View source for Europa (consort of Zeus)

{{short description|Greek mythology character, daughter of Agenor}}
{{redirect|The Rape of Europa||The Rape of Europa (disambiguation){{!}}''The Rape of Europa'' (disambiguation)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Europa
| image = Wall painting - Europa and the bull - Pompeii (IX 5 18-21) - Napoli MAN 111475 - 02.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Europa on the back of [[Zeus]] turned into a bull. A fresco at Pompeii, contemporaneous with [[Ovid]].
| god_of =
| abode = [[Crete]]
| symbol =
| consort = [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]], [[Zeus]]
| parents = [[Agenor]] with either [[Telephassa]] or [[Argiope (mythology)|Argiope]]; alternatively [[Phoenix (son of Agenor)|Phoenix]] and [[Perimede (mythology)|Perimede]]
| siblings = [[Cadmus]], [[Cilix]], [[Phoenix (son of Agenor)|Phoenix]]
| children = [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthys]], [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|Sarpedon]], [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]], [[Alagonia]], [[Carnus]]
| mount =
| Roman_equivalent =
| birth_place = [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]], [[Phoenicia]] (modern-day [[Lebanon]]){{citation needed|date=August 2021}}
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Europa''' ({{IPAc-en|j|ʊəˈr|oʊ|p|ə|,_|j|ə|-}}; {{langx|grc|Εὐρώπη}}, ''Eurṓpē'', {{IPA|grc-x-attic|eu̯.rɔ̌ː.pɛː|link=yes}}) was a [[Phoenicia]]n princess from [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and the mother of [[Basileus|King]] [[Minos]] of [[Crete]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} The story of her abduction by [[Zeus]] in the form of a bull was a Cretan story.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}

An early reference to Europa is in a fragment of the [[Hesiod]]ic ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', discovered at [[Oxyrhynchus]].<ref name="Hesiod">Hesiodic papyrus fragments [http://www.ae-lib.org.ua/texts-c/hesiod__catalog_of_women__en.htm#19a 19 and 19A] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222144037/https://www.ae-lib.org.ua/texts-c/hesiod__catalog_of_women__en.htm#19a |date=2021-12-22 }} of the ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'', dating from the third century AD.</ref> The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa dates from the mid-7th century BC.<ref>[[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).</ref>

== Etymology ==
{{further|Europe#Name}}
[[File:Palazzo Ferreria statue 3.jpeg|thumb|upright|A statue of Europa representing [[Europe]] at [[Palazzo Ferreria]]]]Greek {{lang|grc|Εὐρώπη}} (''Eurṓpē'') may have been formed from {{lang|grc|εὐρύς}} (''{{lang|grc-Latn|eurus}}''), "wide, broad"<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Deu%29ru%2Fs εὐρύς] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222144031/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Deu%29ru%2Fs |date=2021-12-22 }}, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref> and {{lang|grc|ὤψ/ὠπ-/ὀπτ-}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|ōps/ōp-/opt-}}): "eye, face, countenance".<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dw%29%2Fy ὤψ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222144031/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dw%29%2Fy |date=2021-12-22 }}, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref> ''Broad'' has been an [[epithet]] of [[Dʰéǵʰōm|Earth herself]] in the reconstructed [[Proto-Indo-European religion]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=M. L. West |title=Indo-European poetry and myth |url=https://archive.org/details/indoeuropeanpoet00west |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/indoeuropeanpoet00west/page/n192 178]–179 |isbn=978-0-19-928075-9 }}. Compare also [[Athena#Cult and attributes|''glauk'''ōp'''is'' (γλαυκῶπις 'grey-eyed') Athena]] or [[Hera|''bo'''ōp'''is'' (βοὠπις 'ox-eyed') Hera]]).</ref>

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]].<ref>
{{lang|grc|Τελφοῦσ᾽, ἐνθάδε δὴ φρονέω περικαλλέα νηὸν / ἀνθρώπων τεῦξαι χρηστήριον, οἵτε μοι αἰεὶ
ἐνθάδ᾽ ἀγινήσουσι τεληέσσας ἑκατόμβας, / ἠμὲν ὅσοι Πελοπόννησον πίειραν ἔχουσιν / ἠδ᾽ '''ὅσοι Εὐρώπην''' τε καὶ ἀμφιρύτας κατὰ νήσους}}
"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).</ref>
As a name for a part of the known world, it is first used in the 6th century BC by [[Anaximander]] and [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]].<ref>''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 4.38. Cf. James Rennell, ''The geographical system of Herodotus examined and explained'', Volume 1, Rivington 1830, [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_enQ-AAAAcAAJ/page/n274<!-- quote=Herodotus Phasis. --> p. 244]</ref> Toponyms related to that of Europa exist in the territory of ancient Greece, such as that of [[Europus (Almopia)|Europos]] in [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|ancient Macedonia]], as collected by [[Robert Beekes]].<ref name="Beekes">{{cite journal |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert |title=Kadmos and Europa, and the Phoenicians |journal=Kadmos |date=2004 |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=168–69 |doi=10.1515/kadm.43.1.167 |s2cid=162196643 |url=https://www.robertbeekes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b118.pdf |access-date=30 July 2022 |archive-date=1 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101121039/https://www.robertbeekes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/b118.pdf |url-status=live |issn=0022-7498 }}</ref>

In 1966, an alternative suggestion from [[Ernest Klein]] and [[Giovanni Semerano]] attempted to connect a [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] term for "west", [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''erebu'' meaning "to go down, set" (in reference to the sun), [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]] '' '{{lang|phn-Latn|ereb}}'' "evening; west", which would parallel ''occident''. The resemblance to ''[[Erebus]]'', from [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] ''*h<sub>1</sub>regʷos'', "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 {{lang|grc|Ἀνατολή}}, "(sun)rise", "east".<ref>M.A. Barry (1999) "L'Europe et son mythe: à la poursuite du couchant". ''Revue des deux Mondes''. p. 110. {{ISBN|978-2-7103-0937-6}}</ref> This proposal is mostly considered unlikely or untenable.<ref group=note>[[Martin Litchfield West]] states that "phonologically, the match between Europa's name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor". {{Cite book|author=M. L. West |title=The east face of Helicon: west Asiatic elements in Greek poetry and myth |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |year=1997 |page=451 |isbn=0-19-815221-3 }}.</ref><ref>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 {{cite journal | author=G. W. S. Friedrichsen | title=REVIEWS | journal=The Review of English Studies | publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) | volume=XVIII | issue=71 | year=1967 | jstor=i222266 | doi=10.1093/res/xviii.71.295 | pages=295–297}}</ref><ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Europa|year=1905}}</ref>

== Family ==
[[File:Al-Bass Arch Site P1010056.JPG|thumb|The birthplace of Europa, [[Tyre, Lebanon]]]]
Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is [[Phoenicia]]n, and from an [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argive]] lineage that ultimately descended from the princess [[Io (mythology)|Io]], the mythical [[nymph]] beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is generally said to be the daughter of [[Agenor]], the [[Phoenicia]]n King of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]].<ref name="encarta2008">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Europa (mythology)|encyclopedia=Encarta|publisher=Microsoft Corporation|year=2008}}</ref> The Syracusan poet [[Moschus]]<ref>Moschus, ''Europa'' ([http://www.theoi.com/Text/Moschus.html#2 on-line text at Theoi Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503035801/https://www.theoi.com/Text/Moschus.html#2 |date=2021-05-03 }}).</ref> makes her mother Queen [[Telephassa]] ("far-shining"). Elsewhere, her mother is [[Telephassa|Argiope]] ("silver-faced").<ref group=note>[[#Kerenyi|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 (son of Agenor)|Phoenix]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Homer, Iliad, Book 14, line 321 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D312 |access-date=2022-01-04 |archive-date=2022-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104193304/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134:book%3D14:card%3D312 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":03">[[Scholia]] on [[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' B, 494, p. 80, 43 ed. Bekk. as cited in [[Hellanicus of Lesbos|Hellanicus]]' ''Boeotica''</ref> 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 ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|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.<ref name="encarta2008" /><ref name="ReferenceA">Pseudo-Apollonius, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' 3.1.1.</ref>

After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons fathered by Zeus: [[Minos]], [[Rhadamanthus]], and [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|Sarpedon]]. Minos and Rhadamanthus became judges of the Underworld, alongside [[Aeacus]] of Aegina, when they died.<ref name="encarta2008" /><ref name="ReferenceA"/> In Crete she married [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]], also rendered Asterius, and became mother, or step-mother, of his daughter [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]]. Pausanias wrote that the poet [[Praxilla]] makes [[Carnus]] a son of Europa.<ref>Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'' 3.13.5</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ <big>Comparative table of Europa's family</big>
! rowspan="2" |Relation
! rowspan="2" |Names
! colspan="15" |Sources
|-
| ''Alcman''
| {{abbr|''Hom.''|Homeric Hymns}}
| {{abbr|''Sch. Iliad''|scholium on Iliad}}
| {{abbr|''Hes.''|Hesiodic Catalogue of Women}}
| {{abbr|''Hella.''| Hellanicus' Boeotica}}
| {{abbr|''Bacchy.''|Bacchylides}}
| {{abbr|''Sch. Eurip''|scholium on Euripides}}
| {{abbr|''Mosc''| Moschus}}
| ''Con''{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
| ''Diod.''{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
| colspan="2" |{{abbr|''Apollod.''|Apollodorus}}
| ''Hyg.''{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
| {{abbr|''Pau.''|Pausanias}}
| ''Non.''{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}
|-
| rowspan="8" |''Parentage''
| Phoenix
|
| ✓<ref group=note name=":0"/>
| ✓
|
| ✓
| ✓<ref group=note name=":0">Though Europa was unnamed in this text, she must be the daughter of Phoenix who coupled with Zeus.</ref>
|
|
| ✓
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|-
| Phoenix and Cassiopeia
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Phoenix and Telephassa
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Phoenix and Telephe
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Phoenix and Perimede
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|-
| Agenor
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Agenor and Telephassa
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Agenor and Argiope
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
| ✓
|-
| rowspan="9" |''Siblings''
| Phineus
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓<ref group=note>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.</ref>
|
| ✓
|
|
|-
| Astypale
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|-
| Phoenice
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|-
| Peirus
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Cadmus
|
|
| ✓
|
| ✓
|
|
|
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
|
| ✓
|
| ✓
|-
| Thasus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Phoenix
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Cilix
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Adonis
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |''Consorts''
| Zeus
| ✓
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Asterius
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |''Children''
| Minos
|
| ✓
|
|
|
| ✓<ref group=note>Unnamed but pertains to Minos who was king of Crete</ref>
|
|
| ✓
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Rhadamanthys
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Sarpedon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| Carnus
| ✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|}

== Mythology ==
[[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - The Abduction of Europa - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[The Abduction of Europa (Rembrandt)|The Abduction of Europa]]'' by [[Rembrandt]], 1632]]

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.<ref name="Penguin Books">{{Cite book|title=The Penguin dictionary of classical mythology|author1=Pierre Grimal|date=1991|publisher=Penguin Books|author2= Stephen Kershaw|isbn=0140512357|edition=[Abridged ed.]|location=London, England|oclc=25246340}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="Penguin Books"/>

Zeus then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by [[Hephaestus]]<ref name="Hesiod"/> and three additional gifts: the bronze [[automaton]] guard [[Talos]], the hound [[Laelaps (mythology)|Laelaps]] who never failed to catch his quarry, and a [[Pilum|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]]. 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 (mythology)|Jupiter]] for [[Zeus]].

