ReExamining Cretian Myths Before the Hellenized Greeks.
When most people think of myths about Crete, two pop into your head. First, the Minotaur, and second Europa. And there are more where you forget that the story actually happens on Crete, like Icarus and his wings, or Zeus’s first wife Metis was an Oceanide of Crete.
So, let’s start with Europa because she’s the mother of Europe, right? Europa is picking daisies in Phoenician Sidon or something, because what else do maidens do? Along comes licentious Zeus, disguised as a beautiful white bull. Overcome by his beauty (and saffron breath) Europa jumps on his back and rides him into the ocean. Zeus has his way with her, carries her to Crete and then dumps her pregnant with triplets (because his sperm is that potent) into the hands of King Asterion. (No no. Not Asterion the Minotaur.)
The rest is less well known. Asterion marries Europa, has no kids of his own with her (apparently), and then names her “son” Minos as King. The hercules-like brother whose name has been lost to obscurity (not really), may have been upset… but Minos killed him later when he became popular. Sarpedon ended up showing his disdain by revolting with Mileus, probably some prince relation, then got banished and booted from the island, relocating to the East on the Turkish coast (Milateaus/Lycian).
But, upon reexamination, all of this is rather suspicious, like it’s been washed over by bull(shit).
Let’s first look at Asterion’s name. In the Levant region of the world, there exists the cult of Astar. Who’s Astar? Well, it’s Ishtar pronounced in a different tongue, one that’s not Akkadian or Babylonian. You know, Ishtar, goddess of war and pleasure, who sent the Bull of Heaven to kick Gilgamesh’s butt for refusing to be her husband? Yes. That Istar, but Astar, of Astarte.
The cult of Astar was everywhere in the bronze age, though with slight changes to her name depending on the accent of the people in each region and their alphabet. (IE If you were to dictate the word “car” to me, depending on what US coast you’re from, I might right “cah” or “carr”.) In fact, in Phoenician Sidon, there was once an Astarte temple dedicated to Europa that claimed Europa came from there. Astar’s symbols and stories varied depending on the region. Some symbolized her as an up-facing crescent (for the bull horns, though it can be mistaken for a moon). Others symbolized her as a star, placing her on heads of ships to guide them at night because she was the evening star and the morning star (which is Venus by the way… OH! Isn’t Venus the goddess of passion?)
But Astar had two sides to her, since she appeared in the evening, disappeared, then reappeared in the morning. Some thought she was a different star, but they didn’t know their astronomy like the ancient Akkadians. The evening is for pleasure, obviously. The morning is for planning your battle strategy. And these two male and female sides united under Astar in the form of Asterion for male and Astaria for female.
Her other symbol is the bull, a creature both wild and tame. Bulls (or probably an ancient form of the oxe that died out) helped plow fields. During that time, generals often placed their army in the shape of bull horns (with chariots on the horn tips, spearmen in the middle). In one story, Astar’s first mortal husband was transformed into a bull, and then killed by an enemy (more on Astar’s husband later). Another Astar cult allegedly had Astar’s priestesses sacrifice a bull, drink its blood (mmmm red bull energy comes from somewhere), then place the bull’s head on the priestess to assume the bull’s power…
Oh hey… that sounds familiar! Where’s that “monster” with a bull head from again?
Later… later.
Back to Europa’s husband Asterion. Wait. Asterion? Isn’t that… YES!
SO, based on names like Asterion and the Cult of Astar widespread throughout the Levant region (where Europa evidently came from), I’d like to speculate that King Asterion is not necessarily a name, but a position, a priest of Astar. (Hence, Asterion is both the founding “King” of Crete as well as the name of the monstrous minotaur.)
And also, Zeus had nothing to do with it. Somebody else added Zeus later to subjugate the Minoans, because why would “King” Asterion (whose named after a god) accept Europa’s children to rule instead of his own? This could have been Myceaneans, or an even later construct by the Hellenistic Greeks because Zeus meant zilch in the bronze age according to the lack of his name mentioned in Linear B. Back in the Bronze age, according to Linear B, there wasn’t the huge pantheon of gods mentioned in their records. There were about six or so, and, to a seafaring culture, obviously Poseidon took priority. (More on the adding/merging of gods later.)
Additionally, as is the case of Kings during the bronze age, if producing “Zeus’s” triplets literally broke Europa’s uterus, then why didn’t Asterion take another wife to produce children by? Well, perhaps Europa was a freakin’ badass… Or perhaps Europa was the priestess of Astar, which means she took “Asterion” the god as her husband.
More to come:
- Was King Minos a position for a Queen rather than a name?
- Crete’s Island Culture dominated by women (because the men sailed away)
- Crete’s badass ladies the root of monogamous King culture?
- Theseus, The A-hole, versus Asterion, The A-hole
- Links between Metis and Demeter and Europa
- Why Zeus ate Metis?
- The Merging of Luwian and Mycenaean Gods into Hellenistic times
- And lots on the Hittites
