INO

Daughter of Cadmus, and wife of Athamus (q.v.). Being followed by the latter when he had been seized with madness, she fled to the cliff Moluris, between Megara and Corinth, and there threw herself into the sea with her infant son Me1icertes. At the isthmus, however, mother and child were carried ashore by a dolphin, and, from that time forward, honoured as marine divinities along the shores of the Mediterranean, especially on the coast of Megara and at the Isthmus of Corinth. Ino was worshipped as Leucothea, and Melicertes as Paloemon. They were regarded as divinities who aided men in peril on the sea. As early as Homer, we have Ino mentioned as rescuing Odysseus from danger by throwing him her veil [Od. v 333-353). Among the Romans Ino was identified with Matuta (q.v.).