The myth of Europa and Zeus may have its origin in a sacred union between the Phoenician deities [[Attar (god)|'Aštar]] and 'Aštart ([[Astarte]]), in bovine form. Having given birth to three sons by Zeus, Europa married a king [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]], this being also the name of the Minotaur and an epithet of Zeus, likely derived from the name ''{{'}}Aštar''.<ref name="West1997">{{cite book|author=M. L. West|title=The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIp0RYIjazQC&pg=PA451–452|date=23 October 1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-159104-4|pages=452–|access-date=17 March 2022|archive-date=22 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222144030/https://books.google.com/books?id=fIp0RYIjazQC&pg=PA451%E2%80%93452|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to [[Herodotus]]'s rationalizing approach, Europa was kidnapped by Greeks, probably Cretans, who were seeking to avenge the kidnapping of [[Io (mythology)|Io]], a princess from [[Argos, Peloponnese|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.

== Cult ==
[[File:Terracotta Europa bull Staatliche Antikensammlungen.jpg|thumb|Europa in a terracotta figurine from [[Athens]], {{c.|460–480 BC}}]]

=== 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.<ref name="encarta2008" /> {{verify source|date=February 2023}}

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 myths<ref>''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' 3.1.1.</ref> relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to [[Crete]] (Kríti), where the [[Bull (mythology)|sacred bull]] was paramount. In the more familiar telling she was [[seduction|seduced]] by the [[deity|god]] [[Zeus]] in the form of a bull, who breathed from his mouth a [[Crocus sativus|saffron crocus]]<ref name="Hesiod"/> and carried her away to Crete on his back—to be welcomed by [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]],<ref group=note>According to the scholium on ''Iliad'' XII.292, noted in Karl Kerenyi (1996) ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'' p. 105. {{ISBN |0691029156}}. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] rendered the name Asterion (2.31.1); in ''Bibliotheke'' (3.1.4) it is ''Asterion''.</ref> According to the more literal, [[euhemerism|euhemerist]] version that begins the account of Persian-Hellene confrontations of [[Herodotus]],<ref group=note>Herodotus, ''Histories'' I.1; the act is made out to be a revenge for the previous "kidnapping" of [[Io (mythology)|Io]].</ref> she was [[kidnapping|kidnapped]] by [[Cretans]], who likewise were said to have taken her to Crete.<ref name="Lorientjour.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/À+La+Une/article/767714/Et_si_Europe_etait_sidonienne_.html|title=The Designer: And if Europe was Sidonian?|publisher=Lorientjour.com|access-date=2012-11-28|archive-date=2013-05-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525112335/http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/%C3%80+La+Une/article/767714/Et_si_Europe_etait_sidonienne_.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The mythical Europa cannot be separated from the mythology of the [[Bull (mythology)|sacred bull]], which had been worshipped in the [[Levant]]. In 2012, an archaeological mission of the [[British Museum]] led by [[Lebanese people|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.<ref name="Lorientjour.com"/>

Europa does not seem to have been venerated directly in [[Cult (religion)|cult]] anywhere in classical Greece,<ref group=note>No public statue of Europa is mentioned by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] or any other Classical writer, but a headless statuette, closely draped in a cloak over a [[peplos]], of the type called "Amelung's Goddess", but inscribed "Europa", at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seems to be a Roman copy of a lost Greek original, of {{c.|460 BC}}; an uninscribed statuette of the same type, from Hama, Syria, is in the Damascus Museum, and a full-size copy has been found in [[Baiae]]: {{cite journal | author=Martin Robertson| title=Europa | journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes | publisher=JSTOR | volume=20 | issue=1/2 | year=1957 | jstor=i230424 | doi=10.2307/750147 | page=1| s2cid=244492052 }}; I. E. S. Edwards, ed. ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', plates to vols. V and VI 1970:illus. fig. 24.</ref> but at Lebadaea in [[Boeotia]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted in the 2nd century AD, 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 [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]], to whom a [[chthonic]] cult and [[oracle]] were dedicated: "the [[Sacred grove|grove]] of Trophonios by the river Herkyna{{nbs"... there is also a sanctuary of Demeter Europa{{spaces}}... the nurse of Trophonios.}}<ref>Pausanias, ''Guide to Greece'' 9.39.2–5.</ref>

