Source Verification: Minos
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Why did Poseidon curse King Minos?
Because Minos broke a promise to him. Apollodorus says Minos, facing rivals for the Cretan throne, claimed the gods would grant whatever he prayed for. He asked Poseidon to send a bull from the sea and vowed to sacrifice it. Poseidon sent a fine bull and Minos won the kingdom, but he put the animal among his herds and sacrificed another. The angry god made the bull savage and made Minos's wife Pasiphae fall in love with it. Their union produced the Minotaur.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 3.1.3-3.1.4
Why was King Minos killed?
He died chasing Daedalus. Apollodorus's Epitome says Minos hunted the escaped craftsman with a spiral shell that only Daedalus could thread. When the threaded shell came back from the court of King Cocalus in Sicily, Minos demanded Daedalus's surrender. Cocalus pretended to agree and entertained him, but after his bath Minos was killed by Cocalus's daughters. Some said boiling water was poured over him. Herodotus confirms a violent death in Sicily during the search for Daedalus.
Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 1.14-1.15
What was King Minos punishment?
In life, his punishment was the Minotaur. Apollodorus says Poseidon made Minos's wife Pasiphae desire the bull Minos had failed to sacrifice, and the monster she bore had to be hidden in the Labyrinth. After death Minos is not punished at all. Homer's Odyssey shows him in Hades holding a golden scepter while the dead ask him for judgment. He sits among the underworld's figures of authority, not among its sufferers such as Tantalus or Sisyphus.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 11.568-571
Was Minos a good guy?
The ancient sources disagree. Homer's Odyssey honours him as the king who held converse with Zeus, and Plutarch recalls Hesiod calling him the most royal Minos. Plutarch also says the Athenian stage always showed him as cruel and violent, and that in fact he was a king and lawgiver. His own deeds cut both ways. Apollodorus has him cheat Poseidon, drown Scylla of Megara, and demand Athenian youths to feed the Minotaur.
Source: Plutarch, Life of Theseus 16
Who are the three judges of the dead in Greek mythology?
Minos, his brother Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus. The trio is not Homeric. In the Odyssey Minos alone sits in judgment, settling the disputes of the dead with a golden scepter. Apollodorus says Rhadamanthys judges in Hades along with Minos. Plato's Gorgias adds Aeacus and sets them at a fork in the road below, one way leading to the Isles of the Blest and the other to Tartarus. Minos gets the final decision whenever the other two are in doubt.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 3.1.2
Where Accounts Differ
- frequency of the Athenian tribute
- fate of Scylla of Megara
- how Androgeus died
- how Minos died
- Minos as judge of the dead
- one Minos or two
- just lawgiver or cruel tyrant
- Sarpedon as Minos's brother
- How often Athens paid the tribute differs by source. Apollodorus's Library says the Athenians sent seven youths and seven maidens every year. Ovid's Metamorphoses and Plutarch's Life of Theseus say every ninth year, and Plutarch adds that most writers agree. Plutarch also reports Philochorus, for whom the Labyrinth was an ordinary prison and the youths were prizes at games, and Aristotle, for whom they lived out their lives as slaves in Crete.
- Scylla of Megara meets two different ends. Apollodorus's Library has Minos tie her by the feet to his ship's stern and drown her. Ovid's Metamorphoses has Minos reject her with horror but take Megara anyway; she clings to his departing ship and is turned into a bird, the ciris.
- How Androgeus died is disputed. Apollodorus's Library gives two versions: Aegeus sent him against the bull of Marathon, or jealous rivals ambushed him on the way to games at Thebes. Diodorus Siculus says Aegeus had him murdered near Oenoe out of fear of his friendship with the sons of Pallas.
- Apollodorus's Epitome gives two deaths for Minos in Sicily: killed after his bath by the daughters of Cocalus, or scalded with boiling water. Herodotus says only that he died violently at Camicus. Plutarch's Life of Theseus reports Cleidemus, for whom a storm drove Minos to Sicily while he pursued Daedalus by sea.
- Homer's Odyssey makes Minos an arbiter who settles the disputes of the dead, not a judge who sorts souls by their lives. Apollodorus pairs him with Rhadamanthys, and Plato's Gorgias sets up the three judges, Minos, Rhadamanthys and Aeacus, with Minos holding the final vote.
- Most sources know one Minos. Diodorus Siculus splits him into two kings: Minos the son of Zeus and Europa, and his grandson, the second Minos, who built the navy and married Pasiphae. Apollodorus and Homer give one Minos who does both.
- Homer, Hesiod as quoted by Plutarch, and Plato's Minos present him as a just lawgiver taught by Zeus. Plato's Minos and Plutarch's Life of Theseus both say Athenian tragedy made him a cruel tyrant in revenge for the tribute. The Greek word in Odyssey 19.179 describing his converse with Zeus can mean nine years or every ninth year; Plato's Minos takes the second reading.
- Apollodorus names three sons of Zeus and Europa, Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, but notes that Homer makes Sarpedon a son of Laodamia. Homer's Iliad names only Minos and Rhadamanthys as Europa's sons, and calls their mother the daughter of Phoenix rather than of Agenor.
Sources
- Homer, Iliad 13.449-454
- Homer, Iliad 14.321-322
- Homer, Odyssey 11.568-571
- Homer, Odyssey 19.178-179
- Apollodorus, Library 3.1.1
- Apollodorus, Library 3.1.2
- Apollodorus, Library 3.1.3-3.1.4
- Apollodorus, Library 3.15.7
- Apollodorus, Library 3.15.8
- Apollodorus, Epitome 1.8-1.9
- Apollodorus, Epitome 1.12-1.13
- Apollodorus, Epitome 1.14-1.15
- Herodotus, Histories 1.171
- Herodotus, Histories 1.173
- Herodotus, Histories 3.122
- Herodotus, Histories 7.169-7.171
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.1-151
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.152-182
- Virgil, Aeneid 6.432-433
- Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15
- Plutarch, Life of Theseus 16
- Plutarch, Life of Theseus 19