Princess seduced by a bull gave her nametoacontinent

I’m sure that I’m not alone when I say I’m sick of all the talk about Brexit and splitting from our European.

However, I’m intrigued by the word “Europe”.

How did the continent become knows as that, and who coined the name? – S.

The continent of Europe, the western part of Eurasia, covers about 3,930,000 square miles, extending as far as the Ural mountains in Russia.

Comprising of more than 50 countries, most of which are members of the European Union, it covers 6.8% of the Earth’s land area and, with 750,000,000 inhabitants, has 11% of the world’s population.

In Greek mythology, Europa was the daughter of King Aginor.

The myths claim Zeus, god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order and justice, transformed himself into a bull so he could abduct Europa and take her to the island of Crete to seduce her and make her his wife.

Their son was Minos of Crete, of the king who, every seven years sent seven young boys and seven young girls to go into the labyrinth to be eaten by the Minotaur, the monster with a head of a bull and the body of a man.

The name Europa was later taken to refer to Crete and Greece as a whole.

Over time, as civilisation flourished, the entire continent became known as Europa or Europe.

Depictions of Zeus as a bull, the form he took when abducting Europa, are found on the Greek two euro coin and on the UK identity card for visa holders. Could it really be true, as my pal insists, that the actor who played the neighbour in the ’90s US sitcom Home Improvement also played drums for Bob Dylan? – C.

Mickey Jones played at his legendary 1966 concerts at The Royal Albert Hall when, to a chorus of boos, folkie Dylan switched to electric guitar.

He also played with Trini Lopez before his acting career gave him roles in Total Recall on the big screen and on TV in Justified.