The festival of [[Hellotia]] in Crete was celebrated in honour of Europa.<ref>{{SmithDGRBM|author=LS|title=Hellotia|volume=2|pages=378–379|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofgree02smituoft/page/378/mode/1up}} Via [[archive.org]].</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:alphabetic+letter=E:entry+group=1:entry=ellotia-cn|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), EBUR, EBUR, ELLO'TIA|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

== Argive genealogy ==
{{Argive genealogy in Greek mythology}}

== In art and literature ==
[[File:Europa copy.jpg|thumb|Europa and [[Bull (mythology)|bull]] on a Greek vase. [[Tarquinia National Museum|Tarquinia Museum]], [[Italy]], {{c.|480 BCE}}]]
[[File:Apulian red-figure dinos in the Eskenazi Museum of Art, scene of the abduction of Europa.jpg|thumb|A scene of Zeus in the form of a bull abducting Europa from an Apulian red-figure [[dinos]], dating {{c.|370}} – {{c.|330 BCE}}, now held in the [[Eskenazi Museum of Art]]]]

''Europa'' provided the substance of a brief [[Hellenistic]] epic written in the mid-2nd century BCE by [[Moschus]], a bucolic poet and friend of the Alexandrian grammarian [[Aristarchus of Samothrace]], born at Syracuse.<ref group=note>The poem was published with voluminous notes and critical apparatus: Winfried Bühler, ''Die Europa des Moschos'' (Wiesbaden: Steiner) 1960.</ref>

In ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' Book II, 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
: <nowiki/>'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.
|}
[[File:Kylix figure rosse 370 ac tomba 32 necropoli Poggio Sommavilla archivio SBALazio.png|thumb|Kylix, red-figure pottery 370 BC depicts the Rape of Europa (Ratto d'Europa), tomb 32 [[Archaeological area of Poggio Sommavilla|Poggio Sommavilla]] necropolis, archivio SBALazio Etruria Meridionale.]]
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.

Her tale is also mentioned in [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]'s ''[[Tanglewood Tales]]''. Though his story titled "Dragon's teeth" is largely about Cadmus, it begins with an elaborate albeit toned down version of Europa's abduction by the beautiful bull.

The tale also features as the subject of a poem and film in the [[Enderby (fictional character)]] sequence of novels by [[Anthony Burgess]]. She is remembered in ''[[De Mulieribus Claris]]'', a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the [[Florence|Florentine]] author [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], composed in 1361{{endash}}62. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in Western literature.<ref name="Brown_xi">{{cite book |author=Giovanni Boccaccio |author-link=Giovanni Boccaccio |year=2003 |translator=Virginia Brown |title=Famous Women |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |series=I Tatti Renaissance Library |volume=1 |isbn=0-674-01130-9 |page=xi}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200" mode="packed">
File:The Kidnapping of Europa Mosaic.jpg|Europa ''[[Velificatio|velificans]]'', "her fluttering tunic… in the breeze" (mosaic, [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]])
File:Tizian 085.jpg|''[[The Rape of Europa (Titian)|The Rape of Europa]]'' by [[Titian]] (1562)
File:Chauveau, François Métamorphoses d'Europe Eau-forte.jpg|''The Rape of Europa'' by [[François Chauveau]] (1650)
File:Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre - Le Rapt d'Europe.jpg|''The Rape of Europa'' by [[Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre]] (1750)
File:The rape of Europa, Goya.JPG|''[[The Rape of Europa (Francisco de Goya)|The Rape of Europa]]'' by [[Francisco Goya]] (1772)
File:Felix Vallotton The Rape of Europa.jpg|''The Rape of Europa'' by [[Félix Vallotton]] (1908)
File:Valentin Serov - Похищение Европы - Google Art Project.jpg|''The Rape of Europa'' by [[Valentin Serov]] (1910)
File:UT-McClungPlaza.jpg|''Europa on the Bull'' by [[Carl Milles]] (1926)
File:Monumento a Europa.jpg|''Rapto de Europa'' by Juan Oliveira Viéitez (1989)
File:Statue of Europa outside Council building in Brussels.jpg|''Europa'' by Léon de Pas (1997)
File:Sculture by the European Parliament 1.jpg|''Europe'' by [[May Claerhout]] (1999)
</gallery>

