After prince Androgeus of Crete defeated king Aegeus of Athens in every contest at the Panathenaic Games, Aegeus had him killed by sending him against a snow-white bull that belonged to Poseidon the sea god. In revenge, his father, king Minos of Crete (the son of Europa, whom Zeus in the form of a bull had raped), declared war against Athens. He asked Poseidon to support him against his brothers by sending him the bull to sacrifice, but he fell in love with its beauty and kept it for himself. In retaliation Poseidon caused queen Pasiphaë (the daugher of Helios the sun god) to fall in love with the bull, and their offspring was the man-eating Minotaur, a monster with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. After defeating Aegeus, Minos demanded 7 Athenian youths and 7 maidens every year to be devoured by the Minotaur, which was kept in the Labyrinth. The king's heir Theseus (the son of Poseidon) volunteered to go to Crete to slay the monster. Though she was married to Dionysus, Minos' daughter Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a ball of thread to let him retrace his path out of the Labyrinth after he killed her 1/2 brother. She eloped with him but he abandoned her on Naxos, where she was reclaimed by Dionysus. Their sons included Oenopion, the personification of wine, and Staphylus (associated with grapes). (Plutarchus claimed that Rhadamanthys, another son of Zeus and Europa, filled those roles instead of Dionysus.) After being deposed in Athens, Theseus fled to Scyros, but its king threw him off a cliff to keep him from seizing his throne. To keep Minos faithful Pasiphaë gave him a fidelity charm that made him ejaculate serpents, scorpions, and centipedes that would kill her rivals. Daedalus, who had created the "cow" within which Pasiphaë had seduced the bull as well as the Labyrinth which housed the Mintaur, fled Crete, and Minos pursued him to Camicus, on Sicilia; king Cocalus, daughters and Daedalus scalded him to death with boiling water. In death Minos joined Rhadamanthus and Aeacus (a son of Zeus and Europa's daughter) as judges of the dead: Rhadamanthus judged the souls of Asians, Aeacus judged the Europeans, and Minos had the deciding vote.
After prince Androgeus of Crete defeated king Aegeus of Athens in every contest at the Panathenaic Games, Aegeus had him killed by sending him against a snow-white bull that belonged to Poseidon the sea god. In revenge, his father, king Minos of Crete (the son of Europa, whom Zeus in the form of a bull had raped), declared war against Athens. He asked Poseidon to support him against his brothers by sending him the bull to sacrifice, but he fell in love with its beauty and kept it for himself. In retaliation Poseidon caused queen Pasiphaë (the daugher of Helios the sun god) to fall in love with the bull, and their offspring was the man-eating Minotaur, a monster with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. After defeating Aegeus, Minos demanded 7 Athenian youths and 7 maidens every year to be devoured by the Minotaur, which was kept in the Labyrinth. The king's heir Theseus (the son of Poseidon) volunteered to go to Crete to slay the monster. Though she was married to Dionysus, Minos' daughter Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a ball of thread to let him retrace his path out of the Labyrinth after he killed her 1/2 brother. She eloped with him but he abandoned her on Naxos, where she was reclaimed by Dionysus. Their sons included Oenopion, the personification of wine, and Staphylus (associated with grapes). (Plutarchus claimed that Rhadamanthys, another son of Zeus and Europa, filled those roles instead of Dionysus.) After being deposed in Athens, Theseus fled to Scyros, but its king threw him off a cliff to keep him from seizing his throne. To keep Minos faithful Pasiphaë gave him a fidelity charm that made him ejaculate serpents, scorpions, and centipedes that would kill her rivals. Daedalus, who had created the "cow" within which Pasiphaë had seduced the bull as well as the Labyrinth which housed the Mintaur, fled Crete, and Minos pursued him to Camicus, on Sicilia; king Cocalus, daughters and Daedalus scalded him to death with boiling water. In death Minos joined Rhadamanthus and Aeacus (a son of Zeus and Europa's daughter) as judges of the dead: Rhadamanthus judged the souls of Asians, Aeacus judged the Europeans, and Minos had the deciding vote.
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