In Greek mythology, Europa (; ; ) was a Phoenician princess said to have been abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull. She was the mother of the Cretan king Minos.
An early reference to Europa is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, discovered at Oxyrhynchus.Hesiodic papyrus fragments 19 and 19A of the Catalogue of Women, dating from the third century AD. The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa dates from the mid-7th century BC.Walter Burkert, Greek Religion (1985) I.3.2, note 20, referring to Schefold, plate 11B. References in myth and art have been assembled by W. Bühler, Europa: eine Sammlung der Zeugnisse des Mythos in der antiken Litteratur und Kunst (1967). The continent Europe may derive its name from her.
Etymology
Greek (Eurṓpē) may have been formed from (), "wide, broad"εὐρύς , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus and (): "eye, face, countenance".ὤψ , Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion.. Compare also glaukōpis (γλαυκῶπις 'grey-eyed') Athena or boōpis (βοὠπις 'ox-eyed') Hera).
It is common in ancient Greek mythology and geography to identify lands or rivers with female figures. Thus, Europa is first used in a geographic context in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, in reference to the western shore of the Aegean Sea."Telphusa, here I am minded to make a glorious temple, an oracle for men, and hither they will always bring perfect hecatombs, both those who live in rich Peloponnesus and those of Europe and all the wave-washed isles, coming to seek oracles." (verses 247–251, trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White). As a name for a part of the known world, it is first used in the 6th century BC by Anaximander and Hecataeus.Histories 4.38. Cf. James Rennell, The geographical system of Herodotus examined and explained, Volume 1, Rivington 1830, p. 244 Toponyms related to that of Europa exist in the territory of ancient Greece, such as that of Europos in ancient Macedonia, as collected by Robert Beekes.
In 1966, an alternative suggestion from Ernest Klein and Giovanni Semerano attempted to connect a Semitic term for "west", Akkadian erebu meaning "to go down, set" (in reference to the sun), Phoenician ' "evening; west", which would parallel occident. The resemblance to Erebus, from PIE *h1regʷos, "darkness", is accidental. In 1999, M. A. Barry adduced the word Ereb on an Assyrian stele with the meaning of "night", "[the country of] sunset", in opposition to Asu, "[the country of] sunrise", i.e. Asia, Anatolia coming equally from , "(sun)rise", "east".M. A. Barry (1999) "L'Europe et son mythe: à la poursuite du couchant". Revue des deux Mondes. p. 110. This proposal is mostly considered unlikely or untenable.Martin Litchfield West states that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor". .Klein, Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (Barking: Elsevier) vol. I A–K, 1966; Klein's etymology of Europa is singled out among his "optimistic" conclusions in
Family
Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is Phoenician, and from an Argive lineage that ultimately descended from the princess Io, the mythical nymph beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is generally said to be the daughter of Agenor, the Phoenician King of Tyre. The Syracusan poet MoschusMoschus, Europa (on-line text at Theoi Project ). makes her mother Queen Telephassa ("far-shining"). Elsewhere, her mother is Argiope ("silver-faced").Kerenyi points out that these names are attributes of the moon, as is Europa's broad countenance.
Other sources, such as the Iliad, claim that she is the daughter of Agenor's son, the "sun-red" Phoenix.Scholia on Homer, Iliad B, 494, p. 80, 43 ed. Bekk. as cited in Hellanicus' Boeotica It is generally agreed that she had two brothers, Cadmus, who brought the alphabet to mainland Greece, and Cilix who gave his name to Cilicia in Asia Minor. The author of Bibliotheke includes Phoenix as a third brother. So some interpret this as her brother Phoenix (when he is assumed to be son of Agenor) gave his siblings' name to his three children and this Europa (by this case, niece of former) is also loved by Zeus, but because of the same name, gave some confusions to others.Pseudo-Apollonius, Bibliotheke 3.1.1.
After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons fathered by Zeus: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. Minos and Rhadamanthus became judges of the Underworld, alongside Aeacus of Aegina, when they died. In Crete she married Asterion, also rendered Asterius, and became mother, or step-mother, of his daughter Crete. Pausanias wrote that the poet Praxilla makes Carnus a son of Europa.Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 3.13.5 + Comparative table of Europa's familyRelationNamesSources Alcman Parentage Phoenix ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓Though Europa was unnamed in this text, she must be the daughter of Phoenix who coupled with Zeus. ✓ ✓ Phoenix and Cassiopeia ✓ Phoenix and Telephassa ✓ Phoenix and Telephe ✓ Phoenix and Perimede ✓ Agenor ✓ Agenor and Telephassa ✓ Agenor and Argiope ✓ ✓Siblings Phineus ✓ ✓Even though Phineus was called the son of Agenor according to Apollodorus, his mother may be different because only three sons (Cadmus, Phoenix and Cilix) were born to Agenor and Telephassa. ✓ Astypale ✓ ✓ Phoenice ✓ Peirus ✓ Cadmus ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Thasus ✓ Phoenix ✓ Cilix ✓ Adonis ✓Consorts Zeus ✓ ✓ ✓ Asterius ✓Children Minos ✓ ✓Unnamed but pertains to Minos who was king of Crete ✓ ✓ Rhadamanthys ✓ ✓ Sarpedon ✓ Carnus ✓
Mythology
The Dictionary of Classical Mythology explains that Zeus was enamoured with Europa and decided to seduce or rape her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete.
