http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=a52a3c8b-34ea-406c-b2c4-acbcfdd325ed&k=2241
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2.) I don't have much to add about Taurus (to yesterday's entry): I can however say that Europa (the Phoenician princess abducted by Zeus in that tale) gave name to the continent Europe, which means "wide-gazing".
In ancient Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus abducted after assuming the form of a dazzling white bull. He took to the island of Crete where she gave birth to Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. For Homer, Europe (Greek: Εὐρώπη, Eurṓpē; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north.
Etymologically, the dominant theory suggests the name Europe is derived from the Greek roots meaning broad (eur-) and eye (op-, opt-), hence Eurṓpē, "wide-gazing" (compare with glaukōpis (grey-eyed) Athena or boōpis (ox-eyed) Hera). Broad has been an epithet of Earth itself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Etymology
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3.) I can add this for Taurus:
The mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by Hephaestus and three additional gifts: Talos, Laelaps and a javelin that never missed. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars, which is now known as the constellation Taurus. Some readers interpret as manifestations of this same bull the Cretan beast that was encountered by Hercules, the Marathonian Bull slain by Theseus (and that fathered the Minotaur).
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28mythology%29#Abduction
Whoa, ok, I found more.
Sources differ in details regarding Europa's family, but agree that she is Phoenician, and from a lineage that descended from Io, the mythical nymph beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer.
It is generally agreed that she had two brothers, Cadmus, who brought the alphabet to mainland Greece, and Cilix who gave his name to Cilicia in Asia Minor...
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28mythology%29#Family
(And, as a sidenote, since I wasn't entirely sure what Phoenicia was: Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coast of modern day Lebanon, Syria and the geographical area of Palestine with gods such as Baal, mentioned frequently in the Bible as a word meaning, I believe, false idols. See also the map here of Phoenicia's trade routes, including her relation-distance to Greece. From here.)
And so what? See February 24 #3-4. Cadmus was Harmonia's husband.
Io is a character in the Prometheus Unbound play I read by Aeschylus.
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4.) And if we now return to Gemini, there's interesting stuff to read about twins in mythology.
Twins in mythology are often cast as two halves of the same whole, sharing a bond deeper than that of ordinary siblings, or otherwise shown as fierce rivals.
In Greek mythology, twins were thought to be conceived when a woman slept with both a mortal and a god on the same day.
In Greek mythology, Apollo and Artemis are twins, and Apollo was adopted as the sun god with Artemis as the moon goddess. In Xingu mythology of Brazil, the twin brothers Kuat and Iae forced the evil king Urubutsin to give light to the world, and Kuat became the sun with Iae as the moon. In one version of the Egyptian creation myth, the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut were twins. In Persian mythology, the twins Ahriman and Ahura Mazda represent the spirits of good and evil respectively. Cultures with rival twin heroes often follow this pattern of split moral forces. In a myth of several northeastern Native American tribes, Gluskap, the creator god and cultural hero, has to defeat Malsum, his evil twin, who was the ruler of the demons.
In Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux share a bond so strong that when Castor dies, Pollux gives up half of his immortality to be with his brother. This etiological explains why their constellation, the Discoursi or Gemeni, is only seen half the year, as the twins split their time between the underworld and Mount Olympus. In an aboriginal tale, the same constellation represents the twin lizards who created the plantes and animals and saved women from evil spirits.
In many Native American stories, twins are often partners on quests.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_%28mythology%29
Castor and Pollux are the Gemini twins, so let's look at them a bit more:
In Greek mythology the Dioskouroi (Διόσκουροι), Kastor and Polydeukes (Κάστωρ και Πολυδεύκης), in Roman mythology the Gemini (Latin, "twins") or Castores, Castor and Pollux are the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. According to Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, kastor is Greek for "he who excels", and poludeukeis means "very sweet".
These are the twins who are the result of Zeus's seduction of Leda: Leda and the swan. Leda produced an egg and the twins were conceived from the egg. There are varying accounts as to whether they are mortal or immortal.
Castor and Polydeuces abducted the Leucippides ("white horses") Phoebe and Hilaeira, the daughters of Leucippus. When they encountered their analogous twin brothers of Thebes, Idas and "lynx-eyed" Lynceus, bound for revenge, Castor, the mortal brother, fell, and Polydeuces, the immortal twin, survived, yet they were not separated. Polydeuces persuaded Zeus to share his gift with Castor. Accordingly, the two spend alternate days as gods on Olympus, worthy of burnt sacrifice, and as deceased mortals in Hades, whose spirits must be propitiated by libations.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_and_Pollux
It would be interesting to muse on how the zodiacs seem to interact based on the various myths...perhaps this will be done when I've finished posting about the last two: Cancer and Leo.
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5.) Jumping back up, I have decided to post something on Cadmus, to whom I alluded back in February but never actually posted anything.
Cadmus, or Kadmos (Greek: Κάδμος), in Greek mythology, was a Phoenician prince, son of Agenor and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. Cadmus founded the city of Thebes, and its acropolis was originally named Cadmeia in his honor. Cadmus was credited by the Hellenes with the introduction of the Phoenician alphabet, phoinikeia grammata.
After his sister Europa had been carried off by Zeus, Cadmus was sent out to find her, enjoined not to return without her. Unsuccessful in his search, he came to Samothrace and met Elektra's daughter, Harmonia, whom [he] took away as a bride. (Interesting because the other account of which I had written put Harmonia as the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Oh wait, I did mention this on under #2 of February 24 as well.)
He came in the course of his wanderings to Delphi, where he consulted the oracle. He was ordered to give up his quest and follow a special cow, with a half moon on her flank, which would meet him, and to build a town on the spot where she should lie down exhausted. She lay down and there he founded Thebes.
Intending to sacrifice the cow to Athena, Cadmus sent some of his companions to the nearby Castalian Spring, for water. They were slain by the spring's guardian water-dragon (compare the Lernaean Hydra), which was in turn destroyed by Cadmus, the duty of a culture hero of the new order.
By the instructions of Athena, he sowed the Dragon's teeth in the ground, from which there sprang a race of fierce armed men, called Spartes ("sown"). By throwing a stone among them, Cadmus caused them to fall upon one another until only five survived, who assisted him to build the Cadmeia or citadel of Thebes, and became the founders of the noblest families of that city.
The dragon had been sacred to Ares, so the god made Cadmus to do penance for eight years by serving him. According to Theban tellings, it was at the expiration of this period that the gods gave him Harmonia as wife.
At the wedding...all the gods were present; Harmonia received as bridal gifts a peplos worked by Athena and a necklace made by Hephaestus. This necklace, commonly referred to as the Necklace of Harmonia, brought misfortune to all who possessed it. (see previous entry on February 24)
Cadmus was deeply troubled by the ill-fortune which clung to him as a result of his having killed the sacred dragon, and one day he remarked that if the gods were so enamoured of the life of a serpent, he might as well wish that life for himself. Immediately he began to grow scales and change in form. Harmonia, seeing the transformation, thereupon begged the gods to share her husband's fate, and she did.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmus
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