Europe gets its name from Europa of Roman/Greek mythology. Essentially all Teutonic languages, except English, call Europe, Europa.
First Some Background on Ancient Europa
Here is a version of the story of Europa from the San Diego State University website,
Zeus Lovers...One night Europa had a dream. In this dream two continents, which were in the forms of women were arguing over Europa. Asia maintained that since Europa had been born in Asia she belonged to it. The other continent, which was nameless, said that her birth was not important, that Zeus would give her to it. It was early morning, disturbed by the dream Europa did not go back to sleep. She summoned her companions, who were all daughters of nobility and of her age. It was a beautiful day and they went off gathering flowers by the sea. Zeus noticed this charming group, particularly Europa, who was the prettest [sic] of the maidens…Zeus appeared to the group as a white bull. A white bull more beautiful then any other…The bull laid down in front of Europa. She slid on to its back. Instantly, the bull charged off, plunging into the sea, and began to swim rapidly from the shore. Europa saw that a procession had joined them, Nereids riding dolphins, Triton blowing his horn, even Poseidon. From this she realized that the bull must be a god. She pleaded with him to pity her. Zeus spoke to her and explained his love. He took her to Create, where he had been raised. He promised that she would bear him many famous sons (Hunt J.M. Zeus Lovers. http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/zeusLover.html, 4/9/04).
Notice that the story claims that Europa was actually born in Asia (some accounts say Europa was raped, others suggest she was seduced, by Zeus). Supposedly, according to other stories, once she was made "immortal" the continent was named after her.
Astarte, often called the 'queen of heaven', is widely believed to be of Asian origin. Ishtar/Astarte (from where the name Easter is derived) was a Babylonia goddess. This woman was probably originally Semiramis (the mother of Nimrod), who was considered the first queen of Babylon. Semiramis had herself deified as the mother of the god Damu and installed as the "queen of heaven" pictured in the constellation Cassiopeia. She is sometimes shown as a virgin with child, while she was widely believed to originally have been a harlot.
A connection between Astarte (the 'queen of heaven') and Europa was noticed long ago. The following account was written by one called Lucian in the second century,
In Phoenicia is another great temple which the people of Sidon keep. They say it belongs to Astarte, and Astarte...is Selene the Moon. The Emperor Elagabalus, being the Sun, brought Astarte the Moon from Phoenicia and wedded her. But she was not originally or at any time primarily the moon; and in Babylonia, as Ishtar, she had for Her emblem a star, the planet Venus. But one of the priests told me it belongs to Europa, sister of Cadmus. She was daughter of King Agenor; and after she vanished, Phoenicians honored her with that temple, and told a holy tale about her that says she was beautiful; Zeus desired her and transformed himself into the likeness of a bull, and then snatched her away and bore her on his back to Crete. That same story I heard from other Phoenicians as well; and the coinage which the Sidonians use depicts Europa sitting on the bull that is Zeus. Nonetheless, they do not agree that the temple is that of Europa. The temple itself contained, in later days at least, a painting of the Europa episode. The story was also localized at Tyre, where the house of Agenor and the bower of Europa were shown and where in the eighth century the people still mourned the abduction in a feast called the kake'opsin'. The name Europa is considered Greek; whether this particular myth is Cretan or Phoenician in origin the evidence does not seem sufficient to determine (Peri Tes Syries Theoy De Dea Syria Concerning the Syrian Goddess by Lucian of Samosata 2nd Century C.E., http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2938/deasyria1.html 4/08/04).
Here is another view of the story,
According to Greek mythology the chief Greek god Zeus fell in love with the human daughter of the Phoenician king, named Europa; in the shape of a white bull he abducted her, and had three sons through her. In order to 'make up' for his behavior, she was honored by naming a continent after her: Europa. This 'love' affair, though illegal, is 'covenantal behavior.' And giving names to territories is also 'covenantal behavior'. Zeus can be identified as Satan (Rev. 2:13). Has he tried, by establishing a false covenantal relationship with this continent, to have a 'legal' claim on this continent?...As mentioned, Europa was a Phoenician princess. In Syria she was equated with Astarte, an adaptation of the demonic principality named in the bible as the queen of heaven. She is also known as Ishtar. One of Ishtar's sacred symbols was the bull. At Knossos the queen-priestess represented the 'mother goddess,' the queen of heaven. Bulls were sacred; bull-games had a very important...Europe bore him three sons, one of whom was Minos. Then Europe married Asterios, the king of Crete (Bos, Helene. EUROPE, WHAT'S IN THE NAME? February 2004. http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:ercf9u3roXgJ:www.joelnews.nl/NameofEurope.doc+europa+consolation+continent+named&hl=en&i.e.=UTF-8 4/8/04).
Finally, here is another version of the story of Europa from the Greek government,
The final destination was Crete and in particular Gortyna where Zeus was joined in a "sacred marriage" with Europa, beneath a plane tree which has never lost its leaves ever since. It is interesting that the coins of Gortyna found had maintained the memory of this scene. One can see Europa seated on the trunk of the sacred tree, while on the other side of the coin the bull looks at her for one last time…She was worshipped with the name of Hellotis and at the celebrations, the Hellotia a celebration of joy for the blossoming of nature, people used to weave wreaths around her thighs as an indication of fertility. It was believed that Europa was initially a nymph, daughter of Oceanus. This version coincides with the myth of cosmogony in that the lands arose from the ocean. According to another similar version, Europa seems to be the personification of a brilliant meteor or a bright star. Europa, the daughter of Telephassa, "the one who shines from afar", might have been a figure for the moon, each morning eloping with the solar bull and each night appearing brilliant on the dark sky (Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs http://www.mfa.gr/english/greece/through_time/mythology/europa.html 4/10/04).Apparently then, Europa was a nymph. It should perhaps also be noted that nymphs were unmarried semi-goddesses that frequently were involved in fornication in mythology. Many accounts of Europa also mention that she had a least two kingly husbands. And she seems to be tied in to "the queen of heaven".