Zeus then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by Hephaestus and three additional gifts: the bronze automaton guard Talos, the hound Laelaps who never failed to catch his quarry, and a javelin that never missed. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus. It should not be confused with the Cretan Bull that fathered the Minotaur and was captured by Heracles. Roman mythology adopted the tale of the Raptus, also known as "The Abduction of Europa" and "The Seduction of Europa", substituting the god Jupiter for Zeus.
The myth of Europa and Zeus may have its origin in a sacred union between the Phoenician deities 'Aštar and 'Aštart (Astarte), in bovine form. Having given birth to three sons by Zeus, Europa married a king Asterion, this being also the name of the Minotaur and an epithet of Zeus, likely derived from the name Aštar.
According to Herodotus's rationalizing approach, Europa was kidnapped by Greeks, probably Cretans, who were seeking to avenge the kidnapping of Io, a princess from Argos. His variant story may have been an attempt to rationalize the earlier myth. Or, the present myth may be a garbled version of facts—the abduction of a Phoenician aristocrat—later enunciated without gloss by Herodotus. Palaephatus's rationalization similarly had it that a Cretan named Tauros was waging war around Tyre and carried off many girls, including Europa. Palaephatus also rationalized the Minotaur as simply a man whose father was named Tauros, thus using the same explanation twice.
In his commentary on Lycophron's Alexandra, John Tzetzes presents several different accounts of the story of Europa:Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, p.366-367Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 1291-1301
Europa is said to have been taken from Phoenicia to Crete on a "bull-shaped" ship, with the Cretans described as seizing her in this manner. Another tradition holds that a Cretan general named Taurus ("Bull"), sent by Asterius (also called Minos), king of Crete, abducted her. In some traditions, Asterius is identified with Minos and is described as having a bull-like appearance.
Lycophron also refers to Europa as "Saraptian" (Σαραπτίαν) and Tzetzes explains that this epithet derives from the Phoenician city of Saraptia (Σαραπτία), also known as Sareptia (Σαρεπτία), located between Sidon and Tyre.
Cult
Astarte and Europa In the territory of Phoenician Sidon, Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) was informed that the temple of Astarte, whom Lucian equated with the moon goddess, was sacred to Europa:
There is likewise in Phœnicia a temple of great size owned by the Sidonians. They call it the temple of Astarte. I hold this Astarte to be no other than the moon-goddess. But according to the story of one of the priests this temple is sacred to Europa, the sister of Cadmus. She was the daughter of Agenor, and on her disappearance from Earth the Phœnicians honoured her with a temple and told a sacred legend about her; how that Zeus was enamoured of her for her beauty, and changing his form into that of a bull carried her off into Crete. This legend I heard from other Phœnicians as well; and the coinage current among the Sidonians bears upon it the effigy of Europa sitting upon a bull, none other than Zeus. Thus they do not agree that the temple in question is sacred to Europa.
The paradox, as it seemed to Lucian, would be solved if Europa is Astarte in her guise as the full, "broad-faced" moon.
Interpretation There were two competing mythsBibliotheke 3.1.1. relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to Crete (Kríti), where the sacred bull was paramount. In the more familiar telling she was seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull, who breathed from his mouth a saffron crocus and carried her away to Crete on his back—to be welcomed by Asterion.According to the scholium on Iliad XII.292, noted in Karl Kerenyi (1996) Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life p. 105. . Pausanias rendered the name Asterion (2.31.1); in Bibliotheke (3.1.4) it is Asterion. According to the more literal, euhemerist version that begins the account of Persian–Hellene confrontations of Herodotus,Herodotus, Histories I.1; the act is made out to be a revenge for the previous "kidnapping" of Io. she was kidnapped by Cretans, who likewise were said to have taken her to Crete.
The mythical Europa cannot be separated from the mythology of the sacred bull, which had been worshipped in the Levant. In 2012, an archaeological mission of the British Museum led by Lebanese archaeologist, Claude Doumet-Serhal, discovered at the site of the old American school in Sidon, Lebanon, currency that depicts Europa riding the bull with her veil flying all over like a bow, further proof of Europa's Phoenician origin.