One Europe: The Dream of Unity : The Enigma of Europe’s Symbol
Europe is traditionally portrayed as a magnificently dressed woman with helmet, scepter and a cornucopia. The symbol is rooted in antiquity.
The mythical goddess who gave her name to the Continent was called Europa. According to legend, she was the daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. She was wooed by Jupiter, the chief deity of Roman mythology (Zeus in Greek mythology), who tricked her by assuming the form of a magnificent white bull, then carried her away on his back to a land that he gallantly named in her honor. The land that first bore her name is what became Crete.
Phoenecia was on the sun-bathed coast at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, site of present-day Lebanon and Syria. Thus, Europe’s “mascot” actually came from the Mideast. Contemporary Europeans often seem baffled by Europa. As often as not, cartoonists there identify the bull, not the goddess, as Europa when they satirize efforts to unite the Continent.
SOURCES: “Place-Names of the World”; “Myths of Greece and Rome”; Encyclopedia Britanica
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