

This labyrinth, which Daidalos built, was a cage with convoluted flextions that disorders debouchment.”ĭiodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. Minos, following certain oracular instructions, kept him confined and under guard in the labyrinth. He had the face of a bull, but was otherwise human. Pasiphae gave birth to Asterios, who was called Minotauros (Minotaur). The bull came up and had intercourse with it, as if with a real cow. He built a woden cow on wheels, took it, hollowed it out in the inside, skinned a real cow, and sewed the contraption into the skin, and then, after placing Pasiphae inside, set it in a meadow where the bull normally grazed. In her passion for the bull she took on as her accomplice an architect named Daidalos (Daedalus). He also devised that Pasiphae should develop a lust for it. Poseidon was angry that the bull was not sacrificed, and turned it wild. Thus Minos received the rule, but he sent the bull to his herds and sacrificed another. And Poseidon did send up to him a splendid bull. So while sacrificing to Poseidon, he prayed for a bull to appear from the depths of the sea, and promised to sacrifice it upon its appearance. He claimed, however, that he had received the sovereignty from the gods, and to prove it he said that whatever he prayed for would come about. Minos aspired to the throne, but was rebuffed. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : ((lacuna)) to Eupalamos' son Daidalos (Daedalus), most skilled of carpenters, she told her unspeakable sickness she made him swear a binding oath and ordered him to build a wooden cow, so that she might join her body to that of the mighty bull, hiding from Minos.

Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.ĬLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES MINOS, PASIPHAE & THE CRETAN BULL Pasiphae, Daedalus and the Wooden Cow, Greco-Roman fresco from Pompeii C1st A.D., Naples National Archaeological Museumīacchylides, Fragment 26 (trans. The bull now roamed about through Greece, and at last came to Marathon, where we meet it again in the stories of Theseus.
#12 labours of hercules cretan bull 2.7 guide free
Heracles accomplished the task, and brought the bull home on his shoulders, but he then set the animal free again. Heracles was ordered by Eurystheus to catch the bull, and Minos, of course, willingly allowed him to do so. Poseidon punished Minos, by making the fine bull mad, and causing it to make great havoc in the island. But Minos was so charmed with the beauty of the animal, that he kept it, and sacrificed another in its stead. According to Acusilaus, this bull was the same as the one which had carried Europa across the sea according to others, he had been sent out of the sea by Poseidon, that Minos might sacrifice him to the god of the sea. 8.130, Virgil Aeneid 6.24 Seneca Phaedra 112, Suidas)ĬRETAN BULL. MINOTAUROS (by Pasiphae) (Apollodorus 3.8, Callimachus Hymn 4.311, Diodorus Siculus 4.77.1, Philostratus Elder 1.16, Hyginus Fab.

The gods placed the bull among the stars as the Constellation Taurus, along with the Hydra, Nemean Lion and other creatures from the labours of Herakles. There it was finally destroyed by the hero Theseus. Upon completion of this task he set the creature free and it eventually found its way to the Athenian town of Marathon where it laid waste to the countryside. Herakles was commanded to fetch the Kretan Bull as one of his Twelve Labours. She later gave birth to the Minotauros (Minotaur), a man with the head of a bull. Queen Pasiphae of Krete lusted after the animal and coupled with it by hiding inside a wooden cow crafted by the artificer Daidalos (Daedalus). THE TAUROS KRETAIOS (Cretan Bull) was a handsome bull sent forth from the sea by Poseidon.

Bull of Crete Heracles and the Cretan Bull, Athenian red-figure stamnos C5th B.C., University of Pennsylvania Museum
