(urth) Junie Moon (Again)

[Jeff Wilson]

James Wynn wrote:
> John,
>  
> I haven't read "Junie Moon" but "White Cow Moon" is almost certainly a 
> reference to Io (who was the moon).
>  
> She was one of Zeus's rape victims. In order to hide her from persuing 
> Hera (Juno), he changed her into a heifer ("virgin horned one"). Hera, 
> being suspicious, had Argus watch over her in case Zeus tried to change 
> her back. Zeus sent his son Hermes to kill Argus (which he did by 
> severing his neck with a curved blade). Then Hera cursed Io to wander 
> the Earth forever.
>  
> She became the great great great [whatever] grandmother of Hercules and 
> Perseus.

There's something that doesn't compute here. I suppose a maiden could be 
a priestess of Juno, who is a goddess of fidelity as well as marriage, 
but after being raped or seduced by Jove (accounts differ), she would 
hardly be a maiden thereafter, unless the cloudy guise of Jove allows 
the same dodge around defloweration that the ray of light shining 
through Mary's goblet without/breaking it does in Christian iconography.

Also, Greco-Roman myth (Juno and Hercules are the Roman names) had Juno 
as the enemy of Hercules, not his employer. Hercules being the issue of 
yet another of Jove's  infidelities, she sent serpents to kill him at 
birth and others at various later times. Meanwhile, Herc's usual 
"employer" was Augeas (the 12 labors).

-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >