Ancient Scene of Mosaic Art-1

Europa & Zeus

Hatay Archaeological Museum / Antakya.

Europa, son of Poseidon and Libya, daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor, won the love of Zeus, the god of gods, and gained an immortal reputation, giving her name to an entire continent. One day Europa gathered with her girlfriends and went to the flower field by the sea. One spring morning, Zeus was sitting in his palace in the sky, lazily observing the earth, when his eyes suddenly fell on Europa, who was very interesting to him.

Sparta Archaeological Museum / Roman Imperial Period.

Zeus could not stand it when he saw her, and in fear of Hera, he disguised himself as a beautiful and attractive bull and approached Europa. When Europa saw the bull, she could not stand it and came to him. She loved and caressed him. Immediately the bull bent down. It was as if he wanted Europa to ride on his back. Europa, smiling, sat on the bull's back. Zeus then kidnapped her to the island of Crete and they got together. They had three children from this union; Minos, Sarpedon, Rhadamanthys. Minos started the Minoan Civilisation by ruling the island of Crete. Sarpedon becomes the king of Lycia. Rhadamanthys becomes a judge in the underworld after his death.

Bibliography;

-M.D. Dunbabin, Katherine, “ Mosaics of the Greek and Roman World “, Cambridge University press, 1999.

- Sander, Loma, “ Encyclopedia of Mosaic Art “, The English Press, 2012.

-Erat, Azra, “ Mitoloji Sözlüğü “, Remzi Kitabevi, 2019.