Final Paper

Christian and Other Trad-
itions
I was enchanted from the very beginning of Calasso’s, The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, as the story started with Europa being abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull, who then takes her to Crete. The entire first chapter then jumped between stories of similar abductions of Europa’s ancestors and descendents, with the image of the bull or heifer weaved into all of it. Knowing that Greek mythology has more references to this symbol, and I being puzzled with the concept of the massive importance of the bull, wanted to research and find what exactly these are and why it meant so much to the Greeks.
Io seems to be at the beginning of this tradition, the cow/bull link of myths. Zeus took Io as a lover, and keep Hera from discovering this, he turned Io into a heifer. Eventually Hera found out and sent a gad-fly to sting her. This sent the heifer, running, crazed to wonder across the world, and one day as Zeus promised, she was changed back into her human form and birthed generations including the famed Europa and her children, and eventually Hercules who would free Prometheus.
Europa being born away into the foaming waves a straddle a milky white bull is a beautiful image, though of course she is being abducted by Zeus who intends to rape her. It is her destiny, it’s in her blood and deeply ingrained as a constant theme in Greek mythology. Europa becomes queen of Crete and eventually her story is turned into the constellation, Taurus. This genealogy of obsession with the bull, Io, Europa, Pasiphea etc. it particularly fascinating.
Directly from Calasso comes the particularly interesting story about Pasiphea, Europa’s granddaughter. King Minos is punished by the Gods for not remaining faithful to his word. They make his wife, Pasiphea fall in love with a bull and she has a contraption built in which she can approach the beast. She couples with the bull and gives birth to Asterias, known as the Minotaur (later killed by Theseus), who has the body of a man and a bulls head. The Minotaur and the maze has always been a story that I found mystical and entertaining.
The roots of the bull myth spread throughout varied ancient cultures. In Egyptian myth, the bull-god Min was around before the bull cult of Crete. Min is a god of fertility and sexuality, often portrayed as a man with an erect penis, and with often the symbol of an arrow, or holding a V shaped flail (outstretched arm thrusting into its center, symbolizing sex). He was known as a creative god with a destructive side, and to hold him apart from other fertility gods, he was mainly a symbol of male fertility. Min was later portrayed as a great white bull, a sacred animal representing fertility.
“... Min, Bull of the Great Phallus,...You are the Great Male, the owner of all females.The Bull who is unites with those of the sweet love, of beautiful face and of painted eyes,Victorious sovereign among the Gods who inspires fear in the Ennead....The goddesses are glad, seeing your perfection.”
(-- Hymn to Min
Min was not the only bull god, there was also Apis and other representations, the bull was a common and flexible symbol.
El was the bull god of the Canaanites, and the Hittites had one as well. In fact the bull god symbolizing strength and fertility was used all over the middle eastern regions, Africa and India during this time. Calf and bull cults were numerous and varied, drawing from the words of the bible and from the importance of the animal to the civilization. In Babylonia, bulls were a constant symbol, and their statues would guard the entrances of important or religious buildings. A paradox, the bible outlawed the bull worshipping, mostly because of the sexual activities involved, and these cults were hunted down, and many destroyed.
In ancient Rome, the people used bulls blood to baptize during rituals (instead of the Christian water baptizing). They sometimes drank the blood as well, it was a process of purification and eternal birth and rebirth, similar to the Christian reasons for baptism having probably been birthed from the same traditions.
These are only a few the examples of the variety of cultures and religions in which the bull is present. Another link that I found was interesting was the one between the actual story of Europa and a possible cousin of this myth in the Christian tradition:

Europa, according to one tradition, was the Great Goddess as mother of the continent of Europe. This is where prophecy fits in. Turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 17, verse 2. Here we are told about a great whore who sat upon many waters and in verse 3 she also sat upon a scarlet colored beast. It may well be that what is meant is that she sat on the beast on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in similitude to Europa.
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I was surprised by this story, that this theme is in both Greek and Christian traditions. Of course, the Christian tradition interprets it a bit differently than does the Greek, but it is clear that their roots are connected.
The symbol of the bull is spread through many traditions; biblical, Greek, roman, and all across the board during this ancient time period. It is miraculous as well as meaningful that is should be thus, cattle being such a main food source as well as providing skins and ritual blood. I am fascinated by this close correlation between the biblical peoples and the Greek tradition and how there roots seems to have sprung from the exact same place, which is probably correct. I would love to research this even further, and will to discover how the two traditions intertwine with this concept.