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51-513: Minos was king in Crete . In order to confirm his right to rule, rather than any of his brothers, he prayed Poseidon send him a snow-white bull as a sign. Poseidon sent Minos the bull, with the understanding that the bull would be sacrificed to the god. Deciding that Poseidon's bull was too fine of a specimen to kill, Minos sent the bull to his herds and substituted another, inferior bull for sacrifice. Enraged, Poseidon had Aphrodite curse Pasiphaë ,

102-474: A snake -like tail. He sits at the entrance to the second circle in the Inferno , which is the beginning of Hell proper. There, he judges the sins of each soul and assigns it to its appropriate punishment by indicating the circle to which it must descend. He does this by circling his tail around his body the appropriate number of times. He can also speak to clarify the soul's location within the circle indicated by

153-510: A brave young man. He managed to move the rock and took his father's weapons. His mother then told him the identity of his father and that he should take the weapons back to him at Athens and be acknowledged. Theseus decided to go to Athens and had the choice of going by sea, which was the safe way, or by land, following a dangerous path with thieves and bandits all the way. Young, brave and ambitious, Theseus decided to go to Athens by land. When Theseus arrived, he did not reveal his true identity. He

204-568: A judge of the dead in Hades together with his half-brother Aeacus and his full-brother Rhadamanthus . Rhadamanthus judged the souls of Asians, Aeacus judged Europeans, and Minos had the deciding vote. On Cretan coins, Minos is represented as bearded, wearing a diadem , curly-haired, haughty, and dignified, like the traditional portraits of his reputed father, Zeus. He frequently occurs on painted vases and sarcophagus bas-reliefs, with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus as underworld judges and in connection with

255-457: A labyrinth he commanded his architect Daedalus to build. The Minotaur was defeated by the hero Theseus with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne. Glaucus was playing with a ball or mouse and suddenly disappeared one day. The Curetes told the Cretans, "A marvelous creature has been born amongst you: whoever finds the true likeness of this creature will also find the child." Three times a day,

306-618: A mad passion for the bull. Daedalus built her a wooden cow, which she hid inside. The bull mated with the wooden cow, and Pasiphaë was impregnated by the bull, giving birth to a horrible monster, again named Asterius, the Minotaur , half-man half bull. Daedalus then built a complicated "chamber that with its tangled windings perplexed the outward way" called the Labyrinth , and Minos put the Minotaur in it. To make sure no one would ever know

357-415: A storm in the shack owned by an old lady named Hecale . She swore to make a sacrifice to Zeus if Theseus was successful in capturing the bull. Theseus did capture the bull, but when he returned to Hecale's hut, she was dead. Theseus built a deme in her honour. He then dragged the bull to Athens where he sacrificed him to Athena and/or Apollo . Theseus then went to Crete where he killed the Minotaur with

408-558: Is the Minos in the myths of Theseus , Pasiphaë , the Minotaur , Daedalus , Glaucus , and Nisus . Unlike Minos I, Minos II fathered numerous children, including Androgeus , Catreus , Deucalion , Ariadne , Phaedra , and Glaucus —all born to him by his wife, Pasiphaë. Through Deucalion, he was the grandfather of King Idomeneus , who led the Cretans to the Trojan War . By his wife, Pasiphaë (or some say Crete ), and daughter of

459-600: The Aegean Sea three generations before the Trojan War . He lived at Knossos for nine years, where he received instruction from Zeus in the legislation he gave to the island. He was the author of the Cretan constitution and the founder of its naval supremacy. On the Athenian stage, Minos was one who had strong character, but was also a cruel tyrant . When Asterius died, Minos was boasting to himself that he deserved

510-512: The Aegean Sea , was the father of Theseus , and founded Athenian institutions. Aegeus was the son of Pandion II , king of Athens and Pylia , daughter of King Pylas of Megara and thus, brother to Pallas , Nysus , Lykos and the wife of Sciron . But, in some accounts, he was regarded as the son of Scyrius or Phemius and was not of the stock of the Erechtheids , since he was only an adopted son of Pandion. Aegeus' first wife

