Editing Pasiphaë (section)

=== Birth of the Minotaur ===
[[Minos]] was required to sacrifice "the fairest bull born in its herd" to [[Poseidon]] each year. One year, an extremely beautiful snow-white bull was born: the [[Cretan Bull]]. Minos refused to sacrifice the animal, and sacrificed another, inferior bull instead. As punishment, Poseidon cursed Pasiphaë to experience lust for the Cretan bull.

Ultimately, Pasiphaë went to [[Daedalus]] and asked him to help her mate with the bull. Daedalus then created a hollow wooden cow covered with real cow-skin, so realistic that it fooled the Cretan Bull. Pasiphaë climbed into the structure, allowing the bull to mate with her. Pasiphaë fell pregnant and gave birth to a half-human half-bull creature that fed solely on human flesh. The child was named Asterius, after the previous king, but was commonly called the [[Minotaur]] ("the bull of Minos").<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.1.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.1.4]</ref><ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#p61 4.77.1]</ref><ref>[[Philostratus the Elder]], ''[[Imagines (work by Philostratus)|Imagines]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/225#1.16.1 1.16.1]</ref>

The myth of Pasiphaë's coupling with the bull and the subsequent birth of the Minotaur was the subject of [[Euripides]]'s lost play the ''Cretans'', of which few fragments survive. Sections include a chorus of priests presenting themselves and addressing Minos, someone (perhaps a wetnurse) informing Minos of the newborn infant's nature (informing Minos and the audience, among others, that Pasiphaë breastfeeds the Minotaur like an infant), and a dialogue between Pasiphaë and Minos where they argue over which between them is responsible.<ref>Johan Tralau, ''Cannibalism, Vegetarianism, and the Community of Sacrifice: Rediscovering Euripides' Cretans and the Beginnings of Political Philosophy'', the University of Chicago Press Journals [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/694569].</ref> Pasiphaë's speech defending herself is preserved, an answer to Minos' accusations (not preserved) in which she excuses herself on account of acting under the constraint of divine power, and insists that the one to blame is actually Minos, who angered the sea-god.<ref>Sansone, David. “Euripides, Cretans Frag. 472e.16—26 Kannicht.” Zeitschrift Für Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, vol. 184, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, 2013, pp. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23849914 58–65].</ref>

<blockquote>PASIPHAË:
If I had sold the gifts of [[Aphrodite|Kypris]],<br>
given my body in secret to some man,<br>
you would have every right to condemn me<br>
as a whore. But this was no act of the will;<br>
I am suffering from some madness brought on<br>
by a [[Poseidon|god]].<br>
It’s not plausible!<br>
What could I have seen in a bull<br>
to assault my heart with this shameful passion?<br>
Did he look too handsome in his robe?<br>
Did a sea of fire smoulder in his eyes?<br>
Was it the red tint of his hair, his dark beard?<ref>[[Euripides]], ''Cretans'' [https://diotima-doctafemina.org/translations/greek/euripides-kretes-fr-472e-k/ Fr. 472e K], translation by P. T. Rourke via ''[[Diotíma (website)|Diotíma]]''.</ref>
</blockquote>

Mythological scholars and authors Ruck and Staples remarked that "the Bull was the old pre-Olympian Poseidon".<ref>Ruck and Staples 1994:213.</ref>