Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

Marriage of the Sun and Moon in Crete 539

her to Crete. The rest of the Phoenicians gave me the same story—and indeed
the coinage in use at Sidon shows Europe seated on the bull Zeus,—but they do
not allow that the temple is that of Europe V

Coppers of Sidon from c. 174 B.C. onwards exhibit the type in
question (fig. 411)'2, but in no way confirm the
identification of Europe with the moon3. A
later rationalising account in Ioannes Malalas
states that at Tyre the rape of Europe was
commemorated in the evening, which would at
least suit a lunar connexion:

' Tauros king" of Crete attacked the city of Tyre and,
after winning a sea-fight, captured it in the evening. He
spoiled the place and took many prisoners, among them Europe, daughter of the
king Agenor. Ag'enor and his sons were away on the frontier fighting ; where-
fore Tauros king of Crete made a sudden attack by sea. To this day the
Tyrians commemorate that evening calling it Kake Opsine, " Evil Gloaming."
Tauros carried off Europe to his own country, and, since she was a virgin and
comely withal, took her to wife. Moreover, he called those parts Europe after
her4.'

Again, Phoenician and lunar elements are discernible in the
myth that associates Europe with the founding of Thebes5. The
scholiast on the Iliad*, who cites as his sources the Boiotiaka of
Hellanikos7 and the Bibliotheke of Apollodoros8, tells the tale as
follows:

'Boiotia used to be called Aonia from the Aones, who dwelt there. Its name
was changed to Boiotia, according to some, by reason of Boiotos the son of
Poseidon and Arne, according to others, by reason of the cow driven by Kadmos
at the bidding of the Pythian oracle. For, when Europe, the daughter of
Phoinix, was carried off from Sidon by Zeus, Kadmos her brother was sent by
her father in quest of her. Having failed to find her, he repaired to Delphoi to
consult the god. The god bade him trouble no more about Europe but take as

1 Loukian. de dea Syr. 4.

2 Brit. Mus. Cat. Coins Phoenicia p. cvii f. and p. 316 Index. I figure the reverse
of a copper, struck by Elagabalos, in my collection : A P | SI DON | COLMET -
Aurelia Pia \ Sidon \ Colonia Metropolis. This coin ingeniously suggests that the bull
is about to cross the sea by putting a short ground-line beneath his hind-legs.

3 K. Hoeck Kreta Gottingen 1823 i. 93, 96 interprets the crescent-shaped veil of
Europe as a lunar trait. But see L. Stephani in the Compte-rendu St. Pit. 1866 p. 125 f.
Id. id. p. 105 notes also that the comparison of the bull's horns with the horns of the
moon, though emphasised in literature (Mosch. 2. 87 f., Ach. Tat. 2. 15), is never
brought out in art.

4 Io. Malal. chron. 2 p. 30 f. Dindorf.

5 On the connexion of Europe with Kadmos see O. Crusius in Roscher Lex. Myth. ii.
824 ff., C. W. Vollgraff De Ovidi ftiythopoeia Berolini 1901 pp. 61—80, Gruppe Myth.
Lit. 1908 p. 537 f.

6 Schol. //. 2. 494.

7 Hellanik. frag. 8 [Frag. hist. Gr. i. 46 f. Muller).

8 Apollod. 3. 4. 1 f. . .