King Minos Essay, Research Paper

TITLE: KING MINOS

I. TYPE OF MYTH: Greek

II. GODS OR GODDESSES INVOLVED: Zeus and Poseidon

III. MONSTERS OR CREATURES INVOLVED: Minotaur

IV. HUMANS INVOLVED: King Minos, Pasiphae, Daedalus, Androgos, Ariadne, King Cocalus

V. SUMMARY OF THE MYTH:

King Minos was the King of Crete and he was married to Pasiphae. Minos incurred the wrath of Poseidon by refusing to sacrifice a magnificent bull to the gods. Poseidon took cruel revenge on Minos by making Pasiphae fall in love with the bull, with whom she bore a strange offspring—half man, half bull. This monster was called the minotaur.

Wishing to hide the Minoaur from the eyes of the world, Minos asked the renowned inventor, Daedalus, to construct a prison that no one could escape. The ingenious Daedalus designed the labyrinth, a tortuous maze. Once inside the labyrinth no one could find a way out. Only Daedalus knew how to escape.

Minos made war on Athens, where his son Androgeus, was killed. The people of Athens were made to pay for this crime by sending an annual tribute of seven men and seven maids to Crete. It would fall to the hero Theseus to put an end to the Minotaur and the yearly sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Daedalus made his escape from Crete, where Minos had wished to hold him prisoner. Minos pursued him and eventually Sicily. Here the great King Minos died an undignified death in a bathtub of boiling water.

VI. ANALYSIS OF MYTH: