Who is Europa? She’s got quite the story to tell.
You know the old Latin proverb “Nomen est omen”? It means that names reveal our behaviour, actions and even destiny.
Remember when you were a kid and you met someone else with your name? You either connected, or it made you feel less special. Then you realise that names hold some power. Some names we are given, and some can be chosen. Cassius preferred Muhamed, Octavian fancied Augustus, and Marion Morrison changed it to John Wayne. Maybe they wanted better “omens”.
There are two ways people look at names and their “obvious” cosmic determinism. One is the meaning of the name itself. Some names are obvious, like Grace, Hope, Joy, Jagoda, Zlatko, Mladen, Goran, Ruža. Some have a meaning in foreign, or indeed in dead languages, like Darius, Theodore or Nebuchadnezzar. You all know one Nebuchadnezzar at least. I had two in my class, they’re everywhere.
The second is other people with the same name. If you are named Alexander you might be destined for great things. If your name is Adolf, it means your parents flunked history. And if you are named Borna, you will probably betray Northern Croatia.
We don’t give names to people only. We name orange cats after assassinated American presidents, cities after dead saints, countries after rivers, rivers after all female warrior tribes, and continents after Italian pickle – dealers. Coming from Europe, this “Nomen est omen” is kind of scary. From Portugal to Russia, from Norway to Greece, we share a common name. A name of a kidnap/rape victim – Europa.
Europa was an Asian princess of unparalleled beauty. The Western “Airforce Zeus” who is always followed by thunder and lightning became infatuated with her. So she was tricked, abducted, raped, and after giving birth to three sons, she was given to another man to be married. Her family went looking for her, but their visa application was denied.
But, scared of more people coming to Europa, defenses were built. Zeus created a giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa from invaders and named him Talos. He circled the shores three times daily, killing those who were not invited to Europe. His method of “burning people first, and asking questions later” was soon used against the “Europeans” as well.
When the original Avengers, known as Argonauts, came to the border control, they were attacked and almost killed by Talos. Reforms were needed. Medea was using her power of persuasion, and that made Talos destroy himself.
So, obviously, names have no “omen” whatsoever.
