The TAURUS Myth

The bull has been worshipped for centuries all over the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Images of the bull appear frequently throughout history. The Bull Jumpers fresco from the Palace of King Minos at Knossos, Crete, shows an enduring Minoan mystery known as ‘Bull Sports’, although it may be a religious ritual not a sport at all. The bull was sacred to the Minoans. In the famous image, a priestess is vaulting over the charging bull, a figure to the right appears to be on his toes as if jumping and another male figure appears to be completely off the ground and riding on the bull’s horns
Another image frequently seen is that of the Minotaur, a huge monster half man and half bull, imprisoned in The Labyrinth of Knossos and fed on human flesh.
In Atlantis giant black bulls were sacrificed in honour of Poseidon, ruler of the waves. In many stories the bull became the symbol of primitive passion.
One such story tells of the lustful god Zeus. When he escaped the watchful eye of his wife Hera, he often went down to earth, in various guises, to enable him to sleep with mortal women.
One day he saw a beautiful young woman called Europa walking by the seashore with her friends. Knowing he would scare them away if he appeared as a god, he turned himself into a beautiful white bull and slowly wandered towards the group of women. Europa, struck by the gentleness of the creature, began to stroke its head. As her friends drifted away she found herself alone with the beautiful beast. Zeus, still disguised as the bull, knelt down and allowed Europa to climb up onto his broad back.
Zeus had been waiting for this and as the woman settled herself down, he galloped to the waters edge and dived in. With Europa clinging, terrified, to his back Zeus swam on through the vast sea until he reached the island of Crete. Once on shore the god turned back into his true form. Europa was now more scared than she had been when plunging through the waves on the back of a vast white bull!
Zeus put her fears to rest and the two soon became lovers. Over the years Europa bore the god three children.
Zeus found it hard to see his lover as often as he wished as he was forever under the watchful eye of his immortal wife Hera. To remind him of Europa when he was away from her he placed the image of a bull in the heavens to represent the love between them, the beauty of Europa and the strength of a bull, the creature that brought them together.