Europa - Revision history

Irlandos: /* Europa's family */

2007-06-25T11:32:51Z

Europa's family

Irlandos: /* Europa in the visual arts */

2007-06-25T11:31:26Z

Europa in the visual arts

Irlandos: /* Europa in classical literature */

2007-06-25T11:31:06Z

Europa in classical literature

Irlandos: /* Europa in classical literature */

2007-06-25T11:29:34Z

Europa in classical literature

Irlandos: /* Europa in classical literature */

2007-06-25T11:28:57Z

Europa in classical literature

Irlandos: /* Europa's family */

2007-06-25T11:27:26Z

Europa's family

Irlandos: New page: In Greek mythology, '''Europa''' (Greek Ευρώπη) was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. T...

2007-06-25T11:25:57Z

New page: In Greek mythology, '''Europa''' (Greek Ευρώπη) was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. T...

New page

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Europa''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] Ευρώπη) was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The story was a [[Crete|Cretan]] story, as Kerenyi points out; "most of the love-stories concerning [[Zeus]] originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa."<ref>Kerenyi 1951, p 108</ref> The name Europa occurs in the list of daughters of primordial [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]; the daughter of the earth-giant [[Tityas]] and mother of [[Euphemus]] by [[Poseidon]], was also named Europa.

The etymology of her name (ευρυ- "wide" or "broad" + οπ– "eye(s)" or "face")<ref>Kerenyi 1951 p 109: "she of the wide eyes" or "she of the broad countenance".</ref> suggests that Europa represented a lunar cow, at least at some symbolic level. Metaphorically, at a later date it could be construed as the intelligent or ''open-minded'', analogous to ''glaukopis'' (''γλαυκώπις'') attributed to [[Athena]].

Europa is not mentioned by [[Homer]]. The earliest literary reference to her is in a fragment of the [[Hesiod]]ic ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', discovered at [[Oxyrhyncus]].<ref>The papyrus fragment itself dates from the third century CE: [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap10.html see Hesiodic fragments 19 and 19A].</ref>. The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa, dates mid-seventh century BC.<ref>W, 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).</ref>

==Europa's family==

Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is [[Phoenicia]]n, and from a lineage that descended from [[Io]], the mythical [[nymph]] beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is said to be the daughter of [[Agenor]], the Phoenician King of Tyre, and Queen [[Telephassa]] ("far-shining") or of [[Argiope]] ("white-faced")<ref>Kerenyi points out that these names are attributes of the moon, as is Europa's broad countenance.</ref>. Other sources, such as the ''[[Iliad]]'', claim that she is the daughter of Agenor's son, the "sun-red" [[Phoenix (Iliad)|Phoenix]]. 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]], with Apollodorus including Phoenix as a third. After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons: [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthus]], and [[Sarpedon]], the three of whom became the three judges of the Underworld when they died. She married [[Asterion]] also rendered [[Asterius]]. According to mythology, her children were fathered by Zeus.

There were two competing myths<ref>''[[Bibliotheke]]'' 3.1.1.</ref> relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to [[Crete]], 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<ref>[http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap10.html Hesiodic fragment 19], a scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292 (which does not mention Europa)</ref> and carried away to Crete on his back— to be welcomed by [[Asterion]] <ref>According to the scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292, noted in Karl Kerenyi, ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' p105. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] rendered the name Asterion (2.31.1); in ''Bibliotheke'' (3.1.4) it is ''Asterion''.</ref>, but according to a more literal, [[Euhemerus|euhemerist]] version in [[Herodotus]], she was [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] by [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]s, 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. 

Europa does not seem to have been venerated directly in cult anywhere in Classical Greece, but at Lebadaea in [[Boeotia]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted in the second century CE that ''Europa'' was the epithet of [[Demeter]]— "Demeter whom they surname Europa and say was the nurse of Trophonios"— among the Olympians who were addressed by seekers at the cave sanctuary of [[Trophonios]] of [[Orchomenos]], to whom a [[chthonic]] cult and [[oracle]] were dedicated: "the [[Sacred grove|grove]] of Trophonios by the river Herkyna. ...there is also a sanctuary of Demeter Europa... the nurse of Trophonios."<ref>Pausanias, ''Guide to Greece'' 9.39.2-5.</ref>

=="The Rape of Europa"==
According to legend, Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravage 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 female attendents 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]]. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by [[Hephaestus]]<ref>Hesoidic fragment.</ref> and three additional gifts: [[Talos]], [[Laelaps]] 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 (constellation)|Taurus]]. Some readers interpret as manifestations of this same bull the Cretan beast that was encountered by [[Hercules]], the [[Marathonian Bull]] slain by [[Theseus]] (and that fathered the [[Minotaur]]). Roman mythology adopted the tale (also known as "'''The Abduction of Europa'''" and "'''The Seduction of Europa'''"), substituting the god Jupiter for [[Zeus]].

According to [[Herodotus]]' rationalizing approach, Europa was kidnapped by [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]s 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 rape of a Phoenician aristocrat — later enunciated without gloss by Herodotus. For those set in the Christian interpretive tradition of myth as misunderstood history inherited from Herodotus, it is tempting to see in this story the remnants of oral history about the settlement of the island. Cretans were of course great sailors, as all islanders must be, and must have come from some mainland area by raft or ship. They must also have brought their cattle and other livestock with them, since bulls figured prominently in their sports, arts and religious imagery. In the mythological transformation of history, however, roles are reversed, and the bull provides the transportation for the founding mother of the Minoan people.

==Europa in classical literature==

''Europa'' provided the substance of a brief [[Hellenistic]] epic written in the mid-second century BC by [[Moschos]], a bucolic poet and friend of the Alexandrian grammarian [[Aristarchus of Samothrace]], born at Syracuse.<ref>The poem was published with voluminous notes and critical apparatus: Winfried Bühler, ''Die Europa des Moschos'' (Wiesbaden: Steiner) 1960.</ref>

In ''Metamorphoses'', the poet Ovid wrote the following depiction of Jupiter's seduction:

:And gradually she lost her fear, and he
:Offered his breast for her virgin caresses,
:His horns for her to wind with chains of flowers
:Until the princess dared to mount his back
:Her pet bull's back, unwitting whom she rode.
:Then — slowly, slowly down the broad, dry beach —
:First in the shallow waves the great god set
:His spurious hooves, then sauntered further out
:'til in the open sea he bore his prize
:Fear filled her heart as, gazing back, she saw
:The fast receding sands. Her right hand grasped
:A horn, the other lent upon his back
:Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze.

His picturesque details belong to anecdote and fable: in all the depictions, whether she straddles the bull, as in archaic vase-paintings or the ruined metope fragment from [[Sikyon]], or sits gracefully sidesaddle as in a mosaic from North Africa, there is no trace of fear. Often Europa steadies herself by touching one of the bull's horns, acquiescing.

==Europa in the visual arts==
{{commonscat|Europa (mythology)}}
"Europa seated on a bull" has been a frequent motif in European art since [[Greco-Roman]] times:
* Greek vase paintings
* Roman frescoes (see image above) and mosaics
* François Boucher, ''The Rape of Europa''
* Gustave Moreau, ''Europa and the Bull''
* Titian, ''The Rape of Europa''
* Paolo Veronese, ''The Rape of Europa''

==Notes==

<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
<references />
</div>

==References==
*[[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheke]]'', III, i, 1-2
*Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics), translated by Robin Hard, Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-283924-1
*[[Herodotus]], ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', Book 1.2
*Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'', 862, translation by A.D. Melville ([[1986]]), p.50

*Kerenyi, Karl, 1951. ''The Gods of the Greeks'' (Thames and Hudson)
*Graves, Robert, (1955) 1960. ''The gGeek Myths''
*

==External links==
*[http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~perlman/myth/images/euro.jpg A metope from Sicily, carved with Europa, ca 550 - 540 BCE]: the bull's face, turned head-on, clearly reveals his Near Eastern iconic antecedents
*[http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/currency/eurocoinsgr.asp?sec=4 Europa on the Greek 2 euro coins]

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Greek mythological people]]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is Phoenician, and from a lineage that descended from [[Io]], the mythical [[nymph]] beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is said to be the daughter of [[Agenor]], the Phoenician King of Tyre, and Queen [[Telephassa]] ("far-shining") or of [[Argiope]] ("white-faced")<ref>Kerenyi points out that these names are attributes of the moon, as is Europa's broad countenance.</ref>. Other sources, such as the ''[[Iliad]]'', claim that she is the daughter of Agenor's son, the "sun-red" [[Phoenix (Iliad)|Phoenix]]. 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]], with Apollodorus including Phoenix as a third. After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons: [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthus]], and [[Sarpedon]], the three of whom became the three judges of the Underworld when they died. She married [[Asterion]] also rendered [[Asterius]]. According to mythology, her children were fathered by Zeus.
-There were two competing myths<ref>''[[Bibliotheke]]'' 3.1.1.</ref> relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to [[Crete]], 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<ref>[http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap10.html Hesiodic fragment 19], a scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292 (which does not mention Europa)</ref> and carried away to Crete on his back&mdash; to be welcomed by [[Asterion]] <ref>According to the scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292, noted in Karl Kerenyi, ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' p105. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] rendered the name Asterion (2.31.1); in ''Bibliotheke'' (3.1.4) it is ''Asterion''.</ref>, but according to a more literal, [[Euhemerus|euhemerist]] version in [[Herodotus]], she was [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] by [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]s, 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.<br style="clear:both;">
+There were two competing myths<ref>''[[Bibliotheke]]'' 3.1.1.</ref> relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to [[Crete]], 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<ref>[http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap10.html Hesiodic fragment 19], a scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292 (which does not mention Europa)</ref> and carried away to Crete on his back&mdash; to be welcomed by [[Asterion]] <ref>According to the scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292, noted in Karl Kerenyi, ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' p105. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] rendered the name Asterion (2.31.1); in ''Bibliotheke'' (3.1.4) it is ''Asterion''.</ref>, but according to a more literal, [[Euhemerus|euhemerist]] version in [[Herodotus]], she was kidnapped by [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]s, 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.<br style="clear:both;">
 Europa does not seem to have been venerated directly in cult anywhere in Classical Greece, but at Lebadaea in [[Boeotia]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted in the second century CE that ''Europa'' was the epithet of [[Demeter]]— "Demeter whom they surname Europa and say was the nurse of Trophonios"—  among the Olympians who were addressed by seekers at the cave sanctuary of [[Trophonios]] of [[Orchomenos]], to whom a chthonic cult and [[oracle]] were dedicated: "the grove of Trophonios by the river Herkyna. ...there is also a sanctuary of Demeter Europa...  the nurse of Trophonios."<ref>Pausanias, ''Guide to Greece'' 9.39.2-5.</ref>

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 In ''Metamorphoses'', the poet Ovid wrote the following depiction of Jupiter's seduction:
-:<small>And gradually she lost her fear, and he
+''And gradually she lost her fear, and he
-:<small>Offered his breast for her virgin caresses,
+Offered his breast for her virgin caresses,
-:<small>His horns for her to wind with chains of flowers
+His horns for her to wind with chains of flowers
-:<small>Until the princess dared to mount his back
+Until the princess dared to mount his back
-:<small>Her pet bull's back, unwitting whom she rode.
+Her pet bull's back, unwitting whom she rode.
-:<small>Then &mdash; slowly, slowly down the broad, dry beach &mdash;
+Then &mdash; slowly, slowly down the broad, dry beach &mdash;
-:<small>First in the shallow waves the great god set
+First in the shallow waves the great god set
-:<small>His spurious hooves, then sauntered further out
+His spurious hooves, then sauntered further out
-:<small>'til in the open sea he bore his prize
+'til in the open sea he bore his prize
-:<small>Fear filled her heart as, gazing back, she saw
+Fear filled her heart as, gazing back, she saw
-:<small>The fast receding sands. Her right hand grasped
+The fast receding sands. Her right hand grasped
-:<small>A horn, the other lent upon his back
+A horn, the other lent upon his back
-:<small>Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze</small>
+Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze''

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 :<small>The fast receding sands. Her right hand grasped
 :<small>A horn, the other lent upon his back
-:<small>Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze
+:<small>Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze</small>

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 :<small>The fast receding sands. Her right hand grasped
 :<small>A horn, the other lent upon his back
-:<small>Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze.</small>
+:<small>Her fluttering tunic floated in the breeze
 His picturesque details belong to anecdote and fable: in all the depictions, whether she straddles the bull, as in archaic vase-paintings or the ruined metope fragment from [[Sikyon]], or sits gracefully sidesaddle as in a mosaic from North Africa, there is no trace of fear. Often Europa steadies herself by touching one of the bull's horns, acquiescing.

