The Myth of Europe: Domesticating Rape

Abstract

Through his analysis of classical sources, the author finds no convincing grounds for understanding the myth of Europe as the foundational myth of the modern political and cultural entity that calls itself Europe. In this Europe, however, it is widely believed that the Greek myth is the European foundational myth. By taking over Greek and Roman interpretations of the myth of Europe as a love story, and the adjunct eroticizing and banalizing of the rape of Europa, rape has become a constitutive element of European identity.