Europa, The Phoenician Princess (18 March 2024)
Presented Online
Nicholas Hardwick
Europa was in mythology a Phoenician princess, who in one account was abducted by the Greek god Zeus, in the form of a bull, and carried to Crete, the island in the Mediterranean Sea to the south of mainland Greece. The story was significant in Greco-Roman mythology, and an inspiration to artists over the centuries. Her name remains famous because it was given to the continent of Europe.
Two competing myths about her exist, but in both she came to Crete, where the cult of the bull was important.
In one version, the story of the rape, or seduction, of Europa was that Zeus, who was very attracted to Europa, in the form of a tame white bull, joined the herds of Europa’s father. Europa and her supporters were in the field gathering flowers. She caressed the bull and she got onto his back. He ran to the sea and swam with her on his back to Crete. He then revealed himself, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Later, Zeus formed the constellation Taurus, which is Latin for the ‘bull’, in the stars in the form of the white bull.
The myth’s origin is thought to be the sacred union of Phoenician deities `Aštar, who was sacred to the morning and evening star, and `Aštart (Astarte), the goddess of beauty, love, hunting and war, who was a significant deity in the ancient near east. The cult of Astarte was known in Sidon during the Roman period.
This was considered the origin of the cult in the city during the Greco-Roman period, since the cult is referenced by the coinage of Sidon during the Roman Period. An example is a bronze coin of Sidon, with, on the obverse, a temple on a foundation with four columns supporting a pediment, flanked by a column on each side, and, on the reverse is Europa seated on a bull running left, below which are, in Greek letters, the era date, that is, the date from which the city numbered its years, and the ethnic, that is, the name of the state, ‘of the Sidonians’. Its diameter is 20 mm, and it is dated to the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (reigned 27 BC-AD 14).
In the different version of the myth in the Greek historian Herodotus (c.484-c.425 BC), she was kidnapped by Cretans so that they could take revenge for the abduction of the Argive princess Io in an earlier generation. He refers to the myth as one of the Persian-Greek confrontations, which he outlines as the origins for the Persian Wars (499-79 BC), which are the major theme of his work The Histories.
Europa had an Argive family background, that is, one which originated in the region of the city of Argos in the eastern Peloponnese, which is the southern part of mainland Greece. She was descended from the Argive princess Io, and her lover Zeus. She was the daughter of Agenor, the Phoenician king of Tyre. Europa had two brothers, Cadmus, who brought the alphabet to Greece, and Cilix, who gave the name to Cilicia in south east Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
Cadmus and the alphabet are discussed in more detail in a lecture entitled ‘Cadmus’, on the ‘Temporary Exhibitions’ page of the website.
The factual background to the myth could be related to Phoenician trading between Phoenicia and the Greek world, including Crete. Europa was of Greek descent and, indeed, Phoenician princesses could have married Greek aristocrats in order to strengthen political and economic alliances between the two trading peoples. The myths of her brothers Cadmus and Cilix, and their links to Greece and Cilicia respectively, also allude to a factual background of Phoenician trade and cultural links in the region. Furthermore, the Phoenician alphabet was adopted by the Greeks, which is a possible factual basis for the story of Cadmus.
In Crete, Zeus was the father of three sons by Europa, Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. Minos was the king of Crete, whose palace was supposed to be at Knossos in the centre of the north of the island. He is famous for the story of the minotaur, which was a mythological beast with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It lived in the labyrinth, which was a complex of underground passages, and was finally killed by Theseus, the Athenian prince. Palaces of the Minoan civilisation, dated to the second millennium BC, have been excavated at Knossos and other sites in Crete, which suggest that, although the story of Minos and the minotaur is a myth, it has a possible degree of factual basis. After his death, he became a judge in the Underworld.
Rhadamanthus was also a king of Crete, and a lawgiver. The latter role may allude to the fact that there were significant early law codes in Crete. After his death, he also became a judge in the Underworld.
Sarpedon had a significant role in the Trojan War, the famous mythological war between the Greeks and the Trojans, the fighting with the Trojans, but, in a different version of the story in the Greek poet Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, he comes from Lycia in south-western Asia Minor, and has no connection with Crete.
Despite the popularity of the myth in the Greek world, and Europa’s divine connections, there was no cult of Europa in Greece.
The Greeks and Romans gave the name ‘Europa’ to part of Thrace in northern Greece. Her name was later given to the whole of Europe. In the eighth century AD, the name was first used to refer to the area of western Europe. Words derived from ‘Europa’ are used to refer to the continent in most major languages.
The phenomenon of names used for geographical regions then applied to larger area is also known from two other words for Greece. ‘Hellas’, which was the name of an area in Thessaly in Central Greece, was then applied to the whole of Greece. The ‘Graioi’ were some of the original colonists of southern Italy, who came from the Peloponnese in southern Greece, which the Romans called in Latin ‘Graeci’, and then applied this name to all other Greek speakers. This is the origin of the English word ‘Greece’.
The first version of the myth with Europa and the bull is a frequent subject in art from antiquity to the present, in paintings and sculptures. The composition of the portrayal of Europa and the bull varies in different periods.
There is a Greek vase, whose shape is called a bell krater, of Attic manufacture, that is, made in Athens, dated c.480 BC, painted by a vase painter called the Berlin Painter, in Tarquinia, Lazio, north of Rome, Museo Nazionale Tarquiniese (National Museum of Tarquinia), inv. no. RC7456. It is painted with the red figure technique, that is, the figured decoration is red because of the colour of the clay and the details of the figures and the surrounding surface of the vase are painted black. It shows Europa and the bull, with the bull walking right in the foreground and Europa walking to the right behind, holding the horn of the bull with her left hand. Below the two figures is a ground line with a maeander pattern, that is, a pattern comprised of repeated decorations of lines at right angles to each other. The composition is unusual compared to other artistic representations of the myth, where Europa is usually seated on the back of the bull.
