MYTH OF TAURUS

The constellation of Taurus the bull has been identified with many cultures
(Druid, Babyonian, Egyptian, Greek, etc). As far back at 15,000 BC, drawings on
the walls in the caves of Lascaux depicted Taurus with the star cluster known as
the Pleiades.

There are at least three stories about the constellation of Taurus the Bull in
Greek mythology. In the first myth, Zeus tries to gain the favor of Europa, a
legendary Phoenician princess, by assuming the form of a magnificent white bull
and carries her out to sea. In illustrations of Greek mythology, only the bull’s front
portion of the constellation is depicted which might be explained as Taurus partly
submerged underwater. In the second Greek myth, Zeus hides Io, his girlfriend
from his wife, Hera by changing Io into the form of a heifer (or bull). Greek
mythographer Acusilaus portrays the bull Taurus as the same as from the myth of
the Cretan Bull in one of The Twelve Labors of Hercules.