Chapter Sixteen, Lecture One

Myths of Crete

Europa and the Bull

Europa and the Bull

• Agenor (Semitic “leader of men”)

• Brother Belus (=Baal, “lord”) ruled in Egypt

• Agenor settled in Phoenicia– Europa– Cadmus– Cilix– Phoenix

Europa and the Bull

• Agenor sends sons to look for her

• Phoenix stays near home = Phoenicia

• Cilix goes to southern Turkey = Cilicia

• Cadmus goes to Thebes = Cadmeia

Europa and the Bull

• Europa’s Sons on Crete– Minos– Sarpedon– Rhadamanthys

• Talus (the bronze giant)

• Laelaps (the magic dog)

Minos and Pasiphaë

Minos and Pasiphaë

• As a sign that he should be king, Minos asks Poseidon to send a bull, which he will sacrifice

• Poseidon sends the bull, but Minos sacrifices another one

• Married Pasiphaë, a daughter of Helius– Ariadne, Androgeus

Minos and Pasiphaë

• Makes Pasiphaë lust for the bull

• Daedalus from Athens is in Crete– Left Athens after killing his nephew and

student Perdix over a patent quarrel about the saw

• Daedalus makes a device for Poseidon and her “bull-friend”– Minotaur is born

Minos and Pasiphaë

• Minos asks Daedalus to build a prison for the Minotaur– Labyrinth

Minos and Scylla

Minos and Scylla

• Androgeus (a son of Minos) enters athletic contest in Athens and defeats all the local boys

• Aegeus orders him to fight a wild bull at Marathon and Androgeus is killed

• Minos collects his fleet and moves to attack Athens

Minos and Scylla

• On his way, he attacks Megara, ruled by Nisus, a brother of Aegeus

• Daughter Scylla falls in love with Minos

• Betrays Nisus by cutting off his protective purple lock of hair

• The city falls, but Minos abandons her

Theseus and Amphitritê

Theseus and Amphitritê

• Cannot take Athens

• Zeus sent a plague and famine

• Even four human sacrifices couldn’t deliver the Athenians

• An oracle tells them to surrender

Theseus and Amphitritê

• Every 9 years (or every year), 7 girls and boys must be sent to Crete to be sacrificed to the Minotaur

• Theseus, the son of Aegeus, the king of Athens, volunteers to go and face the Minotaur

Theseus and Amphitritê

• Theseus is also a son of Poseidon

• Minos is on the ship and makes a pass at one of the girls, Eriboea

• Theseus warns him off and claims that he is son of Poseidon, just as Minos is a son of Zeus

Theseus and Amphitritê

• Zeus sends thunderbolts to prove that Minos is his son

• To test him, Minos throws a ring off the ship and orders him to get it

• Theseus dives in but returns with a wreath given to him by Amphritritê, the wife of Poseidon

Theseus and the Minotaur

Theseus and the Minotaur

• On Crete, Ariadne (daughter of Minos) falls in love with Theseus

• She gives him the ball of thread on the suggestion of Daedalus, with which he returns from the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur

Theseus and the Minotaur

• But Theseus dumps Ariadne on Naxos, though she is rescued and married by Dionysus

• Theseus also stops on Delos, Apollo’s sacred island, and dedicates a statue of Aphrodite

• The youth dance the “crane dance” in celebration

Daedalus and Icarus

Daedalus and Icarus

• Minos turns on Daedalus

• He makes wings, bound with wax, and escapes with his son Icarus

• Icarus flies too close to the sun and falls into the sea

Death of Minos

Death of Minos

• Daedalus now flies to Sicily, to the court of Cocalus

• Minos, looking for Daedalus everywhere, arrives in Sicily with a scheme to catch Daedalus: the shell

• Daedalus is exposed, but the king’s daughters kill Minos in boiling water

End