The abduction of Io from Argos triggered the legendary Europe-Asia conflict

Evidence

But how did it all begin? If it is history we want, then it is a history of conflict. And the conflict begins with the abduction of a girl, or with the sacrifice of a girl. And the one is continually becoming the other. It was the ‘merchant wolves’, arriving by ship from Phoenicia, who carried off the tauropárthenos from Argos. Tauropárthenos means ‘the virgin dedicated to the bull’. Her name was Io. Like a beacon signalling from mountain to mountain, this rape lit the bonfire of hatred between the two continents. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 29

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the Greek term tauropárthenos, ‘the virgin dedicated to the bull’.
• SHARE: The idea that the entire East-West conflict legendarily begins with a girl being carried off by Phoenician ‘merchant wolves’ is exactly the kind of detail a classics-loving friend would enjoy.