in fabulous history, daughter of Inachus, or, according to others, of Jasus or Pirene, was priestess of Juno at Argos. Jupiter became enamoured of her; but Juno, jealous of his intrigues, discovered the object of his affection, and surprised him in the company of Io. Jupiter changed his mistress into a beautiful heifer; and the goddess, who well knew the fraud, obtained from her husband the animal whose beauty she had condescended to commend. Juno commanded the hundred-eyed Argus to watch the heifer; but Jupiter, anxious for the situation of Io, sent Mercury to destroy Argus, and to restore her to liberty. Io, freed from the vigilance of Argus, was now persecuted by Juno, who sent one of the Furies to torment her. She wandered over the greater part of the earth, and crossed the sea, till at last she stopped on the banks of the Nile, still exposed to the unceasing torments of the Fury. Here she entreated Jupiter to restore her to her natural form; and when the god had changed her from a heifer into a woman, she brought forth Epaphus. Afterwards she married Telegonus, king of Egypt, or Osiris according to others; and she treated her subjects with such mildness and humanity, that after death she received divine honours, and was worshipped under the name of Isis. According to Herodotus, Io was carried away by Phoenician merchants, who wished to make reprisals for Europa, who had been stolen from them by the Greeks.