As mother of Minos, Europa was considered by the ancients as the founder of the most ancient branch of civilisation in what became known as Europe. Her journey from the [[Levant]] to Crete to found what the Greeks considered to be the forerunner of their culture, is allegorical reference to the transfer of culture that enabled the rise of the [[Minoan civilisation]] in the early third millennium B.C. | As mother of Minos, Europa was considered by the ancients as the founder of the most ancient branch of civilisation in what became known as Europe. Her journey from the [[Levant]] to Crete to found what the Greeks considered to be the forerunner of their culture, is allegorical reference to the transfer of culture that enabled the rise of the [[Minoan civilisation]] in the early third millennium B.C. |