Editing Minos (section)

=== In poetry ===
In the ''[[Aeneid]]'' of [[Virgil]], Minos was the judge of those who had been given the death penalty on a false charge - Minos sits with a huge urn and decides whether a soul should go to [[Elysium]] or [[Tartarus]] with the help of a silent jury. Radamanthus, his brother, is a judge at Tartarus who decides upon suitable punishments for sinners there.<ref>''Aeneid'' VI, 568–572).</ref>

In [[Dante Alighieri]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' story ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', Minos is depicted as having a [[snake]]-like tail. He sits at the entrance to the second circle in the ''Inferno'', which is the beginning of Hell proper. There, he judges the sins of each soul and assigns it to its appropriate punishment by indicating the circle to which it must descend. He does this by circling his tail around his body the appropriate number of times. He can also speak to clarify the soul's location within the circle indicated by the wrapping of his tail.<ref>''Inferno'' V, 4–24; XXVII, 124–127).</ref>