Europa (mythology)

Europa (mythology), in Greek mythology, daughter of Agenor, the Phoenician king of Tyre, and sister of Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes. One morning, when Europa was gathering flowers by the seashore, the god Zeus saw her and fell in love with her. Assuming the guise of a beautiful chestnut-coloured bull, he appeared before her and enticed her to climb on to his back. He then sped away with her across the ocean to the island of Crete. Among the sons she bore him were Minos and Rhadamanthus, both of whom became judges of the dead. The abduction of Europa has been the subject of many paintings, including The Rape of Europa by the Italian painter Titian.