Europa (consort of Zeus)
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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. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a bull was a 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." The name Europa occurs in the list of daughters of primordial Oceanus and Tethys; the daughter of the earth-giant Tityas and mother of Euphemus by Poseidon, was also named Europa.
Primary sources
- Isidore, Etymologiae xiv.4.1
- Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1.2
- Eusebius, Chronicon, 47.7-10, 25, 53.16-17, 55.4-5
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, 862, translation by A.D. Melville (1986), p.50
- Metamorphoses, ii.833-iii.2, vi.103-107
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