In Greek mythology, Europa was a beautiful Phoenician princess, daughter of Agenor and Telephassa. Zeus saw her gathering flowers and immediately fell in love with her. Zeus transformed himself into a white bull and carried Europa away to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity and Europa became the first queen of Crete. By Zeus, she mothered Trojan War contemporaries Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars which is now known as the constellation Taurus.
Europa's brother, Cadmus, went on a quest to find his disappeared sister. Upon consult of the oracle of ]]Delphi]], he was advised to travel until encountering a cow. He was to follow this cow and to found a city where the cow would lay down; this city became Thebes.