I SAY...

I SAY...

Europe: the myth behind the name

In Greek mythology, Europe was the daughter of King Agenor of Sidon. Her divine beauty caught the eye of God Zeus who fell in love with her. So, one shinny day that Europe with other maidens were walking by the sea , Zeus appeared as a white bull. All girls got excited and wanted to pet the beautiful animal.

Surprising them though, the white bull laid down in front of Europe who slid onto his back.

Unexpectedly, Zeus moved towards to the sea and soon Triton blowing his horn and Nereids riding dolphins joined them.

Zeus took the beautiful princess to Crete where he was raised and there, he revealed his divine identity.
Europe gave him three sons: Minos,Rhamadanthys and Sarpedon .

NOTE: "According to Arnold Toynbee, the original continental distinction was devised by ancient Greek mariners, who gave the names Europe and Asia to the lands on either side of the complex interior waterway running from the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, the Black Sea, and the Kerch Strait before reaching the Sea of Azov. This water passage became the core of a continental system when the earliest Greek philosophers, the Ionians of Miletus, designated it as the boundary between the two great landmasses of their world. Somewhat later, Libya (or Africa) was added to form a three-continent scheme. Not surprisingly, the Aegean Sea lay at the heart of the Greek conception of the globe; Asia essentially denoted those lands to its east, Europe those lands to its west and north, and Libya those lands to the south". MARTIN W. LEWIS and KAREN E. WIGEN "The Myth of Continents- A Critique of Metageography" University of California Press