What of Io?

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She ran north, through Thrace into Asia, then north again until she reached the Caucasian Mountains. All the way, the gadfly tormented her, striking whenever she paused to rest, drink or graze. Her muzzle dropped ropes of foam, and her poor little hooves were bleeding from the cuts and bruises inflicted by the rough, stony ground.

    Eventually she reaches Prometheus, nailed to the mountain top, suffering. Every day an eagle sent by Zeus fell from the sky, tore open his body and fed on his liver. As Prometheus was immortal his liver regenerated each evening, and the eagle came back next day for another dreadful meal.

    Io complained to Prometheus about her torturous journey.

"I'm in such pain!" she wailed. 

"Tell me about it", he replied.

    In Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus has Prometheus tell Io she must continue her journey, south through Asia Minor then west to the River Nile.

    Where the Nile's outflow lays its bank of silt, on the last edge of land stands         the city of Canopus. And here at last Zeus shall restore your mind and come         upon you, not with terror, with a  gentle touch.His hand laid upon you shall         put life in your womb.

    What does all this have to do with Heracles? Zeus's hunch was correct. Prometheus told the Nereids, daughters of the Sea God Nereus, who were tending to him in his long-lasting travails, that Io would be the progenitor of a great hero. When the giants rose from the earth, this hero would defeat them, and save the Gods.

    Prometheus also foretold that it would be this hero, Heracles, a descendant of Io, who would finally release him from his suffering.

    And from his children's children shall be born in time ( to trace each step would     take too long) a fearless hero who shall free me from these bonds.

    Generations later, Zeus forgave Prometheus and sent Heracles to free him. Heracles shot the tormenting eagle out of the sky with an arrow dipped in the poisonous blood of the Lernaen Hydra, and broke the adamantine chains that bound the wise Titan.

    Io did fetch up the banks of the Nile, as Prometheus had foretold. There she conceived a child, through Zeus's gentle touch. The child born was a boy, Epaphos, which means "touching".

Epaphos became ruler of the land now known as Egypt, and married Memphis, a daughter of the Nile River.

Their daughter Libya lay with the Sea God Poseidon, and the fruit of this union was twins, Belos and Agenor.

    Belos became the ruler of Egypt, while Agenor settled in Phoenicia. Agenor's wife Telephassa gave him several children including Cadmus and Europa, each of whom became progenitor of a dynasty. Belos married Achinoe, a daughter of the Nile like his grandmother Memphis, and they had twin sons, Aegyptos and Danaos.

Belos settled  Arabia on Aegyptos, and Danaos became ruler of Libya.

You will notice that in each generation the father is ensuring that twins brothers have large tracts of land separating their realms. In Greek mythology, twins often have murderous intentions towards each other.

Aegyptos produced fifty sons and Danaos fifty daughters. On Belos's death, Aegyptos expanded his Arabian kingdom to annex Egypt, which he named after himself. He then eyed Danaos's Libyan state greedily. He suggested his sons marry Danaos's daughters. Danaos  refused. He knew he would lose all power if his daughters were absorbed into Aegyptos's family.

    Danaos bundled his daughters into ships, and fled Africa for Greece. They went to Argos, from whence had come the matriarch, Io.

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