60-30 a.C.
DIODORO SICULO, Biblioteca, IV, 60, 3; V, 78, 1
IV, 60, 3
And during the time when he was king in Crete Zeus, as they say, carried off Europe from Phoenicia, and carrying her across to Crete upon the back of a bull, he lay with her there and begat three sons, Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. After this Asterius, the king of Crete, took Europe to wife; and since he was without children by her he adopted the sons of Zeus and left them at his death to succeed to the kingdom.
V, 78, 1
Many generations after the birth of the gods, the Cretans go on to say, not a few heroes were to be found in Crete, the most renowned of whom were Minos and Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. These men, their myth states, were born of Zeus and Europe, the daughter of Agenor, who, men say, was brought across to Crete upon the back of a bull by the design of the gods.
