Europe is named after Europa the Phoenician princess
The legend of Europa, and particularly the search for her by her three brothers, may well reflect the historical colonisation of the
Mediterranean by the
Phoenicians from 1200 to 800 BCE.
Abduction by Zeus
According to
Hesiod in his
Theogony, Europa is a daughter of Ocean and the
Titan Tethys (357) while
Homer’s
Iliadhas her as the daughter of Phoenix (14:321). In another version of the story Europa is a Phoenician princess, the daughter of the Phoenician King of
Tyre, Agenor, and Phoenix is her brother. This is the version of events presented by the 5th-century BCE historian
Herodotus (1.2.1).
One day, while Europa was relaxing with friends by the seashore, the god Zeus spied her and immediately fell in love with her. In a somewhat bizarre courting strategy, Zeus either changed himself into a white bull or sent a handsome bull to woo the princess. Europa was indeed charmed by the docile animal and decorated him in flowers. Then, thinking she might ride such a gentle beast, she climbed on his back, which was when the bull swam with her into the sea, soared into the air and carried Europa far away from
Phoenicia. Flying bulls perhaps not being the best of aerial transporters, it is not surprising that the bull swiftly fell into the sea and from there the pair swam to Crete. Once on the island, Zeus forced himself upon the princess, and the couple produced three children: Minos, the future king of
Knossos, wise Rhadamanthys who would end up one of the judges of the Underworld, and, in a slightly later tradition, the great warrior and ally of
Troy, Sarpedon. Although he was a frequent love-them-and-leave-them sort of god, Zeus did bestow upon Europa a few parting gifts. There was a hound who always got its quarry; a personal bodyguard, Talos the animated
bronze man; and a javelin which always hit its target.
THE SEARCH FOR EUROPA & CONSEQUENT FOUNDING OF COLONIES LIKELY REFLECTS THE HISTORICAL REALITY OF PHOENICIAN COLONISATION IN THE WIDER MEDITERRANEAN.
Meanwhile, when Agenor discovered his daughter’s disappearance he sent his three sons off to find her again. These were Phoenix, Cilix, and Cadmus, and although they never did find their sister, the boys did found (at least in myth) new colonies in Phoenicia,
Cilicia, and Boeotian
Thebes respectively and thus became the founding fathers of those peoples.
The story ends when Europa later found consolation in Asterius, the Cretan king whom she married and who adopted her sons with Zeus. Finally, the bull that Zeus created became the constellation Taurus. The Zeus myth may have a basis in historical events, perhaps representing an actual
Bronze Age raiding party from
Minoan or Mycenaean Crete which attacked Phoenician Tyre and took treasures back to the island or, alternatively, represents an early
Hellenic attack on Crete. The search for Europa and consequent founding of colonies also likely reflects the historical reality of Phoenician colonisation in the wider Mediterranean between the 12th and 7th centuries BCE which is now attested by archaeological evidence.