== Namesakes ==
[[File:Raptus Europae.png|thumb|Europa and the bull, depicted as the continent's personification in ''[[:File:Nova et accurata totius Europæ descriptio.jpg|Nova et accurata totius Europæ descriptio]]'' by [[Frederik de Wit|Fredericus de Wit]], 1700]]

=== Continent ===
{{further|European symbols#Europa}}

The name [[Europe]], as a geographical term, was used by [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] geographers such as [[Strabo]] to refer to part of [[Thrace]] below the [[Balkan Mountains]].<ref>Strabo, Geography [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197:book=8:chapter=1:section=1 8.1.1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008112916/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197:book=8:chapter=1:section=1 |date=2008-10-08 }}.</ref> Later, under the Roman Empire the name was given to a Thracian [[Europa (Roman province)|province]]. Thrace or Thraike in Greek mythology, was the sister of a water nymph named Europa.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrace_(mythology) | title=Thrace (Mythology) }}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=April 2023}} Europa was also a surname given to the earth mother goddess Demeter.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 9.39.4</ref>

It is derived from the [[Greek language|Greek]] word ''Eurōpē'' ({{lang|grc|Εὐρώπη}}) in all [[Romance languages]], [[Germanic languages]], [[Slavic languages]], [[Baltic languages]], [[Celtic languages]], [[Iranian languages]], [[Uralic languages]] ([[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] Európa, [[Finnish language|Finnish]] Eurooppa, [[Estonian language|Estonian]] Euroopa).
[[File:Imago Europae euronis.jpg|thumb|100px|left|Europa depicted on the 2013 ''Europa Series'' of [[Euro banknotes]]]]
Jürgen Fischer, in ''Oriens-Occidens-Europa''<ref>Jürgen Fischer, ''Oriens–Occidens–Europa'' (Wiesbaden: Steiner) 1957.</ref> summarized how the name came into use, supplanting the ''[[Orient|oriens]]''–''[[Western world|occidens]]'' dichotomy of the [[later Roman Empire]], which was expressive of a divided empire, Latin in the West, Greek in the East.
<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: Image:2004 Belgium 10 Euro Expansion European Union front.JPG|Europa and Zeus over Europe, [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Belgium)#2004 coinage|Belgian €10 silver coin]] -->

In the 8th century, ecclesiastical uses of "Europa" for the imperium of [[Charlemagne]] provide the source for the modern geographical term. The first use of the term ''[[Wikt:Europensis|Europenses]]'', to describe peoples of the Christian, western portion of the continent, appeared in the Hispanic Latin [[Mozarabic Chronicle of 754|Chronicle of 754]], sometimes attributed to an author called [[Isidorus Pacensis|Isidore Pacensis]]<ref>[[David Levering Lewis]], ''God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215'', New York: W. W. Norton, 2008.</ref> in reference to the [[Battle of Tours]] fought against Muslim forces.

The European Union has used Europa as a symbol of [[pan-European identity|pan-Europeanism]], by naming [[Europa (web portal)|its web portal]] after her{{citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=and not after the continents name in multiple languages?}} and depicting her on the Greek €2 coin and on several [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins|gold and silver commemorative coins]], e.g. the [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Belgium)#2004 coinage|Belgian €10 European Expansion coin]]. Her name appeared on [[postage stamp]]s celebrating the [[Council of Europe]], which were first issued in 1956. The second series of [[euro banknotes]] is known as the Europa Series and bears her likeness in the watermark and hologram.
[[File:Europa - Perijove 45 (53255790801).png|thumb|upright|[[Europa (moon)|Europa]], a moon of [[Jupiter]]]]

