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{{Short description|Mythological king of Crete}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
[[File:Inferno Canto 5 line 4 Minos.jpg|250 px|thumb|[[Gustave Doré]]'s illustration of King Minos for [[Dante Alighieri]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'']]
[[File:Mural of Minos at the National And Kapodistrian University of Athens on May 22, 2022.jpg|thumb|Mural of Minos at the National and Kapodistrain University of Athens]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Minos''' ([[Help:IPA/English|/ˈmaɪnɒs, -nəs/]] {{audio|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Minos.wav|}}; {{langx|el|Μίνως}}, [[Help:IPA/Greek|[mǐːnɔːs]]]) was a [[Basileus|king]] of [[Crete]], son of [[Zeus]] and [[Europa (consort of Zeus)|Europa]]. Every nine years, he made [[Aegeus|King Aegeus]] pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to [[Daedalus]]'s creation, the [[labyrinth]], to be eaten by the [[Minotaur]]. After his death, King Minos became a [[Greek underworld#Judges of the underworld|judge of the dead]] in the underworld alongside [[Rhadamanthus]] and [[Aeacus]].

Archeologist Sir [[Arthur Evans]] used King Minos as the namesake for the [[Minoan civilization]] of Crete. The [[Minoan palaces|Minoan palace]] at [[Knossos]] is sometimes referred to as the ''Palace of Minos'' though there is no evidence that Minos was a real person.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Bernard |date=2001 |title=What Was Wrong with Minos? Thucydides and Historical Time |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/representations/article/74/1/1/94922/What-Was-Wrong-with-Minos-Thucydides-and |journal=Representations |language=en |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1525/rep.2001.74.1.1|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Literary Minos ==
[[File:Minos scylla.jpg|thumb|17th-century engraving of [[Scylla (princess)|Scylla]] falling in love with Minos]]

Minos appears in Greek literature as the king of [[Knossos]] as early as [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134:book=13:card=424&highlight=minos 13.450]; ''Odyssey'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136:book=11:card=321&highlight=minos 11.321].</ref> [[Thucydides]] tells us Minos was the most ancient man known to build a navy.<ref name="Thucy1.42">Thucydides, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?+doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0105%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4 1.4].</ref>He reigned over Crete and the islands of the [[Aegean Sea]] three generations before the [[Trojan War]]. He lived at [[Knossos]] for nine years, where he received instruction from [[Zeus]] in the legislation he gave to the island. He was the author of the Cretan constitution and the founder of its naval supremacy.<ref name="Thucy1.42" /><ref>Herodotus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.+3.122&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126 3.122]</ref>

On the [[Athens|Athenian]] stage, Minos was one who had strong character, but was also a cruel [[tyrant]].<ref>Powell, Barry B. ''Classical Myth''. Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998, p. 346.</ref> When Asterius died, Minos was boasting to himself that he deserved the rule while shunning the gods.<ref>Powell, Barry B. ''Classical Myth''. Second ed. With new translations of ancient texts by Herbert M. Howe. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998, p. 350.</ref> According to Homer, Minos conversed with Zeus every nine years, for educational purposes. Being the only one who received lessons from Zeus made Minos receive great praise.<ref>Plato, & Jowett, B. (1997). ''The dialogues of Plato''. Thoemmes Press. It is debatable if this is the correct interpretation of the lines: τῇσι δ᾽ ἐνὶ Κνωσός, μεγάλη πόλις, ἔνθα τε Μίνως / ἐννέωρος βασίλευε Διὸς μεγάλου ὀαριστής (Od. 19.178-9). A more accurate translation would be: "Among those (cities) is Knossos, a great city, where Minos was king and every ninth year (? at the age of nine?) became close with the great Zeus" (as a husband is close with his "wife", ὄαρ); compare Pl. Min. 319b for a similar interpretation.</ref> However, he was the heartless exactor of the tribute of Athenian youths to feed to the [[Minotaur]], in revenge for the death of his son [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeus]] during a riot (see [[#Theseus|Theseus]]).<ref>{{cite web |author=William Godwin |year=1876 |title=Lives of the Necromancers |url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog |page=40}}</ref> While Minos had stern character and was the law of the land, he was also cruel; this made Minos one who was respected but also greatly feared.

