The myth of the Abduction of Europa: Its African, Cretan and Iberian bases

The myth of The Abduction or Rape of Europa tells that a Middle East aristocrat (princess) was abducted by Zeus (gods father in Greek mythology) disguised as a white bull. The Bull-Zeus took Europa to Crete (Zeus birth place) and Europa became as the the first Creta Queen. Minos was one of the Zeus and Europa sons. He was a legendary Cretan King who kept the Minotaur a monster man with a bull head in a labyrinth. Some authors maintain that the Minotaur was a direct son of Europa and the Bull-Zeus. Crete was imposing Athens to offer young people that were left in the labyrinth and eaten by the Minotaur. Finally, Theseus, founder of Athens and Attica killed the Minotaur and freed Athens from being submitted. On the other hand, Cretan Lineal B was later discovered as Greek language; Cretan Lineal A (Minoan) is possible a Lineal B and Greek language precursor. Also, laws from Crete were taken to continental Sparta by Lycurgus. Crete genetics and bull culture are closer to Iberians than to other Europeans. This Europa myth was very popular all along classical Mediterraneans. We interpret this myth as the Saharan people climate displacement which carried out cultural elements (lineal writings, usko-mediterranean languages) to Europe, mainly coming through Crete and Iberia, both of them having many prehistoric bounds with North Africans in language, genetics and cultural manifestations.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Modern Anthropology
Published
2025-02-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4314/ijma.v3i22.3
Primary Topic
Classical Antiquity Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

The myth of the Abduction of Europa: Its African, Cretan and Iberian bases

Ignacio Juárez, Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, Christian Vaquero‐Yuste, Fabio Suárez‐Trujillo et al.
International Journal of Modern Anthropology
Classical Antiquity Studies
article

The myth of the Abduction of Europa: Its African, Cretan and Iberian bases

Ignacio Juárez, Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, Christian Vaquero‐Yuste, Fabio Suárez‐Trujillo, Tomás Lledo, Valentín Ruiz-del-Valle
article en

Abstract

The myth of The Abduction or Rape of Europa tells that a Middle East aristocrat (princess) was abducted by Zeus (gods father in Greek mythology) disguised as a white bull. The Bull-Zeus took Europa to Crete (Zeus birth place) and Europa became as the the first Creta Queen. Minos was one of the Zeus and Europa sons. He was a legendary Cretan King who kept the Minotaur a monster man with a bull head in a labyrinth. Some authors maintain that the Minotaur was a direct son of Europa and the Bull-Zeus. Crete was imposing Athens to offer young people that were left in the labyrinth and eaten by the Minotaur. Finally, Theseus, founder of Athens and Attica killed the Minotaur and freed Athens from being submitted. On the other hand, Cretan Lineal B was later discovered as Greek language; Cretan Lineal A (Minoan) is possible a Lineal B and Greek language precursor. Also, laws from Crete were taken to continental Sparta by Lycurgus. Crete genetics and bull culture are closer to Iberians than to other Europeans. This Europa myth was very popular all along classical Mediterraneans. We interpret this myth as the Saharan people climate displacement which carried out cultural elements (lineal writings, usko-mediterranean languages) to Europe, mainly coming through Crete and Iberia, both of them having many prehistoric bounds with North Africans in language, genetics and cultural manifestations.

International Journal of Modern AnthropologyVol. 3(22)
Openalex Percentile: Top 96%
Classical Antiquity Studies
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