Prometheus and Io

The nymph Io is seduced by Zeus, who then cunningly turns her into a beautiful white heifer (Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound). His wife Hera isn’t fooled, and sends Io to wander the world, where she comes across Prometheus, who Zeus has bound to a rock on Mount Caucasus as a punishment for teaching humanity to make fire. In spite of his own suffering, Prometheus comforts Io, prophesying that she will return to human form and marry, and that one of her descendants will be Herakles (Hercules) who will eventually set Prometheus free. Fuseli breaks with tradition by depicting Io as a beautiful woman, rather than a heifer.

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