561-562: The Minoan civilization of Crete. The Minoan palace at Knossos is sometimes referred to as the Palace of Minos though there is no evidence that Minos was a real person. Minos appears in Greek literature as the king of Knossos as early as Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey . Thucydides tells us Minos was the most ancient man known to build a navy. He reigned over Crete and the islands of

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612-595: The Panathenaic Games . Out of envy, Aegeus sent him to conquer the Marathonian Bull , which killed him. Minos was angry and declared war on Athens. He offered the Athenians peace, however, under the condition that Athens would send seven young men and seven young women every nine years to Crete to be fed to the Minotaur , a vicious monster. This continued until Theseus killed the Minotaur with

663-534: The Cretan contingent in the war between Dionysus and the Indians . Also given as his children are Euryale, possibly the mother of Orion with Poseidon , and Pholegander, eponym of the island Pholegandros . Minos, along with his brothers, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon , was raised by King Asterion (or Asterius) of Crete. When Asterion died, his throne was claimed by Minos, who, according to some sources, banished his brothers. Asterion , king of Crete, adopted

714-515: The Minotaur and Theseus. In Michelangelo 's famous fresco , The Last Judgment (located in the Sistine Chapel ), Minos appears as a judge of the underworld, surrounded by a crowd of devils. With his tail coiled around him and two donkey ears (symbol of stupidity), Minos judges the damned as they are brought down to hell (see Inferno , Second Circle). In the Aeneid of Virgil , Minos

765-477: The Minotaur with the help of Ariadne , Minos' lovestruck daughter. Minos was also part of the King Nisus story. Nisus was King of Megara and was invincible as long as a lock of crimson hair still existed, hidden in his white hair. Minos attacked Megara, but Nisus knew he could not be beaten because he still had his lock of crimson hair. His daughter, Scylla , fell in love with Minos and proved it by cutting

816-555: The Sun ( Helios ), and mother of the Minotaur, he fathered Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis , and Xenodice . By a nymph , Pareia, he had four sons, Eurymedon, Nephalion , Chryses, and Philolaus, whom Heracles killed in revenge for the murder of the latter's two companions. By Dexithea , one of the Telchines , he had a son called Euxanthius . By Androgeneia of Phaistos , he had Asterion, who commanded

867-427: The body. When a snake appeared nearby, Polyidus killed it immediately. Another snake came for the first, and after seeing its mate dead, the second serpent left and brought back an herb , bringing the first snake back to life. Following this example, Polyidus used the same herb to resurrect Glaucus. Minos refused to let Polyidus leave Crete until he taught Glaucus the art of divination . Polyidus did so, but then, at

918-477: The bull away as he had been wreaking havoc on Crete by uprooting crops and leveling orchard walls. Heracles captured the bull, and then shipped him to Eurystheus in Tiryns. The bull later broke loose and wandered into Marathon , becoming known as the "Marathonian Bull". Eurystheus then sent Heracles to bring back the man-eating Mares of Diomedes (the next task). Androgeus , a son of Minos and Pasiphaë, competed in

969-471: The calf changed color from white to red to black. Polyidus of Argos observed the similarity to the ripening of the fruit of the mulberry plant, and Minos sent him to find Glaucus. Searching for the boy, Polyidus saw an owl driving bees away from a wine cellar in Minos' palace. Inside the wine cellar was a cask of honey, with Glaucus dead inside. Minos demanded Glaucus be brought back to life, though Polyidus objected. Minos ordered Polyidus to be entombed with

1020-464: The crimson hair off her father's head. Nisus died, and Megara fell to Crete. Minos spurned Scylla for disobeying her father. She was changed into a shearer bird, relentlessly pursued by her father, who was a falcon. Minos searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city, asking a riddle; he presented a spiral seashell and asked for it to be strung all the way through. When he reached Camicus, Sicily, King Cocalus, knowing Daedalus would be able to solve

