Minos

n Greek mythology, Minos was a mythical king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization has been named after him. By his wife, Pasiphaë, he fathered Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis, and many others.

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[1] who banished Sarpedon and (according to some sources) Rhadamanthys too.

It is not clear if Minos was a name or a title, the Cretan word for "king",[2] or indeed the name of a particular king that was subsequently used as a title. Scholars have noted the interesting similarity between Minos and the names of other ancient founder-kings, such as Menes of Egypt, Mannus of Germany, Manu of India, and so on. There is a name in Minoan Linear A mi-nu-te that may be related to Minos. According to La Marle's reading of Linear A (see below), we should read mwi-nu ro-ja (Minos the king) on a Linear A tablet. The royal title ro-ja is read on several documents, including on stone libation tables from the sanctuaries, where it follows the name of the main god, Asirai (the equivalent of Sanskrit Asura, and of Avestan Ahura). The name mwi-nu (Minos) is expected to mean 'ascetic' as Skt. muni, and this explanation fits the legend about Minos sometimes living in caves on Crete.[3] It is thought that royal succession in Minoan Crete might have descended matrilinearly, i.e. from the queen to her firstborn daughter, and in this case the queen's husband became the Minos, or war chief. Contents [hide] [edit] The literary Minos

Minos reigned over Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea three generations before the Trojan War. He lived at Knossos for periods of nine years, where he received instruction from Zeus in the legislation which he gave to the island. He was the author of the Cretan constitution and the founder of its naval supremacy.[4]

In Attic tradition and on the Athenian stage Minos is a cruel tyrant,the heartless exactor of the tribute of Athenian youths to feed the Minotaur.

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 of the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and mythologists. According to this view, the first King Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa and 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 ('Minos I') was said to be Itone (daughter of Lyctius) 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's wife, Ida, daughter of Corybas. This second Minos - the 'bad' king Minos - is the son of this Lycastus, and was a far more colorful character than his father and grandfather. It is to this Minos ('Minos II') that we owe 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. He was the grandfather of King Idomeneus, who led the Cretans to the Trojan War.

Since relations with Phoenicia were in later times supposed to have played an important part in the development of Crete, Minos is sometimes called a Phoenician. There is no doubt that there is a considerable historical element in the legend; recent discoveries in Crete prove the existence of a civilization such as the legends imply, and render it possible that not only Athens, but Mycenae itself, was once subject to the kings of Knossos, of whom Minos was greatest, though this suggestion has been disputed and is no longer widely accepted. In view of the splendour and wide influence of Minoan Crete, the age generally known as "Mycenaean" has been given the name of "Minoan" by Dr. Arthur Evans, the chief proponent of a powerful Minoan empire, as more properly descriptive

Minos himself is said to have died at Camicus in Sicily, whither he had gone in pursuit of Daedalus, who had given Ariadne the clue by which she guided Theseus through the labyrinth. He was killed by the daughter of Cocalus, king of Agrigentum, who poured boiling water over him while he was taking a bath. Subsequently his remains were sent back to the Cretans, who placed them in a sarcophagus, on which was inscribed: "The tomb of Minos, the son of Zeus."

The earlier legend knows Minos as a beneficent ruler, legislator, and suppressor of piracy. His constitution was said to have formed the basis of that of Lycurgus for Sparta. In accordance with this, after his death he became judge of the shades in the under-world. In later versions, Aeacus and Rhadamanthus were made judges as well, with Minos leading as the "appeals court" judge.

Asterios, king of Crete, adopted the three sons of Zeus and Europa, Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus. According to the Odyssey he spoke with Zeus every nine years or for nine years. He got his laws straight from Zeus himself. When his son Androgeos had won the Panathenaeic Games the king, Aegeus, sent him to Marathan to fight a bull, resulting in the death of Androgeos. Outraged, Minos went to Athens to revenge his son, and on the way he camped at Megara. The king there at the time was Nisos and his strength came from his hair. His daughter, Scylla fell in love with him and cut off her father's purple hair so Minos 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 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 revenge. Minos then asked Athens to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. As a punishment for Minos' refusing to sacrifice a certain bull, Poseidon made his wife Pasiphae fall in love with it, giving birth to the Minotaur. Minos had his architect Daedalus construct a labyrinth in which he hid the monster. The Minotaur was defeated by the hero Theseus with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne.