this figure may have been known before the building of the Great Pyramid.
The Persians also were worshippers of the Bull. They designated the successive signs of the zodiac by the letters of the alphabet, and with them A stands for Taurus, B for the Twins, etc., clearly indicating that they considered the Bull the first sign of the zodiac. Reference to the astrological books of the Jews shows that they, too, considered Taurus the leader of the zodiacal signs.
In fact in all the ancient zodiacs that have come down to us Taurus apparently began the year, and it seems to have been regarded as a Bull in all of the ancient Mediterranean countries, and also in countries far distant from Europe, and from the scenes of Hellenic mythology.
The constellation is exceedingly rich in myth and legend. According to Grecian mythology, this is the Bull that carried Europa over the seas to that country which derived from her its name. She was the daughter of Agenor, and, it is said, so beautiful that Jupiter fell in love with her. He assumed the form of a snow-white Bull and mingled with the herds of Agenor. Europa, charmed with the sight of the beautiful creature, had the temerity to sit upon his back. The god took advantage of the situation and carried Europa across the seas to Crete.
In Moschus, translated by Andrew Lang, we read of Jupiter's achievement and of his journeyings with Europa:
The strand he gained and forward he sped like a dolphin, faring with unwetted hooves over the wide waves, and the sea as he came grew smooth, and the sea monsters gambolled around before the feet of Jupiter, and the dolphin rejoiced and rising from the deeps he trembled on the swell of the sea. The Nereids arose out of the salt waters and all of them came on in orderly array, riding on the backs of sea beasts.
Tennyson in his "Palace of Art" thus alludes to Europa:
