Myths regarding Taurus

A northern constellation between Aries and Orion containing the Hyades and the Pleiades. Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac, which is entered by the sun on or about April 20th.According to the Greek mythology, Zeus, the father of the Greek gods fell in love with Europa, the Phoenician princess. She was always guarded by her father's soldiers.

Zeus transformed himself into a beautiful white bull with a pair of golden horns and wandered towards her while she was plucking flowers in her garden.Europa was mesmerized by the beauty of the white bull and made him her pet. They became instant friends. One day, Europa climbed onto the back of the white bull, who making use of the opportunity, carried her away to Crete. After reaching Crete, Zeus revealed himself and later married her.

According to Greek mythology, Zeus as a white bull represents the constellation Taurus. There is also another myth which says that the Sea God, Poseidon had sent King Minos a beautiful white bull to sacrifice to the gods but Minos decided to keep that bull for himself and sacrificed another. He was punished for this by the gods in that his wife, Pasiphae, fell in love with the bull. As a result of their union, the Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of man was born. King Minos built a labyrinth to hide him in until he was killed by Theseus, one of the many youths the king collected to feed to the Minotaur.