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Europa in Greek mythology

 

Europa was a pretty daughter of Agenor – a lord of the Phoenician town Sidon. Zeus (Dzeus), master of Olympus and the most important god of Greek Pantheon, fell in love with her. Because he wanted to capture her heart, he changed into a snow-white bull and arrived at the meadow where Europa was playing with her playmates. Zeus ruined her with his gentleness, mildness and caused her to sit at his back. Then Zeus ran to the bank of a sea, swam across the sea and arrived to a cave at the Crete where he threw the beautiful princess into prison.

Europa settled at the Crete and gave birth to two sons – Minos and Radamanthys (some sources mention a third son – Sarpedon). Some time later Europa married a king of the Crete – Asterios, who adopted her sons. Greek gods, to commemorate those events, put a shape of a bull at a horizon. The Taurus constellation is a decoration of winter sky.