Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MINOS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 555 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MINOS , a semi-legendary See also:

king of See also:Crete, son of See also:Zeus and See also:Europa. By his wife, Pasiphae, he was the See also:father of See also:Ariadne, See also:Deucalion, See also:Phaedra and others. He reigned over Crete and the islands of the See also:Aegean three generations before the Trojan See also:War. He lived at See also:Cnossus for periods of nine years, at the end of which he retired into a sacred See also:cave, where he received instruction from Zeus in the legislation which he gave to the See also:island. He was the author of the Cretan constitution and the founder of its See also:naval supremacy (See also:Herodotus iii. 122; See also:Thucydides 4). In See also:Attic tradition and on the Athenian See also:stage Minos is a cruel See also:tyrant, the heartless exactor of the See also:tribute of Athenian youths to feed the See also:Minotaur (q.v.). It seems possible that tribute See also:children were actually exacted to take See also:part in the gruesome shows of the Minoan See also:bull-rings, of which we now have more than one See also:illustration (see CRETE: See also:Archaeology). To reconcile the contradictory aspects of his See also:character, two See also:kings of the name of Minos were assumed by later poets and mythologists. Since Phoenician intercourse was in later times supposed to have played an important part in the development of Crete, Minos is sometimes called a Phoenician. There is no doubt that there is a considerable See also:historical See also:element in the See also:legend; See also:recent discoveries in Crete (q.v.) prove the existence of a See also:civilization such as the legends imply, and render it probable that not only See also:Athens, but See also:Mycenae itself, was once subject to the kings of Cnossus, of whom Minos was greatest. In view of the splendour and wide See also:influence of Minoan Crete, the See also:age generally known as " Mycenaean " has been given the name of " Minoan " by Dr See also:Arthur See also:Evans as more properly descriptive (see CRETE).

Minos himself is said to have died at Camicus in See also:

Sicily, whither he had gone in pursuit of See also:Daedalus, who had given Ariadne the See also:clue by which she guided See also:Theseus through the See also:labyrinth. He was killed by the daughter of Cocalus, king of See also:Agrigentum, who poured boiling See also:water over him in the See also:bath (Diod. Sic. iv. 79). Subsequently his remains were sent back to the Cretans, who placed them in a See also:sarcophagus, on which was inscribed: " The See also:tomb of Minos, the son of Zeus." The earlier legend knows Minos as a beneficent ruler, legislator, and suppressor of piracy (Thucydides i. 4). His constitution was said to have formed the basis of that of See also:Lycurgus (See also:Pausanias iii. 2, 4). In accordance with this, after his See also:death he became See also:judge of the shades in the under-See also:world (Odyssey, ix. 568); later he was associated with See also:Aeacus and See also:Rhadamanthus. The See also:solar explanation of Minos as the See also:sun-See also:god has been thrown into the background by the recent discoveries. In any See also:case a divine origin would naturally be claimed for him as a See also:priest-king, and a divine See also:atmosphere hangs about him.

The name of his wife, Pasiphae (" the all-shining "), is an epithet of the See also:

moon-goddess. The name Minos seems to be philologically the See also:equivalent of Minyas, the royal ancestor of the Minyans of See also:Orchomenus, and his daughter Ariadne (" the ex- ceeding See also:holy ") is a See also:double of the native nature-goddess. (See CRETE: Archaeology.) On Cretan coins Minos is represented as bearded, wearing a diadem, See also:curly-haired, haughty and dignified, like the traditional portraits of his reputed father, Zeus. On painted vases and sarcophagus bas-reliefs he frequently occurs with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus as See also:judges of the under-world and in connexion with the Minotaur and Theseus.

End of Article: MINOS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MINORCA(Menorca) 		[next]
MINOT, LAURENCE (fl. 1333—1352)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries