Europa and the bull

3rd Primary School of Egaleo “Nikolaos Politis”

City Twinners Comenius Project 2012-2014 The Athens Meeting 17-21 April 2013

Europa and the bull The long artful journey of a myth in time and place

The myth of Europa Starting off as a mortal woman in Greek Mythology, Europa became immortal after her name was given to the continent.

According to the myth, Europa was a beautiful Phoenician princess.

Europa had a dream one night: two women (actually two continents) were arguing. One of them, Asia, believed that Europa belonged to Asia, since she was born there. The other one with no name - Europe - said Zeus would give the name to her.

Some other day, Zeus, the father of Gods and men, saw Europa among other young women and he was so struck by her beauty and her charms that he, known as a God with many love affairs, decided to abduct her and take her for himself.

The myth of Europa So, Zeus turned himself into a white bull and swam to the shore of Asia. The bull was so pretty and gentle that all women at the shore fell for him. But he bent in front of Europa offering her his back to ride. She mounted on his back and the bull took her from Phoenicia, across the sea, to Crete, to Dikteon Andron, the cave where he was born. That is where he showed his real identity to Europa.

Zeus gave Europa the finest presents: Talos (a man of bronze - the guard of Crete) Laelaps (a hunting dog) and a magic javelin that could always hit the focused target.

Europa bore three sons of Zeus (Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon), who all became judges of the Underworld.

When Zeus’ interest passed, he arranged Europa’s marriage to Asterion, the king of stars. And that bull, that seduced Europa, was eventually turned into the constellation of Taurus.

The myth of Europa has been a theme of many artistic presentations throughout the centuries across Europe.

Let’s have a look…

Ancient Times

Statuette of Beotia (550-500 BC) Louvre Museum, France

Metope from Temple (510-550BC) Archaeological Museum, Palermo, Italy

Black-figure hydria (540-530 BC) Louvre Museum, France

Europa and the bull on a Greek vase (480 BC) Tarquinia Museum, Italy

Europa and the bull Terracotta group from Athens (480–460 BC) National Antiquity Collection, Munich, Germany

Coin from Cyprus (4th century BC)

Red Figure Shape Cylix (330 - 320 BC ) Kunst Historical Museum, Vienna, Austria

Europa riding the bull Fresco from Pompeii (1st century AD) Naples, National Archaeological Museum, Italy

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“The Rape of Europa” (1470) Liberale Da Verona, Louvre, France

Andrea Riccio “Rape of Europa” (1510), Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary

“The Rape of Europa” Antonio Carracci (1610), National Gallery, Bologna, Italy

“The Rape of Europa” Hendrik van Balen (1615) Belgium

“The Abduction of Europa”, Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch painter, 1632)

“The Rape of Europa”, Guido Reni (made for King Wladislaw of Poland), 1640

“ Europa and the bull”, Claude Lorrain (1667) Royal Collection, London, UK

“Europa: a new, accurate description” (part of an old map), Frederick de Wit (1700), The Netherlands

“The Rape of Europa” Francesco Zuccarelli (1740-50) Academia Gallery, Venice, Italy

“Allegory over Europe”, Nicolai Abildgaard (1780) , The Amalienborg Museum, Denmark

Palace of the Marqueses de Tango (18th century), Lisbon, Portugal

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“Europa riding the bull”, (19th century), Palace of Luxembourg, France

“Europa”, George Frederic Watts ( 1870), UK

“The Rape of Europa”, Paul Gaughin (1898-99) French

Carl Milles (born in Sweden), “Europa and the Bull� (1929)

“The Rape of Europa”, Pablo Picasso (1930), Spain

Jacques Lipchitz (born in Lithuania), “The Rape of Europa” (1941)

“Europa�, Svetlin Vassilev (Bulgarian, 2007)

“Europa and the Bull�, Oliver Priebe, Germany, (2009)

“Zeus and Europa”, Roy Tappenden, UK

Kenneth Zammit Tabona “The Rape of Europa”, Malta

“Europa’s escape”, Sally Fryer, UK

“ The Rape of Europa�, brass monument, N. Koundouros, N. Sotiriadis, P. Sotiriadis, Crete, Greece

Europa riding the Bull, Headquarters of the Council of the European Union, Brussels, Belgium “The Rape of Europa”, Hague, The Netherlands

Europa statue – in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France

“Europa and the bull”, Eric Claus, The Netherlands

“Europa on the bull” (1998), Jits Bakker, Museum Centre of Turku, Finland

“Europa”, ceramic, Ivan Hodonsky, Czech Republic

“The Rape of Europa”, sculpture, Rumen Mihaylov, Bulgaria

20th century porcelain statuette, Hungary

“Europa and the Bull”, Anthony Caro, UK

19th century porcelain statuette, France

The myth of Europa in stamps

‌in coins and banknotes The 5 German Mark banknote in 1948

The German ECU coin (before the Euro) in 1992

The Greek 2 Euro coin

…and in rugs

Designed and hooked by Jule Marie Smith

Music theme by Eleni Karaindrou for the film of Teo Aggelopoulos “Eternity and a Day”