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| Vase in the shape of a bull's head, 15th century BC, Herakleion Museum. | |
The son of Zeus and Europa (1), the famous and just king of Crete who lived three generations before the Trojan war. After he had united with Europa, Zeus married her to the Cretan king Asterion, who adopted and brought up Zeus' and Europa's sons, Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. When Asterion died, Minos took over the throne of Crete. His brothers objected, but he claimed that he was chosen by the gods to be the king and that the gods would answer whatever prayer he offered. To prove it, he asked Poseidon to send him a bull that he would in return sacrifice to the god. His request was granted, and a beautiful white bull emerged from the sea; amazed with its beauty, Minos decided to keep the bull, and sacrifice another one instead. After that, Minos was accepted among the people as a king. Angry because of the fraud, Poseidon changed the bull into a wild animal that raged the island. He also made Minos' wife Pasiphae fall in love with the animal. Pasiphae revealed her unnatural passion to Daedalus, the famous craftsman, who helped her unite with the bull; he constructed a hollow wooden cow into which Pasiphae hid and coupled with the bull. From this union, Minotaur was born, a creature with a bull's head and a human body. To conceal Pasiphae's disgrace, Minos shut the monster in the Labyrinth, a maze of rooms and corridors built by Daedalus.
Minos was married to Pasiphae, the daughter of Helios and Perse, by whom he had four sons, Catreus, Deucalion (2), Glaucus (5) and Androgeos, and four daughters, Acacallis, Xenodice, Ariadne and Phaedra. Minos also had many illegitimate children. He loved Nymph Paria by whom he had Eurymedon (2), Chryses (3), Nephalion and Philoaus; by another Nymph, Dexithea, he had Euxanthius. Pasiphae was very jealous because of her husband's love affairs, and she put a curse on Minos so that all the women to whom he made love were devoured by serpents which emerged from all over his body. Of this curse, he was cured by Procris.
Minos is also said to have been the originator of homosexuality. In one tradition, Minos is the one who abducted Ganymede, rather than Zeus. It was said that because of Miletus he confronted his own brother Sarpedon, and that he was passionately in love with Theseus.
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| The southern gateway of the palace of Knossos, with 'horns of consecration' | |
Minos' reign was several times endangered by his brothers Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. He managed to expel Sarpedon from the country, while Rhadamanthys made a peace with him and remained in Crete. After the fight with his brothers, Minos strengthened his power through the whole island and chose Knossos to be the capital. Minos is said to have been the first king that civilized the Cretans and ruled them justly. Every nine years Minos used to go to the cave on Mt. Ida, where Zeus had been brought up, to consult his divine father on how to rule. Minos was the first king to dominate the Mediterranean Sea; he possessed a big fleet and he cleared the sea of pirates. Minos led several military expeditions; one of them was against Athenians, to avenge the death of his son Androgeos. The expedition was successful, and the Athenians were obliged to obey to Minos and send to Crete seven young men and seven girls every year, to be devoured by Minotaur (see Theseus and the Minotaur). Another famous expedition of Minos was to Sicily, to recapture Daedalus. He found Daedalus at the court of king Cocalus, but before he got revenge, he was killed in his bath by Cocalus' daughters.
The Cretan bronze age civilization (from 2800 to 1200 BC) is named Minoan, after Minos, and the palace at Knossos, excavated by the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, is named the Minoan palace.
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| The bull-leaping fresco from the palace of Knossos. | |
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| Detail from the Dolphin Fresco, which was painted on the wall of the Queen's Hall in the palace of Knossos. | |