Qua Vadis Euro? "To Athens to be crucified."

A confident Europa rides the bull

First, if you're a real stickler you're probably wondering why I chose to depict the 2 Euro coin from Greece instead of the 1 Euro coin. I'm so happy you've asked because it allows me to express two important ideas worthy of further reflection. The Euro crisis and especially the looming possibility of a Greek default are once again the biggest news of the day. I'm not going to go into detail, but suffice it to say the Euro currency is in some kind of trouble.

When I first saw this coin today after the news broke from Greece on the referendum, the symbol or icon above took on a special multi-layered significance. How ironic it seems, the Greek coin is the most flamboyantly optimistic and proud and yet it is Greece who is shaking the foundation of the Euro monetary union to its core. However, upon further study I learned of the origin of the image on the 2 Euro coin.

















Floor mosaic, Sparta, Greece, 3rd cent. A.D.
Zeus carries Europa across the sea in the guise of a bull. They are accompanied by a pair of winged Erotes (love gods).

The mythological accounts concerning Europa differ to varying degrees but this image clearly reflects the myth recorded in Ovid's Metamorphoses, and other sources, that tells of the
abduction and rape of Europa by Zeus. Zeus snatched her up in Tyre in Phoenicia and took her to Crete where he inseminated her under a plane tree (the leaf Europa holds in her right hand may be from this tree). This much I have gathered from a number of sources. It's not unusual behavior at all for the father of the gods. I refer the reader to Walter Burkett's account of Zeus' "victims" (both male and female) in Greek Religion, III.2.1.
You can really run with an iconic symbol like this on the Euro coin from Greece! So the money above shows Europe personified about to be raped by a bull! Hmmmm....














Finally, I chose the 2 Euro because the notion that 1 coin be inscribed with the number 2 is according to one theorist of art, the earliest conceptual art: "it fiduciarily dissociated symbol from thing (Marc Shell, Art and Money)." This is but one representation of the conceptual revolution introduced by the invention of money.