R O B E R T S . P. B E E K E S KADMOS AND EUROPA, AND THE PHOENICIANS 1 . The discussion in Der Neue Pauly ( b y K . Meister) o f the P h o e ¬ nicia-problem o f the Kadmos-story is quite inadequate. Especially a mere reference to Edwards' monography on Kadmos the P h o e n i ¬ cian i s i n s u f f i c i e n t to settle the matter. ( V i a n interprets the story o f Kadmos as containing traces o f an Indo-European tripartite society. A s I do not b e l i e v e in Dumézil's theories on this point, I shall not discuss them.) 2. Kadmos and Europa The story o f Europa i s quite straightforward: While she was on the shore with her companions, Zeus approached her in the shape o f a bull. S h e mounted the bull, it went into the s e a and took her to Crete. There it mated with her. The children were Minos and Rhadaman- thys. Afterwards she married king Asterios. There i s in her story nothing about Kadmos. He would have gone to continental Greece, not to Crete, to search f o r her. And so he did not find her and instead founded Thebes. He would have been her uncle. S o there i s no story about his search: it i s only said that he went the wrong way and did not find her. It i s clear, then, that there was no (story o f the) search. It would have been a story that did not begin. S o it becomes clear that Kadmos' adventures were only later linked to the story o f Europa, and that originally he had nothing to do with her. This means that his connection with Europa cannot be u s e d as an argument to show that Kadmos came f r o m Phoenicia. Also there is a story parallel to that of Europa, the story of queen Pasiphae. This makes clear that it was expected that the queen 'mar¬ ried' the supreme god, in the shape of a bull. The cult of the bull was essential in Crete – one need only think of the ceremonial games, sports around the bull. The conclusion is that the story of Europa is a typically Cretan story, which has nothing to do with Phoenicia. Kadmos B d . 43, S . 167–184 © W A L T E R D E G R U Y T E R 2004 ISSN 0022-7498 Brought to you by | Universiteit Leiden / LUMC Authenticated Download Date | 4/26/18 5:45 PM 168 Robert Beekes Further, the name o f Europa i s remiscent o f names beginning with Εύ$ωπ- or Εύ$οπ-, found in Greece north o f the G u l f o f Corinth. This name cannot b e Indo-European, and as it i s well established i n northern Greece, must be o f Pre-Greek origin. (The word cannot contain εύ$υ-, o f which the second -υ- would have been preserved.) On these names s e e Sommer 1937,185 n. and 2 5 5 f f . (Krahe's Balkan- i l l y r i s c h e geographische Namen 7 3 f . i s i n s u f f i c i e n t ; s e e B e e k e s 1995/6, 18–21). There are two towns called Eurōpos i n Macedonia (one in Almōpia) and a third on the Peneios ( s e e the map in Ninck 1946, 16); there i s a river Eurōpos (that f l o w s into the Peneios; Ninck 17).1 C f . further the Κασσωποί. It has been suspected that she was a supernatural being, perhaps an earth goddess ( B e r v e 1966, 468). This i s rather uncertain, as our data are very meagre. However, they make it clear that she was not merely a human being. We find a Demeter Europia and a Hera Europia (Ninck 1946, 17). It i s told that Europe was hidden b y Zeus i n a grotto near Teumessos, east o f Thebes (id. 17). L e s s clear Buhler 1968, 4 4 f . The conclusion i s clear: Europa was an old, supernatural figure in Greece, a goddess or semi-goddess, probably o f Pre-Greek date. And her story fits completely with what we know o f Crete. There i s no basis f o r a Phoenician origin. S e v e r a l things remain unclear, however. First, we do not know what exactly she was. Then, her provenance i s uncertain. S h e seems at home north o f the Corinthian G u l f . How she came to be associated with Crete i s not known. P e r ¬ haps she was a Pre-Greek figure which was also venerated in Crete. I am very sceptical about theories on peoples moving to Crete. In spite o f the unanswered questions, however, it remains clear enough that she was a Greek, rather a Pre-Greek figure which had nothing to do with Phoenicia. A s to the question how Europa came to be associated with P h o e ¬ nicia, I think that it i s not too d i f f i c u l t to imagine a possible origin. Her father was called Phoenix i n Homer (Ξ 321), which may have been one reason to suppose a Phoenician origin. Then, the question may have arisen from where she came, carried b y the bull. I f one imagines a shore from where she could have come, one may think o f Greece, or Anatolia, Phoenicia, or Egypt. The connections o f P h o e ¬ nicians with Crete, which have been demonstrated b y archaeology, 1 Dura-Eurōpos in Syria, well known from the excavations, got its name when the town was re-founded by Seleukos Nikator in 280, from the Macedonian Eurōpos (Ninck 1946, 251 note 17: 1). Brought to you by | Universiteit Leiden / LUMC Authenticated Download Date | 4/26/18 5:45 PM Kadmos and Europa, and the Phoenicians 169 may have been a factor that made it natural f o r Greeks/Cretans to think o f Phoenicia. ( I n fact, o f course, it i s hardly possible to assume a Phoenician origin, or how did she come to Crete; f e w shall b e w i l l ¬ ing to consider the possibility, suggested in Antiquity, that she was abducted f r o m there.) Returning to Kadmos, we conclude that the connection with Europa was not original, and that Europa did not come f r o m Phoenicia. A s to Kadmos and Europa, I would keep open the possibility that they were associated because both would have l i v e d in Boeotia. B u t this cannot b e verified. 3. The continent Europa The name f o r the continent was originally also a country i n M a c e d o ¬ nia; Hdt. 6, 43; 7, 8 β1. I n hAp. 251, 291, it i s Central Greece. This fits exactly with the origin o f the names with -ωπ/οπ-. It is, then, a Pre-Greek name, the name o f a country. A direct connection with the goddess Europa does not s e e m to exist (though it i s possible that the name, o f which the meaning i s unknown to us, was ultimately the same). It i s improbable, then, that the word had a S e m i t i c etymology. On names o f countries i n -η s e e Sommer 1937,254.2 S e e Ninck 1946, 17–19 (who still tries an I E etymology).3 ( V e r y daring speculations in Andrews 1969.) Iustinus writes that east o f the Thracian mountains, i n Europe, a king Europs ruled (Iust. VII. 1). Ammianus Marcellinus puts the Roman province o f Europe south o f Constantinopel, on the S e a o f Marmara, with the town o f Perinthos (XXVII. 4. 12).4 In Byzantine times there was a diocese Europa on the eastern coast o f Thracia. ( S e e Gommers 32, without reference.) 4. West's alternative The idea that the hero Kadmos was secondarily derived f r o m Kad- meioi/Kadmeia i s quite possible. The idea has been advanced earlier; s e e Edwards 1979, 188. The last to do so was M. L. West (1997, 448ff.). He explains Kadmeioi from Qadmiyūma(‘peoples o f the east’, Ugaritic qdmym) or *Qadmiyyîm( a plural, I think, but West does not indicate what form it is). The words would mean either 'the men f r o m the east' or 'the men o f old'. He then argues that Phoeni- 2 The gloss Εύ$ώπη χώ$α της δύσεως H. i s understandable ( i t has the addition η σ$οτεινή); a second gloss εύ$ωπις η πατ$ίς H. i s called obscurum b y Latte. 3 The idea o f the European Union to take Europa on the bull, generally known as a Phoenician princess, as a symbol f o r the union, was not a happy one. 4 This Europa is indicated on the (second) map XII of Kiepert.