Europa (consort of Zeus)

Europa
Europa on the back of Zeus turned into a bull. A fresco at Pompeii, contemporaneous with Ovid.
AbodeCrete
Genealogy
Born
Tyre, Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon)
ParentsAgenor with either Telephassa or Argiope; alternatively Phoenix and Perimede
SiblingsCadmus, Cilix, Phoenix
ConsortAsterion, Zeus
ChildrenMinos, Rhadamanthys, Sarpedon, Crete, Alagonia, Carnus

In Greek mythology, Europa (/jʊəˈrpə, jə-/; Ancient Greek: Εὐρώπη, Eurṓpē, Attic Greek pronunciation: [eu̯.rɔ̌ː.pɛː]) was a Phoenician princess from Tyre and the mother of King Minos of Crete. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a bull was a Cretan story.

An early reference to Europa is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, discovered at Oxyrhynchus. The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa dates from the mid-7th century BC.