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According to Ancient Greek writers, especially
Aeschylus, the name Ionian is linked
it to the myth of Io (Greek: Ιω). In
Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios (Ἰόνιος) was
used for the sea because legend has it that Io
swam or flew across it.
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In most versions of the legend, Io was the daughter of Inachus, the king of Argos and a
priestess of the Hera. It was in the Argean
planes that Zeus noticed Io, a mortal
woman, and lusted after her.
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Although
Io initially rejected Zeus' advances
eventually relented, and according to some stories, Zeus turned her into a
heifer in order to hide her from his wife. Zeus deception failed, as Hera
begged Zeus to give her the heifer as a present, which, having no reason to
refuse, he did.
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Hera
then sent Argus who had 100 eyes, to watch Io and prevent Zeus from visiting
her, but Zeus sent Hermes to distract Argus. According to Ovid, he did so by
first lulling him to sleep by playing the panpipes and telling stories. Zeus then freed Io, still in the form of a heifer.
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In
order to exact her revenge, Hera sent a gadfly to sting Io continuously,
driving her to wander the world without rest. Io eventually crossed the path
between the Propontis and the Black Sea, which thus acquired the name Bosporus
(meaning ox passage), where she met Prometheus, who had been
chained on Mount Caucasus by Zeus. Prometheus comforted Io with the
information that she would be restored to human and become the progenitor of
the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules). Io escaped across the
Ionian Sea to Egypt where Zeus restored her to human again.
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I
presume Io selected the Ionian Sea for her escape because the prevailing winds
are usually light. This was not our experience
as for a large part of our crossing the winds were strong thus we kept our jib and main reefed. In the picture after a four-day and nights sail we
are getting closer to the west coast of Greece, our homeland.
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