1071-519: The dead. The palace at Knossos displays a number of murals depicting young men and women vaulting over a bull. While scholars are divided as to whether or not this reflects an actual practice, Barry B. Powell suggests it may have contributed to the story of the young Athenians sent to the Minotaur. McInerney observes that the story of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull was not written until after Crete had come under Greek control. Emma Stafford notes that

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1122-404: The following from Sophocles : Aegeus says that his father ordered him to depart to the shorelands, assigning to him as the eldest the best portion of this land; then to Lycus he assigns Euboea's garden that lies side by side therewith; and for Nisus he selects the neighboring land of Sceiron's shore; and the southerly part of the land fell to this rugged Pallas, breeder of giants. Later on, Lycus

1173-473: The games held by Aegeus , King of Athens . He won all the games, but the bull, which broke free from his pen, rampaged through the city and trampled Androgeus. Devastated, Minos went to war with Athens and won. As punishment, the Athenians had to send several youths every 9 years to be devoured by the Minotaur . Theseus set to try to capture the bull. On the way to Marathon, Theseus sought shelter from

1224-423: The god struck it with plague and hunger. An oracle told the Athenians to meet any of Minos' demands if they wanted to escape the punishment. Minos then asked Athens to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years to be sacrificed to the Minotaur (the offspring from the zoophilic encounter of Minos' wife Pasiphaë with the Cretan Bull that the king refused to surrender to Poseidon) which he had placed within

1275-546: The help of Ariadne , Minos' daughter. After his adventures in Crete, Theseus returned by ship to Athens. His father, Aegeus previously had asked him to hang a white sail as a sign that Theseus is alive, but Theseus neglected this request. When Aegeus saw Theseus' ships without a white sail, he assumed the worst and threw himself in his grief into the sea, named after him the Aegean Sea. In Troezen, Theseus grew up and became

1326-491: The help of Minos' daughter Ariadne . According to Jeremy McInerney, the iconography of the bull permeates Minoan culture . The cult of the bull was also prominent in southwestern Anatolia. Bernard Clive Dietrich notes that the most important animal in the Neolithic shrines at Çatalhöyük was the bull. The bull was a chthonic animal associated with fertility and vegetation. It figured in cave cults connected with rites for

1377-633: The land was explained further in the following text by the geographer Strabo : ... when Attica was divided into four parts, Nisus obtained Megaris as his portion and founded Nisaea . Now, according to Philochorus , his rule extended from the Isthmus to the Pythium, but according to Andron , only as far as Eleusis and the Thriasian Plain . Although different writers have stated the division into four parts in different ways, it suffices to take

1428-415: The last moment before leaving, he asked Glaucus to spit in his mouth. Glaucus did so and forgot everything he had been taught. Minos justified his accession as king and prayed to Poseidon for a sign. Poseidon sent a giant white bull out of the sea. Minos was committed to sacrificing the bull to Poseidon but then decided to substitute a different bull. Poseidon cursed Pasiphaë , Minos' wife, in rage, with

1479-543: The mythological element," as he claims—in his life of Theseus. According to this view, the first King Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa and the brother of Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon . This was the 'good' king Minos, and he was held in such esteem by the Olympian gods that, after he died, he was made one of the three "Judges of the Dead", alongside his brother Rhadamanthys and half-brother Aeacus . The wife of this "Minos I"

1530-427: The oracle were "Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief." Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed. This puzzling oracle forced Aegeus to visit Pittheus , king of Troezen , who was famous for his wisdom and skill at expounding oracles. Pittheus understood the prophecy and introduced Aegeus to his daughter, Aethra , when Aegeus

1581-469: The other contestants were jealous of Androgeus and killed him. Minos was angry and declared war on Athens. He offered the Athenians peace if they sent Minos seven young men and seven virgin maidens to feed the Minotaur yearly (which corresponded directly to the Minoans' meticulous records of lunar alignments – a full moon falls on the equinoxes once every eight years). This continued until Theseus killed