=== Later rationalization ===
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 by the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and rationalizing mythologists, such as [[Diodorus Siculus]]<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Library of History'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html 4. 60. 3]</ref> and [[Plutarch]] - "putting aside the mythological element", as he claims - in his life of Theseus.<ref>Plutarch, ''Theseus'' §16 notes the discrepancy: "on the Attic stage Minos is always vilified... and yet Minos is said to have been a king and a lawgiver..." [[John Lemprière|Lemprière]] ''A Classical Dictionary'', ''s.v.'' "Minos" and "Minos II".</ref>

According to this view, the first King Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa and the brother of Rhadamanthys and [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|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",<ref>Horace, ''Odes'' 4.7.21.</ref> alongside his brother Rhadamanthys and half-brother [[Aeacus]]. The wife of this "Minos I" was said to be [[Iton (Thessaly)|Itone]] (daughter of [[Lyktos]]) 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 (mother of Minos)|Ida]], daughter of [[Corybas (mythology)|Corybas]]. "Minos II"—the "bad" king Minos—is the son of this Lycastus, and was a far more colorful character than his father and grandfather. This is the Minos in the myths of [[Theseus]], [[Pasiphaë]], the [[Minotaur]], [[Daedalus]], [[Glaucus (son of Minos)|Glaucus]], and [[Nisos|Nisus]]. Unlike Minos I, Minos II fathered numerous children, including [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeus]], [[Catreus]], [[Deucalion (son of Minos)|Deucalion]],<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.4 14]</ref> [[Ariadne]], [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]], and [[Glaucus of Crete|Glaucus]]—all born to him by his wife, Pasiphaë. Through Deucalion, he was the grandfather of King [[Idomeneus]], who led the Cretans to the [[Trojan War]].

== Family ==
By his wife, [[Pasiphaë]] (or some say [[Crete (mythology)|Crete]]), the daughter of the Sun ([[Helios]]), and mother of the Minotaur, he fathered [[Ariadne]], [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeus]], [[Deucalion (son of Minos)|Deucalion]], [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]], [[Glaucus (son of Minos)|Glaucus]], [[Catreus]], [[Acacallis (mythology)|Acacallis]], and [[Xenodice (mythology)|Xenodice]]. By a [[nymph]], Pareia, he had four sons, Eurymedon, [[Nephalion]], Chryses, and Philolaus, whom [[Heracles]] killed in revenge for the murder of the latter's two companions. By [[Dexithea (mythology)|Dexithea]], one of the [[Telchines]], he had a son called [[Euxanthius]].<ref>[[Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''Library'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D2 3.1.2].</ref> By Androgeneia of [[Phaistos]], he had Asterion, who commanded the Cretan contingent in the war between [[Dionysus]] and the [[India]]ns.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', 13. 220ff.</ref> Also given as his children are Euryale, possibly the mother of [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] with [[Poseidon]],<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Poetical Astronomy'' 2. 34</ref> and Pholegander, [[eponym]] of the island [[Pholegandros]].<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]] s. v. ''Pholegandros''</ref> Minos, along with his brothers, [[Rhadamanthus|Rhadamanthys]] and [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|Sarpedon]], was raised by King [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]] (or Asterius) of Crete. When Asterion died, his throne was claimed by Minos,<ref>Apollodorus, ''Library'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D3 3.1.3].</ref> who, according to some sources, banished his brothers.

== Mythological Minos ==
{{Greek underworld}}

[[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]], king of Crete, adopted the three sons of Zeus and Europa: Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthus. According to the ''Odyssey'' (Book XIX l. 203, as interpreted by Plato in ''Laws'' 624), Minos consulted with Zeus every nine years. He got his laws straight from Zeus himself. When Minos's son Androgeos won the [[Panathenaic Games]], the king, Aegeus, sent him to Marathon to fight a bull, resulting in the death of Androgeos. Outraged, Minos went to Athens to avenge his son, and on the way, he camped at Megara, where Nisos lived. Learning that Nisos's strength came from his hair, Minos gained the love of Scylla and her aid in cutting off her father's hair so that he 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's demands if they wanted to escape the punishment. Minos then asked Athens to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years to be sacrificed to the Minotaur (the offspring from the zoophilic encounter of Minos's wife Pasiphaë with the Cretan Bull that the king refused to surrender to Poseidon) which he had placed within a labyrinth he commanded his architect Daedalus to build. The Minotaur was defeated by the hero Theseus with the help of Minos's daughter Ariadne.

=== Glaucus ===
{{Main|Glaucus (son of Minos)}}
Glaucus was playing with a ball<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabula'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae3.html 136].</ref> or mouse<ref>Apollodorus, ''Library'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.3.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.3.1].</ref> and suddenly disappeared one day. The [[Curetes (tribe)|Curetes]] told the Cretans, "A marvelous creature has been born amongst you: whoever finds the true likeness of this creature will also find the child."

Three times a day, the calf changed color from white to red to black. [[Polyidus]] of Argos observed the similarity to the ripening of the fruit of the [[mulberry]] plant, and Minos sent him to find Glaucus.

