Io was the daughter of a rivergod．She was loved，run after and won by Zeus．Hera became so greeneyed that she flew down from Olympus one day to pay her rival back ．Zeus，however，had foreseen her arrival and changed Io into abeautiful white little cow．Seeing through the trick，Hera asked for the cow as a present and Zeus had to give in to her wish ．Then she left the cow to the care of a hundredeyed monster，Argus．Argus' eyes were ever open and no escape was possible．Unable to bear to see her so unhappy，Zeus sent Hermes down todestroy the monster．Dressed up as a shepherd，Hermes lulled Argus to sleep with his sweet songs and long stories，then killed him and set Io free．But Hera's anger was not to be calmed downyet．She sent a gadfly to attack the cow and drive her from land to land．In her misery the cow passed over the strait which divides Europe and Asia．In this way the strip of water got itsname Bosporus ，the way of the cow．She wandered over thesea，which by chance got from her its name the Ionian Sea ．In the end she arrived in Egypt where she was turned back into hernatural form ．She settled down and gave birth to a son，Some of her children remained in Egypt and ruled as kings for a longtime．

伊俄是河神的女兒，宙斯愛(ài)她、追求她、并得到了她。赫拉對(duì)此嫉妒不已。一天她飛下奧林波斯山向情敵施加報(bào)復(fù)。然而宙斯早已預(yù)見(jiàn)到她的光臨，就將伊俄變成了一頭美麗的小白牛犢，赫拉看穿了其中的詭計(jì)，非要一頭牛犢作為禮物。宙斯無(wú)奈，只得讓她如愿以償。赫拉便將牛犢托付給百眼魔鬼阿剛斯看管。阿剛斯的眼睛永遠(yuǎn)睜著，要想逃脫是不可能的。看到伊俄如此憂郁，宙斯簡(jiǎn)直無(wú)法忍受，便令赫耳墨斯將魔鬼鏟除。赫耳墨斯喬裝成牧羊人給阿剛斯唱悅耳動(dòng)聽(tīng)的歌，講冗長(zhǎng)乏味的故事以哄他入睡。之后便尋機(jī)殺死魔鬼，釋放了伊俄。但赫拉的狂怒并未消除。她派了一只牛虻去攻擊牛犢，使她顛沛流離。在十分悲痛之中，牛犢穿越了分隔歐亞大陸的海峽。從此這片狹長(zhǎng)的水域被稱作博斯普魯斯海峽，意為牛犢之路。她接著漫游過(guò)海，這片大海也就在偶然中有了名稱——伊奧尼亞海，最后她到了埃及，并恢復(fù)了她本來(lái)的體態(tài)和容貌。她在那里落戶并生了個(gè)兒子。她的一些子孫就呆在了埃及，當(dāng)了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的國(guó)王。