Editing Minos (section)

== 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.</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' 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]].