There is a Roman wall painting, dated to the first century AD, depicting Europa seated on the bull from the House of Jason in Pompeii, the famous Roman city near Naples in Italy, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79. It is presently in Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale (National Archaeological Museum), inv. no. 111475, and its dimensions are 125 cm high and 99 cm wide. In front of a light cream coloured background, Europa, facing right, is nude down to the waist and is wearing a purple and blue tunic. She is seated on the bull, which has a brown hide, in front of which people try to prevent her departure.
The myth was popular on Roman mosaics and an example is in the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep, in south-east Turkey. It is from the House of Europa in the Roman city of Zeugma, which was situated on the Euphrates River, to the north of Lebanon. Its date is the late second century AD. To the right is Europa seated on a bull, which moves to the right, and to the left, is a female figure seated on a winged lion. To the bottom left is a dolphin, and the scene is surrounded by a frieze of square and rectangular geometric patterns.
The myth has been of considerable interest to European artists since the Renaissance, whose name means the rebirth of interest in classical, or Greco-Roman, antiquity, and which commenced in Italy in the fifteenth century AD. Because of the interests of the Renaissance, classical myths, such as that of Europa, were of considerable importance.
There is a painting entitled The Rape of Europa (c.1560-2), oil on canvas, inv. no. P26e1, and its dimensions are 178 cm x 205 cm, by the famous Venetian artist Titian (c.1488/90-1576), which is in the Isabell Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, and houses the famous art collection of the founder, after whom the museum is named. The composition is unusual because Europa lies on her back on the back of the bull, which swims in the sea to the right. In the background is a landscape of mountains and the sea. On the shore are three figures of women showing concern for Europa’s seduction. To the left are three Cupids, with two in the sky and one in the sea riding a dolphin.
Another painting is by the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606-69), entitled The Abduction of Europa (1632), oil on single oak panel, inv. no. 95.PB.7, and its dimensions are 64.6 cm x 78.7 cm. It is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, California, the famous art museum which was opened in 1974. It is one of the rare paintings by the artist which has a Greco-Roman mythological scene, since Rembrandt is largely known for his portraits and scenes of contemporary Dutch life.
It is an allegorical work, that is, one in which the event portrayed has another meaning, in relation to the career of the patron, Jacques Specx (1585-1652), who was significant in the Dutch East India Company, which was an important trading company, in the establishment of trading links between the Netherlands and Japan. In 1609, he set up a trading post in Japan, after which he was governor of Batavia (present day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia). The Phoenician port in the painting is symbolic of Dutch ports, which were significant in Specx’ career. Europa is moved from Asia to Europe, which symbolises Specx moving precious supplies from Asia to Europe. The painting was in his collection, along with five other portraits by Rembrandt.
The Spanish artist, Francisco Goya (1746-1828), who was particularly famous for his portraits and paintings with political themes, painted The Rape of Europa (1772), oil on canvas, private collection, and its dimensions are 47 cm x 68 cm. This work, which was completed when he was 26 years old, is from early in his career. To the left, Europa departs on the back of the bull and looks behind her to three female figures to the right, who gesture in consternation about her abduction.
Another painting, The Rape of Europa (1908) is by the Swiss artist Félix Vallotton (1865-1925), oil on canvas, and its dimensions are 130 cm x 162 cm. It is in the Kunstmuseum, Bern, in Switzerland. Painted in an early twentieth century style, it is a modern interpretation of the myth. The bull rises from the sea and moves to the right, and the naked Europa with her back to the viewer hangs onto his horns, largely disguising the features of the bull. Mountains appear in the distance to the left and clouds rise behind the bull to the right.
Given that Europa’s name is connected to Europe, it is a subject of various works of art in Europe, which are symbolic of the European Union, which is the union of twenty-seven member states.
There is a sculpture Rapto de Europa (The Rape of Europa) (1989) in Samil in the region of Vigo in north-west Spain by the Spanish sculptor Juan Oliveira Viéitez (1928-2002). It is made of bronze and placed on a stone base, and its dimension is 7 m high. Europa, facing left, is seated on the forepart of a bull, which moves to the left. She holds the European flag, which has a circle of twelve stars.
The sculpture Europa (1997) in Brussels, outside the Justus Lipsius Building, the headquarters of the European Council, is by the French sculptor Léon de Pas (1925-). It is made of copper, steel and bronze. The bull is leaping and Europa is flying above the bull’s back and holds onto his horns. The two figures have a metal framework of copper and steel with bronze plates attached, so that the interior of each figure is visible.
Europa is a name of one of the largest four moons of the planet Jupiter, the other three being Io, Ganymede and Callisto. It was discovered in 1610 independently by the German astronomer, Simon Marius (1573-1625) and the famous Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). The classical names of the moons, following the conventions of the Renaissance, were given by Marius and they are all of mythological figures connected with Zeus, of whom the Roman equivalent is Jupiter. Io, the ancestor of Europa, is referred to above, and Ganymede was Zeus’ cupbearer, while Callisto was a nymph.
The Phoenician princess Europa is thus influential in world culture, far beyond her native Phoenicia, modern day Lebanon. She is an important figure in Greek mythology and is a subject of art from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present. Her name is immortalised in the name of Europe.
Sources:
Bronze coin of Sidon: rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/299450