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1632-418: The riddle, fetched the old man. He tied the string to an ant, which walked through the seashell, stringing it all the way through. Minos then knew Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and demanded he be handed over. Cocalus managed to convince him to take a bath first; then Cocalus' daughters and Daedalus, with Minos trapped in the tub, scalded him to death with boiling water. After his death, Minos became

1683-423: The rule while shunning the gods. According to Homer, Minos conversed with Zeus every nine years, for educational purposes. Being the only one who received lessons from Zeus made Minos receive great praise. However, he was the heartless exactor of the tribute of Athenian youths to feed to the Minotaur , in revenge for the death of his son Androgeus during a riot (see Theseus ). While Minos had stern character and

1734-497: The secret of who the Minotaur was and how to get out of the Labyrinth (Daedalus knew both of these things), Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus , along with the monster. Daedalus and Icarus flew away on wings Daedalus invented, but Icarus' wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. Minos' son Androgeus won every game in a contest hosted by Aegeas of Athens . Alternatively,

1785-403: The sovereignty of Attica , succeeding Pandion to the throne. It has been said that Megara was at the time a part of Attica, and that Nisus received his part when he became king of that city. Lycus became king of Euboea whereas Pallas received the southern part of the territory. Aegeus, being the eldest of the brothers, received what they all regarded as the best part: Athens. The division of

1836-589: The story of the Cretan Bull does not appear before the Hellenistic period and suggests the connection between Crete and Athens is the result of the development of the myth of the Theseus cycle in late sixth century Athens. Chronological listing of classical literature sources for the Cretan and Marathonian Bull : Minos In Greek mythology , Minos ( /ˈmaɪnɒs, -nəs/ ; Greek : Μίνως , [mǐːnɔːs] )

1887-551: The three sons of Zeus and Europa: Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. According to the Odyssey (Book XIX l. 203, as interpreted by Plato in Laws 624), Minos consulted with Zeus every nine years. He got his laws straight from Zeus himself. When Minos' son Androgeos won the Panathenaic Games , the king, Aegeus, sent him to Marathon to fight a bull, resulting in the death of Androgeos. Outraged, Minos went to Athens to avenge his son, and on

1938-458: The way, he camped at Megara, where Nisos lived. Learning that Nisos' strength came from his hair, Minos gained the love of Scylla and her aid in cutting off her father's hair so that he could conquer the city. After his triumph, he punished Scylla for her treachery against her father by tying her to a boat and dragging her until she drowned. On arriving in Attica, he asked Zeus to punish the city, and

1989-472: The wife of Minos, causing her to fall in love with the bull. She subsequently gave birth to the half-man, half-bull, Minotaur . Poseidon passed on his rage to the bull, causing him to lay waste to the land. After consulting the oracle at Delphi, Minos had Daedalus construct the Labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Heracles was sent to capture the bull by Eurystheus as his seventh task . He sailed to Crete , whereupon Minos gave Heracles permission to take

2040-462: The wrapping of his tail. Minor planet 6239 Minos is named after Minos. Its orbit being relatively close to Earth's, it is deemed as a potentially hazardous asteroid. Aegeus Aegeus ( / ˈ iː dʒ i . ə s / , / ˈ iː dʒ uː s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Αἰγεύς , translit.   Aigeús ) was one of the kings of Athens in Greek mythology , who gave his name to

2091-618: The wrath of Jason . Aegeus and Medea had one son named Medus . When Theseus grew up, he found his father's belongings left for him and went to Athens to claim his birthright. Aegeus recognized him as his son by his sword, shield, and sandals. Medea, Aegeus' wife perceived Theseus to be a threat for her children's inheritance and first tried to discredit and then to poison Theseus. When Aegeus discovered these schemes, he drove Medea out of Athens. While visiting in Athens, King Minos ' son, Androgeus managed to defeat Aegeus in every contest during

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2142-457: Was Meta , daughter of Hoples and his second wife was Chalciope , daughter of Rhexenor , neither of whom bore him any children. He was also credited to be the father of Medus by the witch Medea . In a rare account, Pallas was also said to be the son of Aegeus. The latter was also said to fathered Megareus , eponymous founder of Megara . Aegeides (Αἰγείδης), was a patronymic from Aegeus and especially used to designate Theseus. Aegeus

2193-405: Was a king of Crete , son of Zeus and Europa . Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus 's creation, the labyrinth , to be eaten by the Minotaur . After his death, King Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld alongside Rhadamanthus and Aeacus . Archeologist Sir Arthur Evans used King Minos as the namesake for

2244-510: Was born in Megara where his father Pandion had settled after being expelled from Athens by the sons of Metion who seized the throne. After the death of Pandion, now king of Megara, Aegeus in conjunction with his three brothers successfully attacked Athens, took control over the government and expelled the usurpers, the Metionids. Then, they divide the power among themselves but Aegeus obtained

2295-582: Was driven from the territory by Aegeus himself, and had to seek refuge in Arene, Messenia which was ruled by King Aphareus . Pallas and his fifty sons revolted at a later time, being crushed by Aegeus' son Theseus. Still without a male heir with his previous marriages, Aegeus asked the oracle at Delphi for advice. According to Pausanias , Aegeus ascribed this misfortune to the anger of Aphrodite and in order to conciliate her introduced her worship as Aphrodite Urania (Heavenly) in Athens. The cryptic words of

2346-498: Was drunk. They lay with each other, and then in some versions, Aethra waded to the island of Sphairia (a.k.a. Calauria) and bedded Poseidon. When Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. Before leaving, he buried his sandal, shield, and sword under a huge rock and told her that, when their son grew up, he should move the rock and bring the weapons to his father, who would acknowledge him. Upon his return to Athens, Aegeus married Medea , who had fled from Corinth and

2397-428: Was said to be Itone (daughter of Lyktos ) or Crete (a nymph or daughter of his stepfather Asterion), and he had a single son named Lycastus , his successor as King of Crete. Lycastus had a son named Minos, after his grandfather, born by Lycastus' wife, Ida , daughter of Corybas . "Minos II"—the "bad" king Minos—is the son of this Lycastus, and was a far more colorful character than his father and grandfather. This

2448-624: Was successful in killing the Minotaur. However, when Theseus returned, he forgot these instructions. When Aegeus saw the black sails coming into Athens, mistaken in his belief that his son had been slain, he killed himself by jumping from a height: according to some, from the Acropolis or another unnamed rock; according to some Latin authors, into the sea which was therefore known as the Aegean Sea. Sophocles' tragedy Aegeus has been lost, but Aegeus features in Euripides ' Medea . At Athens,

2499-399: Was the judge of those who had been given the death penalty on a false charge - Minos sits with a huge urn and decides whether a soul should go to Elysium or Tartarus with the help of a silent jury. Radamanthus, his brother, is a judge at Tartarus who decides upon suitable punishments for sinners there. In Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy story Inferno , Minos is depicted as having

2550-405: Was the law of the land, he was also cruel, this made Minos one who was respected but also greatly feared. To reconcile the contradictory aspects of his character, as well as to explain how Minos governed Crete over a period spanning so many generations, two kings by the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and rationalizing mythologists, such as Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch —"putting aside

2601-579: Was welcomed by Aegeus, who was suspicious about the stranger who came to Athens. Medea tried to have Theseus killed by encouraging Aegeus to ask him to capture the Marathonian Bull, but Theseus succeeded. She tried to poison him, but at the last second, Aegeus recognized his son and knocked the poisoned cup out of Theseus' hand. Father and son were thus reunited, and Medea was sent away to Asia . Theseus departed for Crete. Upon his departure, Aegeus told him to put up white sails when returning if he

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