@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 ==Europa in the visual arts==
-{{commonscat|Europa (mythology)}}
 "Europa seated on a bull" has been a frequent motif in European art since [[Greco-Roman]] times:
 * Greek vase paintings
@@ Line 50: / Line 50: @@
 * Titian, ''The Rape of Europa''
 * Paolo Veronese, ''The Rape of Europa''
 ==Notes==

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 ==Europa's family==
-Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is [[Phoenicia]]n, and from a lineage that descended from [[Io]], the mythical [[nymph]] beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is said to be the daughter of [[Agenor]], the Phoenician King of Tyre, and Queen [[Telephassa]] ("far-shining") or of [[Argiope]] ("white-faced")<ref>Kerenyi points out that these names are attributes of the moon, as is Europa's broad countenance.</ref>. Other sources, such as the ''[[Iliad]]'', claim that she is the daughter of Agenor's son, the "sun-red" [[Phoenix (Iliad)|Phoenix]]. 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]], with Apollodorus including Phoenix as a third. After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons: [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthus]], and [[Sarpedon]], the three of whom became the three judges of the Underworld when they died. She married [[Asterion]] also rendered [[Asterius]]. According to mythology, her children were fathered by Zeus.
+Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is Phoenician, and from a lineage that descended from [[Io]], the mythical [[nymph]] beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is said to be the daughter of [[Agenor]], the Phoenician King of Tyre, and Queen [[Telephassa]] ("far-shining") or of [[Argiope]] ("white-faced")<ref>Kerenyi points out that these names are attributes of the moon, as is Europa's broad countenance.</ref>. Other sources, such as the ''[[Iliad]]'', claim that she is the daughter of Agenor's son, the "sun-red" [[Phoenix (Iliad)|Phoenix]]. 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]], with Apollodorus including Phoenix as a third. After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons: [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthus]], and [[Sarpedon]], the three of whom became the three judges of the Underworld when they died. She married [[Asterion]] also rendered [[Asterius]]. According to mythology, her children were fathered by Zeus.
 There were two competing myths<ref>''[[Bibliotheke]]'' 3.1.1.</ref> relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to [[Crete]], 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<ref>[http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/CollectionofHesiod/chap10.html Hesiodic fragment 19], a scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292 (which does not mention Europa)</ref> and carried away to Crete on his back&mdash; to be welcomed by [[Asterion]] <ref>According to the scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292, noted in Karl Kerenyi, ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' p105. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] rendered the name Asterion (2.31.1); in ''Bibliotheke'' (3.1.4) it is ''Asterion''.</ref>, but according to a more literal, [[Euhemerus|euhemerist]] version in [[Herodotus]], she was [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] by [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]s, 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.<br style="clear:both;">
-Europa does not seem to have been venerated directly in cult anywhere in Classical Greece, but at Lebadaea in [[Boeotia]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted in the second century CE that ''Europa'' was the epithet of [[Demeter]]— "Demeter whom they surname Europa and say was the nurse of Trophonios"—  among the Olympians who were addressed by seekers at the cave sanctuary of [[Trophonios]] of [[Orchomenos]], to whom a [[chthonic]] cult and [[oracle]] were dedicated: "the [[Sacred grove|grove]] of Trophonios by the river Herkyna. ...there is also a sanctuary of Demeter Europa...  the nurse of Trophonios."<ref>Pausanias, ''Guide to Greece'' 9.39.2-5.</ref>
+Europa does not seem to have been venerated directly in cult anywhere in Classical Greece, but at Lebadaea in [[Boeotia]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted in the second century CE that ''Europa'' was the epithet of [[Demeter]]— "Demeter whom they surname Europa and say was the nurse of Trophonios"—  among the Olympians who were addressed by seekers at the cave sanctuary of [[Trophonios]] of [[Orchomenos]], to whom a chthonic cult and [[oracle]] were dedicated: "the grove of Trophonios by the river Herkyna. ...there is also a sanctuary of Demeter Europa...  the nurse of Trophonios."<ref>Pausanias, ''Guide to Greece'' 9.39.2-5.</ref>
 =="The Rape of Europa"==