ISLAMABAD, (Parliament Times) : The notion of Europe is very old. Europe existed as a conceptual construct long before geographers began arguing about total number of the continents in the world, said Prof Emeritus Aslam Syed here on Sunday.
The ancient Greeks divided the world into three major units: Europe, Asia, and Libya, the last of which referred to the known northern portion of Africa. Those were the divisions that Ptolemy used when he laid out his map of the world in the 2nd century CE, observed Prof Syed while speaking at a Webinar on Discourse of History on History of Europe here.
Prof. Emeritus Aslam Syed has been serving the Centre for Religious Studies, Ruhr Universität, Bochum, Germany. He remained Chairman, Department of History, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and also served the NIHCR as its Director.
Responding to a question, Prof Syed said that other scholars have argued that the origin for the name Europe is to be found in the Semitic Akkadian language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. They pointed to the Akkadian word erebu, meaning “sunset,” and reason that, from the Mesopotamian perspective, the western-setting sun descended on Europe. As a corollary, they cite the Akkadian word for sunrise, asu, from which they believe the name Asia is derived. From a Mesopotamian ground zero, the eastern-rising sun would have ascended from Asia.
The Webinar arranged online by the National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research (NIHCR), Centre of Excellence, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, was attended by over 700 participants ranging from students, teachers and researchers to have greater insights into the valuable views of the guest speaker.
Replying a question, Prof Syed said that a competing theory locates the eponym for Europe in mythology, specifically in the many versions of stories about the goddess Europa, some of which date back millennia.
It was the 35th consecutive session on the Discourse of History, a brainchild of the NIHCR Director Dr Sajid Mahmood Awan. This activity inculcates interest to learn more and more about history not only among students, scholars and historians as well as among ordinary people belonging to any field of life to know about nations’ ways of running their States in a journey from antiquity to modernity.
Responding to a question, Prof Syed said that one of the oldest versions identifies Europa as one of the Oceanides, the 3,000 sea nymphs who occupied a lower tier in the hierarchy of Greek mythology. Europa was one of only 41 of these minor deities who were thought worthy of naming.
In reply to a question, Prof Syed opined that other versions link Europa with Demeter, the goddess of earth and agriculture. Although it is not certain which name came first, it has been presumed that Europa was a local pre-Greek name for an earth goddess, whereas Demeter is a Greek or Greekified name for a more regional deity.
Responding to a question, Prof Syed said that the best-known version of the Europa myth, Europa—the daughter either of Phoenix or of Agenor, king of Phoenicia—was abducted by Zeus, who had disguised himself as a white bull. Zeus spirited her away from Phoenicia to Crete, where she bore him three sons: Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. Hence, No one knows for sure the origin of Europe’s name, but it certainly stuck, he said.
The NIHCR Director Dr Awan conducted the Webinar by triggering a dialogue with Dr Syed for substantiating this discourse. This inclusive activity has been taken up every week for the benefit of students in general and capacity-building of the teachers and researchers in particular, he said.
