Today we’ll tell you a story that will interest you greatly, since it deals with the continent we live on, Europe. Do you happen to know who Europe was??? Europe, dear friends, was a pretty Phoenician princess, daughter of Agenor and Telephasa. She was playing with her friends one day and Zeus saw her. He was so struck by her beauty that he decided to take her for himself, given the fact that he was a god who loved women. He turned himself into a beautiful white bull and swam to the shore of Asia where Europe and her friends were. When the girls saw him they all fell for him, but he bent in front of Europe and she climbed on his back. He then started swimming very fast and he took her from Phoenicia to Crete, to the same cave where he was born. This is where he disclosed his real identity to her.
Zeus’s love for Europe was so big that he gave her three presents: Talos (the bronze giant), Laelaps – a hunting dog, and the magic javelin that always hit the focused target. However, Zeus lost interest after a while and he married Europe to Asterion, the king of stars. (Men!!!!)
The story of Zeus and Europe has inspired many artists {*painting by: Tiziano (1477-1576)} through time.
Even the 2 euro coin now has an image of Europe’s abduction from Zeus as a bull.
One more thing about the etymology of the word Europe: one theory suggests that it comes from the word “Ευρυ” in Greek which means “broad” and “οπ”/οπτ” meaning “eye”, therefore Europe means “wide gazing”, someone who sees things in perspective.
Now you know!