Historiae Romanorum

Minotaur

When the previous king of Crete, Asterius, died, Minos wanted to become king.  Some opposed this, and so Minos claimed it was the will of the gods.  He performed a sacrifice to Poseidon, and Minos asked the god to send a bull up from the sea, promising to sacrifice it to him.  Poseidon granted this request and sent a bull.  Having seen the sign, the people of Crete then made Minos their new king.  Seeing how great the bull was, Minos did not sacrifice it, but put it among his cattle and sacrificed a lesser bull.

Angry, Poseidon decided to exact a revenge.  He caused Minos' wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull he had sent.  In order to facilitate a union, Pasiphae asked Daedalus, the famed architect, for help.  He constructed for her the body of a cow, into which Pasiphae could climb.  In this way, she was able to have intercourse with the bull, and become pregnant by it.  Pasiphae named her child Asterius, but he would forever be known as the Minotaur (the bull of Minos).  This is because he had the body of a man, but the head of the bull.

Told by oracles not to kill the child, Minos had Daedalus construct a labyrinth to contain the Minotaur.  As a punishment for the Athenians, every year they would send fourteen young men and women to Crete.  Minos would place them in the labyrinth.  Inside, they would be eaten by the Minotaur.

The Minotaur was eventually killed by the hero Theseus.

Source(s):

1. Apollodorus.  Bibliotece.

This page was last updated on July 21, 2004.