==== Chemical element ====
The metal ''[[europium]]'', a [[rare-earth element]], was named in 1901 after the continent.<ref>{{cite web|title=Periodic Table: Europium|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|url=https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/63/europium|access-date=2021-11-05|archive-date=2012-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124152019/https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/63/europium|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Moon of Jupiter ===
{{further|Europa (moon)}}

The invention of the [[telescope]] revealed that the planet [[Jupiter]], clearly visible to the naked eye and known to humanity since prehistoric times, has an attendant family of moons. These were named for male and female lovers of the god and other mythological persons associated with him. The smallest of Jupiter's [[Galilean moon]]s was named after Europa.
<!-- <gallery widths="120px" heights="120px">
Image:Europe satellite globe.jpg|Satellite image of Europe
</gallery> -->

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
=== Primary sources ===
* Isidore, ''Etymologiae xiv.4.1''
* [[Herodotus]], ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', Book 1.2
* Eusebius, ''[[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronicon]]'', 47.7–10, 25, 53.16–17, 55.4–5
* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'', 862, translation by A.D. Melville (1986), p.{{spaces}}50
:: ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'', ii.833-iii.2, vi.103–107

=== Secondary sources ===
* [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheca (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}}
* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], (1955) 1960. ''The Greek Myths''
* ''D'Europe à l'Europe, I. Le mythe d'Europe dans l'art et la culture de l'antiquité au XVIIIe s.'' (colloque de Paris, ENS{{snd}}Ulm, 24–26.04.1997), éd. R. Poignault et O. Wattel{{snd}}de Croizant, coll. Caesarodunum, n° XXXI bis, 1998.
* ''D'Europe à l'Europe, II. Mythe et identité du XIXe s. à nos jours'' (colloque de Caen, 30.09–02.10.1999), éd. R. Poignault, F. Lecocq et O. Wattel{{snd}}de Croizant, coll. Caesarodunum, n° XXXIII bis, 2000.
* ''D'Europe à l'Europe, III. La dimension politique et religieuse du mythe d'Europe de l'Antiquité à nos jours'' (colloque de Paris, ENS-Ulm, 29–30.11.2001), éd. O. Wattel{{snd}}De Croizant, coll. Caesarodunum, n° hors-série, 2002.
* ''D'Europe à l'Europe, IV. Entre Orient et Occident, du mythe à la géopolitique'' (colloque de Paris, ENS-Ulm, 18–20.05.2006), dir. O. Wattel{{snd}}de Croizant & G. de Montifroy, Editions de l'Age d'Homme, Lausanne{{snd}}Paris, 2007.
* ''D'Europe à l'Europe, V. État des connaissances'' (colloque de Bruxelles, 21–22.10.2010), dir. O. Wattel – de Croizant & A. Roba, Bruxelles, éd. Métamorphoses d'Europe asbl, 2011.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Europa (mythology)}}
{{EB1911 poster|Europa}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050228023614/http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~perlman/myth/images/euro.jpg A metope from Sicily, carved with Europa, {{c.|550}}{{snd}}540 BCE]: the bull's face, turned head-on, clearly reveals his Near Eastern iconic antecedents
* [http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/currency/eurocoins.asp Europa] on the [[Greek euro coin]] of €2
* [http://www.europesname.eu www.europesname.eu] A study describing the origin and artistic use of the name EUROPE in its mythical, geographic and political sense by Drs. Peter H. Gommers
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000216 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Europa)]
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Europa|short=x}}

{{EU symbols}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Europa (Mythology)}}
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Agenorides]]
[[Category:Mortal women of Zeus]]
[[Category:Mythological rape victims]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Phoenician characters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Cretan mythology]]
[[Category:Europe in mythology]]
[[Category:Astarte]]
[[Category:National personifications]]
[[Category:Symbols of the European Union]]
[[Category:Zoophilia in culture]]
[[Category:Personifications of continents]]
[[Category:Mythological kidnapped people]]