Transcript Latin via Ovid Chapter 2 Europa et Taurus

Latin via Ovid
Chapter 2
Europa et Taurus
Mythological
Background
Europa est puella Phoenicia.
Phoenicia was a major influence in trade and
commerce throughout the ancient world.
Europa was the daughter of Agenor, the King of
Tyre.
Europa was abducted by Jupiter (Greek god Zeus), who
disguised himself as a white bull. He swam across the
surface of the water to the island of Crete.
Representation of Europa
on a metope from a temple
at Selinus, c. 500 B.C.
Diagram of Greek Doric architecture:
metope in frieze
Illustrations of Classical architecture in our region:
• Corinthian column
with acanthus leaves
• Frieze with griffins
at the Buffalo Museum
of Science
Representations of Europa in Greek classical art:
Representations of Jupiter’s
abduction of Europa on Greek
vase paintings.
Representations of Europa in Roman classical art:
Roman mosaic
of Europa
Representations of Europa in Western art:
Antonio Carracci, 1583-1618: “The Abduction of Europa”
Notice the
garland of
flowers
around the
bull’s neck
King Minos and Minoan civilization
on Crete
King Minos and Minoan civilization
on Crete
• An “eponym” (Greek epi + onuma = name),
adjective = eponymous: a person whose name is
thought to be the source of the name of something
• The ancient civilization on the island of Crete is
eponymous with King Minos, who is the son of
Jupiter (after he transformed himself from the bull
form) and Europa.
• “Minoan” is the name given to the extinct Bronze
Age civilization (3000-1000 B.C.) on Crete by the
archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans
King Minos and Minoan civilization
on Crete
Fresco on a wall of the palace at Knossos on Crete
showing some “bull jumping” ceremony (?).
Details of the myth of the abduction
of Europa by Jupiter
• Europa bore Jupiter three sons: Minos, Rhadamanthys,
and Sarpedon
• Jupiter gave Europa three gifts: a bronze robot, talos,
who guarded the shores of Crete against invaders; a
dog that would never let its prey escape; and a hunting
spear that would always hit its mark (target)
• Jupiter married Europa to the King of Crete, Asterius,
who adopted her children
• Europa’s son Minos was married to the daughter of
Helios, Pasiphae, who bore him children: Ariadne,
Phaedra, and Androgeus
Genealogy of the progeny of Europa
Agenor m. ?
King of Tyre in Phonecia
Asterius* m. Europa m. Zeus
Rhadamanthus Sarpedon
*Asterius adopted Europa’s
children by Jupiter
Ariadne Phaedra
Minos m. Pasiphae m. white
bull
Androgeus
Minotaur
All of Europa’s children, in addition to the Minotaur, are
involved in their own myths, all tragic in outcome.
Minos’ bull: the myth of the Minotaur
• When competing for supremacy in Crete, Minos
claimed that the gods destined him to rule;
• Minos offered a sacrifice to Poseidon and
prayed that a bull might come out of the sea as a
sign that he (Minos) was chosen by the gods to
rule; it did, and he was made King of Crete
• Minos should have sacrificed the bull to
Poseidon to thank him for his help; however,
Minos admired the bull and kept it
The consequences of Minos’ violation of sacred
obligations to the gods
• Poseidon punished Minos
by causing his wife,
Pasiphae, to fall in love
with the bull
• The product of their union
was the monster the
Minotaur (Minos’ bull), a
human man with the head
of a bull (man-eating
monster)
The Labyrinth
• Minos hired Daedalus,
a famous architect, to
build a labyrinth to
hide/ confine the
Minotaur
• In a later myth, the
Greek hero Theseus
kills the Minotaur and
escapes the labyrinth,
aided by Ariadne (a
daughter of Minos)
The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus
• Minos then marooned
Daedalus and his son
Icarus on an island so
that Daedalus could not
reveal the secret of the
labyrinth (how to get in
and back out again)
• Daedalus then created
wings so that he and
his son could fly off the
island
The Myth of Daedalus and Icarus
• Even though Daedalus
warned his son not to fly
too near the sun, Icarus
did not heed his father’s
warning and fell crashing
into the sea
• The myth of Daedalus
and Icarus is a “didactic”
myth—it teaches a
lesson: don’t ignore the
advice of your father !
Minoan civilization
The “Lion Gate” at the
Palace of Knossos on
Crete.
Another view of the “Lion Gate” at the
Minoan palace on Crete
Myth as Symbol
• The abduction of Europa from Phoenicia and her
life on Crete is a symbolic representation of the
transplanting and merging of the culture of the
Near East, through the Minoan and Mycenaean
civilizations, with the culture of Europe and
Western Civilization.
• This incident was “rationalized” by the Greek
historian Herodotus as one of the “historical”
incidents between the Greeks and the Asians
that ultimately led to the Persian Wars.
Minoan and Mycenaean civilization
• Mycenae-a very ancient city on a hill in the north-east
corner of the Plain of Argos in the Peloponnesus on
the mainland of Greece-was inhabited in the third
millennium B.C. by a pre-Hellenic (Greek) population,
akin to that of Minoan Crete;
• there is some mysterious link between these
civilizations, illustrating the “diffusion” (spread) of
culture to remote locations
• The Mycenaean civilization was revealed in 1876
through the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann
Mycenae and Mycenaean
civilization
Mycenae and Mycenaean
civilization
• According to Greek myth, Mycenae was founded
by the legendary (mythic) hero Perseus, and
• subsequently became the kingdom of
Agamemnon (brother of Menelaus)—the leader
of the Greek forces in the Trojan War
This golden death mask of
an Aegean king was found
at the acropolis of
Mycenae. The
archeologist Heinrich
Schliemann referred to it
as the Mask of
Agamemnon.