Searching for the boy, Polyidus saw an owl driving bees away from a wine cellar in Minos's palace. Inside the wine cellar was a cask of honey, with Glaucus dead inside. Minos demanded Glaucus be brought back to life, though Polyidus objected. Minos ordered Polyidus to be entombed with the body. When a [[snake]] appeared nearby, Polyidus killed it immediately. Another snake came for the first, and after seeing its mate dead, the second serpent left and brought back an [[herb]], bringing the first snake back to life. Following this example, Polyidus used the same herb to resurrect Glaucus.

Minos refused to let Polyidus leave Crete until he taught Glaucus the art of [[divination]]. Polyidus did so, but then, at the last moment before leaving, he asked Glaucus to spit in his mouth. Glaucus did so and forgot everything he had been taught.

=== Poseidon, Daedalus and Pasiphaë ===
[[File:Gaziantep Zeugma Museum Daedalus mosaic 1871.jpg|thumb|A [[Roman mosaic]] from [[Zeugma, Commagene]] (now in the [[Zeugma Mosaic Museum]]) depicting [[Daedalus]], his son [[Icarus]], Queen [[Pasiphaë]], and two of her female attendants]]

Minos justified his accession as king and prayed to [[Poseidon]] for a sign. Poseidon sent a giant white bull out of the sea.<ref>''Bibliotheke'' 3.1.3; compare [[Diodorus Siculus]] 4.77.2 and [[John Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades'' i.479ff. Lactantius Placidus, commentary on Statius, ''Thebaid'' v.431, according to whom the bull was sent, in answer to Minos's prayer, not by Poseidon but by Jupiter.</ref> Minos was committed to sacrificing the bull to Poseidon<ref>The act would have "returned" the bull to the god who sent it.</ref> but then decided to substitute a different bull. Poseidon cursed [[Pasiphaë]], Minos's wife, in rage, with a mad passion for the bull. Daedalus built her a wooden cow, which she hid inside. The bull mated with the wooden cow, and Pasiphaë was impregnated by the bull, giving birth to a horrible monster, again named Asterius,<ref>''Bibliotheke'' 3.1.4.</ref> the [[Minotaur]], half-man half bull. Daedalus then built a complicated "chamber that with its tangled windings perplexed the outward way"<ref>Apparently a quotation, according to [[Sir James George Frazer]], (''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation'', 1921), commenting on ''Bibliotheke'' 3.1.4.</ref> called the [[Labyrinth]], and Minos put the Minotaur in it. To make sure no one would ever know the secret of who the Minotaur was and how to get out of the Labyrinth (Daedalus knew both of these things), Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, [[Icarus (mythology)|Icarus]], along with the monster. Daedalus and Icarus flew away on wings Daedalus invented, but Icarus's wings melted because he flew too close to the sun. Icarus fell into the sea and drowned.

=== Theseus ===
[[File:Amphora with Theseus slaying the Minotaur.jpg|thumb|Amphora showing Theseus slaying the Minotaur, 460 BC. Ref:{{British-Museum-db|1837,0609.57|id=399119}}.]]

Minos's son [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeus]] won every game in a contest hosted by [[Aegeas]] of [[Athens]]. Alternatively, the other contestants were jealous of Androgeus and killed him. Minos was angry and declared war on Athens. He offered the Athenians peace if they sent Minos [[sacrificial victims of Minotaur|seven young men and seven virgin maidens]] to feed the [[Minotaur]] yearly (which corresponded directly to the Minoans' meticulous records of lunar alignments – a full moon falls on the equinoxes once every eight years). This continued until [[Theseus]] killed the Minotaur with the help of [[Ariadne]], Minos's lovestruck daughter.

=== Nisus ===
Minos was also part of the King [[Nisos|Nisus]] story. Nisus was King of Megara and was invincible as long as a lock of crimson hair still existed, hidden in his white hair. Minos attacked Megara, but Nisus knew he could not be beaten because he still had his lock of crimson hair.<ref>''Bibliotheke'' 3.15.8</ref> His daughter, [[Scylla (princess)|Scylla]], fell in love with Minos and proved it by cutting the crimson hair off her father's head. Nisus died, and Megara fell to Crete. Minos spurned Scylla for disobeying her father. She was changed into a shearer bird, relentlessly pursued by her father, who was a falcon.

