The lady and the bull

This female figure was previously thought to be Aphrodite-Astarte (the eastern equivalent of the Greek goddess of love). However, the imagery of a woman being carried away by a bull bears a suspicious resemblance to the myth of Europa, with whom the figure is now identified. Lacroix, L. (1974). “Deux traversées miraculeuses sur les monnaies de Marion en Chypre”, _Études d’archéologie numismatique. Paris and Lyon, 53-65 and Markou, E. “Αναπαραστάσεις αρχαίων μύθων στα νομίσματα των βασιλέων της Κύπρου”, in Σ. Ευθυμιάδης and Α.Κ. Πετρίδης (2015) (eds.) Μυθοπλασίες. Χρήση και Πρόσληψη των Αρχαίων Ελληνικών Μύθων από την αρχαιότητα μέχρι σήμερα. Athens: Ίων, 149-172.

Europa was the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor. She was so beautiful that Zeus fell in love with her and transformed himself into a bull to seduce her. When the young maiden approached the bull, Zeus abducted her and, swimming through the Mediterranean, brought her to Crete, where she became a queen.

This mythological scene is depicted in a series of objects of the classical period, such as temples (Fig.1) and figurines (Fig.2). Cretan coins from Gortyn of the middle 5th century BCE (480-430) also contain the same image (Fig.3), indicating the popularity of the myth around that period.

But why did Stasioikos choose this particular scene from the rich world of Greek mythology? Why not Achilles or Hercules, or another god? It is possible that both the Cyrpiots and the Cretans felt a close connection with the traveling Europa. Cyprus was part of her journey from Phoenicia to the continent that would take her name, and Crete was the final destination of her journey. By depicting her in their coinage, they emphasized their role in the story of the figure that was meant to become the “ancestor” of modern Europe.