It is also interesting to note that Lucian reported that there was an ancient coin pictured Europa riding a beast. Interestingly, the Greeks currentlyhave a similar coin. The 2 Euro coin in Greece (a couple of which this author actually owns) has a woman riding a beast on one side of it:
The Second Century, Rome, and Babylon
Interestingly, even Roman Catholic scholars often teach that the Apostle John's references to Babylon in the Book of Revelation (circa 95 A.D.) are references to Rome. Notice what the commentary in the Rheims' New Testament, the Catholic accepted translation of the Latin Vulgate into English, states:
The author of the Commentaries upon the Apocalypse set forth in St. Ambrose name, writeth thus: This...sometime signifieth Rome, specially which at that time when the Apostle wrote this, did persecute the Church of God. But otherwise it signifieth the whole city of the Devil, that is, the universal corps of the reprobate. Tertullian also taketh it for Rome, thus, Babylon (saith he) in St. John is a figure of the city of Rome, being so great, so proud of the Empire, and the destroyer of the saints. Which is plainly spoken of that city, when it was heathen, the head of the terrene dominion of the world, the persecutor of the Apostles and their successors, the seat of Nero, Domitian, and the like, Christ's special enemies, the sink of idolatry, and false worship of the Pagan gods (Annotations on Chapter 17 of the Apocalypse. The Original And True Rheims New Testament Of Anno Domini 1582. Prepared and Edited by Dr. William G. von Peters. Ph.D. 2004, copyright assigned to VSC Corp. Page 583).
Rome is the City of Seven Mountains, Rome is the City of Seven Hills
The Bible itself does more than just warn against the "queen of heaven" it gives more information to identify where the false religious power will be based.
Revelation 17:3,9,18 states:
3 And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns...9 Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits…18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.
It is universally recognized that the Rome is the great European city of seven mountains. This fact is also noted by various Protestant and even Catholic theologians. Here are two from Catholic writers:
The seven headed city is probably Rome (septicolis-- seven hills) (Dupont Yves. Catholic Prophecy. TAN Books, 1973, p.24).Other than Ammon Jordan, Rome is apparently one of few great cities in the world to have the seven hills/mountains (though there may be some less important cities with seven mountains, and there seems to be seven near Constantinople/Istanbul). While Rome itself was the ruling city of the Western world for several centuries, the Roman Catholic Church, whose headquarters is completely within the boundaries of Rome, has maintained tremendous influence over kings and governments of the earth for even more centuries. And still does today. Furthermore notice that the Bible specifically warns about a certain city ruling--Vatican City is the only city that appears to have possibly had such rule since John penned the Book of Revelation.
Another code for the symbols of the beast is announced in Revelation 17:9: "This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven mountains on which the woman is seated" (an obvious reference to the city of Rome built on seven hills). (Kurz, W. What Does the Bible Say About the End Times? A Catholic View. Servant Books, Cincinnati. Nihil Obstat: Kistner H., Schehr T.P. Imprimi Potest: Link F., Paul J.M. Imprimatur: Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxillary Bishop, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 19, 2004, p. 165
It perhaps needs to be emphasized that contrary to claims to the contrary, the Church of Rome simply does NOT have the type of Apostolic Succession that most of its followers think that it has.
It should be noted that even Roman Catholic scholars realize this:
The historical lists of the popes, from those drawn up in the second century to those of the present day, form in themselves a considerable body of literature...Lightfoot has argued that this list originally contained nothing but the names of the bishops and the duration of their episcopates, the remaining notes being additions by a later hand...The "Liber Pontificalis", long accepted as an authority of the highest value, is now acknowledged to have been originally composed at the beginning of the fifth century, and, as regards the early popes, to be dependent on the "Liberian Catalogue" (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XII Copyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton Company Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).The above statements mean that researchers in the Roman Catholic Church know that their list of papal succession was finalized long after the fact, hence it is not a reliable guide that the Roman Catholic Church had an unbroken succession of popes (though various ones associated with their beliefs have existed throughout history). This is also consistent with the previously cited reference that the first known 'bishop of Rome' to take the title "Pontifex Maximus" was not until in 384 A.D.
ALTHOUGH CATHOLIC TRADITION, BEGINNING IN the late second and early third centuries, regards St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome and, therefore, as the first pope, there is no evidence that Peter was involved in the initial establishment of the Christian community in Rome (indeed, what evidence there is would seem to point in the opposite direction) or that he served as Rome's first bishop. Not until the pontificate of St. Pius I in the middle of the second century (ca. 142-ca. 155) did the Roman Church have a monoepiscopal structure of government (one bishop as pastoral leader of a diocese). Those who Catholic tradition lists as Peter's immediate successors (Linus, Anacletus, Clement, et al.) did not function as the one bishop of Rome (McBrien, Richard P. Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI. Harper, San Francisco, 2005 updated ed., p.25).
Hence instead of looking to the "city of seven hills" as the bastion of faithful Christianity, the Bible seemingly warns against Rome. Furthermore, those interested in the truth, may be surprised to learn that the Church of Rome CHANGED many doctrines that many that it considered to be early saints held.
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