Originally posted to Shrubbery, 25 Oct 2003
Taurus, the second zodiacal constellation, has been seen as a bull by many ancient civilisations. The Greeks were no exception, and since I've been using mostly Greek stories for the zodiac so far I'll stick with them.
One story tells that the bull was put in the sky to act as a challenger for the bored Orion. Another mention of Taurus concerns Europa.
Europa was the beautiful (aren't they all in these stories?) daughter of King Agenor of Tyros. The god Zeus caught a glimpse of her and (as usual) fell in love.
One day when Europa was walking along the shore with a group of her friends and attendants, Zeus appeared amongst them in the guise of a magnificent white bull. The others ran away, but the bull appeared so tame to Europa that she went up to pet it. Suddenly she found her hands stuck to the bull's horns. Zeus ran straight into the sea and swam at high speed with the terrified girl unable to get off of his back.
When they reached the island of Crete Zeus transformed back into his normal shape and confessed his love for Europa. Together they had three children (Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys) who each had significant stories of their own. I might tell them one of these days...
Before Zeus left her, he gave Europa three gifts: the bronze man, Talos, to act as a guardian; a dog, Laelaps, which could bring down any quarry; and a javelin which never missed any target. Europa later married Asterion, King of Crete, who accepted her children as his own.
By the way, when Europa disappeared her father sent his sons to find her, telling them not to return without their sister. As it was an impossible task, the three brothers became exiles. Cadmus founded Thebes, Phoenix founded Phoenicia, and Cilix founded Cilicia.
According to some stories, Zeus ran all over the continent of Europe (as the bull) with Europa on his back. The continent was later named for her.
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