=== Death ===
Minos searched for Daedalus by traveling from city to city, asking a riddle; he presented a spiral seashell and asked for it to be strung all the way through. When he reached Camicus, Sicily, King Cocalus, knowing Daedalus would be able to solve the riddle, fetched the old man. He tied the string to an ant, which walked through the seashell, stringing it all the way through. Minos then knew Daedalus was in the court of King Cocalus and demanded he be handed over. Cocalus managed to convince him to take a bath first; then Cocalus's daughters and Daedalus, with Minos trapped in the tub, scalded him to death with boiling water.<ref>Graves, Robert (1960). ''The Greek Myths''. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Penguin Books pp. 313–314{{ISBN?}}</ref>

After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in [[Greek Underworld|Hades]] together with his half-brother [[Aeacus]] and his full-brother [[Rhadamanthus]]. Rhadamanthus judged the souls of Asians, Aeacus judged Europeans, and Minos had the deciding vote.<ref>[[Plato]], ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'' 523a and 524b ff (trans. Lamb)</ref>

== Minos in art ==
[[File:Illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy object 9 Butlin 812-9Minos.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Minos was depicted by Romantic British artist [[William Blake]] as part of [[:File:Blake Dante Hell V.jpg|his illustrations of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'']]. The original object for this image is held by the [[National Gallery of Victoria]].<ref>{{cite web |editor2=Robert N. Essick |editor3=Joseph Viscomi |title=Illustrations to Dante's "Divine Comedy", object 9 (Butlin 812.9) "Minos" |url=http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=but812.1.wc.09&java=no |access-date=26 September 2013 |publisher=[[William Blake Archive]] |editor1=Morris Eaves}}</ref>]]

[[File:Michelangelo, giudizio universale, dettagli 50.jpg|thumb|right|Judge Minos in ''The Last Judgement''.]]

On Cretan coins, Minos is represented as bearded, wearing a [[diadem (personal wear)|diadem]], curly-haired, haughty, and dignified, like the traditional portraits of his reputed father, Zeus. He frequently occurs on painted vases and sarcophagus bas-reliefs, with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus as underworld judges and in connection with the Minotaur and Theseus.
[[File:Knosos - 400-350 BC - silver stater - head of Ariadne - Minos - Berlin MK AM.jpg|thumb|Knosos - 400-350 BC - silver stater - head of Ariadne - Minos]]
In [[Michelangelo]]'s famous [[fresco]], ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgment]]'' (located in the [[Sistine Chapel]]), Minos appears as a judge of the underworld, surrounded by a crowd of devils. With his tail coiled around him and two donkey ears (symbol of stupidity), Minos judges the damned as they are brought down to hell (see ''Inferno'', Second Circle).

=== In poetry ===
In the ''[[Aeneid]]'' of [[Virgil]], Minos was the judge of those who had been given the death penalty on a false charge - Minos sits with a huge urn and decides whether a soul should go to [[Elysium]] or [[Tartarus]] with the help of a silent jury. Radamanthus, his brother, is a judge at Tartarus who decides upon suitable punishments for sinners there.<ref>''Aeneid'' VI, 568–572).</ref>

In [[Dante Alighieri]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' story ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', Minos is depicted as having a [[snake]]-like tail. He sits at the entrance to the second circle in the ''Inferno'', which is the beginning of Hell proper. There, he judges the sins of each soul and assigns it to its appropriate punishment by indicating the circle to which it must descend. He does this by circling his tail around his body the appropriate number of times. He can also speak to clarify the soul's location within the circle indicated by the wrapping of his tail.<ref>''Inferno'' V, 4–24; XXVII, 124–127).</ref>

== Astronomy ==
[[Minor planet]] [[6239 Minos]] is named after Minos. Its orbit being relatively close to Earth's, it is deemed as a potentially hazardous asteroid.

== See also ==
* ''[[Minos (dialogue)|Minos]]'', a dialogue attributed to [[Plato]]
* [[Menes]] a [[pharaoh]] of the [[Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)|Early Dynastic Period]] of [[ancient Egypt]]
* [[Chinvat Bridge]], the bridge of the dead in Persian cosmology
* [[Sraosha]], [[Mithra]] and [[Rashnu]], guardians and judges of souls in Zoroastrian tradition

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== References ==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes'', Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
* [[Herodotus]], ''Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley'', Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
* [[Homer]], ''The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes'', Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
* Homer, ''The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes''. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html ''The Myths of Hyginus'']. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D26%3Aentry%3Dminos-bio-1 "Minos 1."], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dminos-bio-2 "Minos 2."]
* [[Thucydides]], ''Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices'', Volume 1., Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.
* Ziolkowski, Theodore, ''Minos and the Moderns: Cretan Myth in Twentieth-century Literature and Art.'' (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). Pp. xii, 173 (Classical Presences).

== External links ==
{{EB1911 poster|Minos}}
* {{Commons category-inline|Minos}}
* [http://danilocaruso.blogspot.it/2013/10/the-death-of-minos-in-sicily_9114.html The death of Minos in Sicily]

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