Foundations of large settlements in ancient times are decorated with poetic or mythological stories whose historical validity cannot be proved. These stories are the myths of ancient poets who want to add sacred value to the formation of settlements. In these kinds of myths, it is not clear where the legend begins and ends. This is also the case for Istanbul and has taken its place in mythology as described below.
Beginning of the Story: Io and Zeus
He was one of the nuns of the temple of Io Hera, the king of Argos and the daughter of Inakhos, the river god.
Io has a fascinating beauty with his blue eyes, which fascinates Zeus. Zeus, who is married to Hera, cannot overcome his emotions, although Io has rejected Zeus, Zeus has changed his form and started to have love with Io. When he realizes that Hera has come, he turns Io into a cow to protect her from the wrath of Hera. In order to keep the cow away from Zeus, Argos Panoptis, who is in his service, leaves the creature under the supervision of a creature named Panoptis. Argos will perform this task perfectly, because he has a face, and even a few eyes that see everything while sleeping are always open. Zeus cannot bear this and assigns Hermes to kill Argos. Hermes plays the lyre and completely puts Argos to sleep and cuts his head off. In Hera, he keeps all the servant’s eyes in the tail of the peacock to keep his memory alive.
The Place of Bosporus and Golden Horn in the Story
Upon this situation, Hera inflicts a horse fly on Io, which has turned into a cow. Halic is one of the crevices that have emerged. This is the reason why Halic is called “Golden Horn, İngilizce which means“ Golden Horn Boy in English. The word Bosσπορος (Bosporus) is formed by combining the names βοῦς (bous), which means cow or ox, and πόρος (poros), which means road or passage. (
Io crosses many countries and continents in the course of his escape, encounters Prometheus after crossing Bosporus Prometheus tells him that he will become human again in the future and that Herakles will come from his descendants. After that, Io marries Telegonus, the king of Egypt.
