the Bosporus, or “cow-ford”. The sea she ran alongside was also named after her– the Ionian sea.

Zeus and Mortal WomenZeus and Mortal WomenIO

Finally, she ran all the way to Egypt, to the Nile River, and Zeus managed to turn her back into a girl again. The Egyptians worshipped her as the goddess Isis, and she had a son with Zeus.


Europa

The story of Europa is weird and kind of pointless, but a whole continent is named after her:

One day, Zeus fell in love with a beautiful girl named Europa. While she and her friends were playing in a field, swimming and picking flowers, Zeus showed up.


Europa

Except he was a bull. A big white one with a black strip right down the middle of his face.

The girls really liked the bull, and began to pet him (not knowing he was really Zeus). They decided they would all climb on his back and ride him.


Europa

When Europa climbed on, the bull-Zeus didn’t wait for the other girls but bounded off towards the sea. He leapt over the waters and sailed across the Ocean, accompanied by all kinds of sea nymphs, and even Zeus’s brother Poseidon.

Zeus and Mortal WomenZeus and Mortal WomenEuropa

When they arrived in Crete, Zeus and had three children, who later became the judges of the dead in the Underworld.

The story of Europa is an example of a myth made up by the Greeks to explain ancient paintings and sculptures that they didn’t remember the meaning of.


Callisto

Callisto was a girl with whom, oddly enough, Zeus fell in love.

They had a son together named Arcas; but when Hera found out, she went into a rage and turned Callisto into a bear.


Callisto

One day when Arcas (as a young man) was hunting, he saw a bear in the woods and drew his bow as if to shoot it. Unbeknownst to him, it was his own mother, Callisto. Hera’s plan was to have Callisto killed by her own son.


Callisto

Zeus saw this happening, however, and he whisked Callisto out of harm’s way and placed her in the sky as the constellation known as Ursa Major, the “Big Bear.” Later, Arcas joined her and became Ursa Minor, the “Little Bear.”

(We call these the Big and Little Dipper.)


Callisto

Hera didn’t want Callisto to get away without any kind of punishment– so she vowed that the two Bears could never dip into the Ocean.

Zeus and Mortal WomenZeus and Mortal WomenLeda and the Swan

Leda was a beautiful woman that Zeus fell in love with.

He came down to her in the form of a swan, and she had four children (though some of them might have been her husband’s children):

Castor and Pollux; Helen and Clytemnestra

Flower MythsFlower Myths

Narcissus and Echo

Narcissus was a boy who was so handsome that every girl fell in love with him, even the wood nymphs (who were like minor goddesses).

He was especially loved by the nymph Echo. But Narcissus paid no attention to all these girls.


Narcissus and Echo

Echo was so sad that Narcissus didn’t love her back that she eventually wasted away into just a voice…

And Narcissus was punished for letting this happen– the goddess Nemesis caused him to fall in love with his own reflection.


Narcissus and Echo

He stared at himself in the water for so long that he eventually grew roots and became the Narcissus flower.

In English “narcissistic” means someone who is very vain, conceited, or self-involved.

Names and Terms to KnowNames and Terms to Know

Io Leda & the Swan

Argus Castor & Pollux

Europa Helen & Clytemnestra

Callisto Narcissus

Ursa Major “narcissist / -ism”

Ursa Minor Echo

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Mythology: Various Myths