Editing Rhadamanthus

{{Short description|Greek mythology character, son of Zeus and Europa}}
{{Redirect|Rhadamanthys|the antagonist character of Saint Seiya|Wyvern Rhadamanthys}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Lefkadia The Judgment Tomb – VIII (37413801795).jpg|thumb|315x315px|Depiction of Rhadamanthys in the [[Tomb of Judgement, Lefkadia]], c.300–250 BC]]
{{Greek underworld}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Rhadamanthus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|r|æ|d|ə|ˈ|m|æ|n|θ|ə|s}}) or '''Rhadamanthys''' ({{langx|grc|Ῥαδάμανθυς}}) was a wise king of [[Crete]]. As the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]] he was considered a [[demigod]]. He later became one of the [[Greek underworld#Judges of the underworld|judges of the dead]] and an important figure in Greek mythology.

His name, whose etymology is obscure,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Rhadamanthus {{!}} Etymology, origin and meaning of rhadamanthus by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/rhadamanthus |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-04-30 |title=Rhadamanthus: Absurd Etymologies And Some Stories |url=https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2017/04/30/rhadamanthus-absurd-etymologies-and-some-stories/ |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Sententiae Antiquae |language=en-US}}</ref> was later used to allude to persons showing stern and inflexible judgement.<ref name=":0" />

== Family ==
Rhadamanthus was, according to Bulfinch's ''The Age of Fable'', the son of [[Zeus]] and [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]] and brother to [[Sarpedon (brother of Minos)|Sarpedon]] and [[Minos]] (also a king and later a judge of the dead).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/ageoffableorbeau00bulf|title=The age of fable; or, Beauties of mythology|first1=Thomas|last1=Bulfinch|first2=J. Loughran (John Loughran)|last2=Scott|date=24 January 1898|publisher=Philadelphia, D. McKay|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Together with his brother, Rhadamanthus was raised by [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]], their stepfather. He had two sons, [[Gortys (mythology)|Gortys]] (associated with [[Gortyn]], [[Crete]]) and Erythrus (founder of [[Erythrae]]).

A different tradition represents Rhadamanthys as the son of [[Hephaestus]], Hephaestus as a son of [[Talos]], and Talos as a son of [[Cres (mythology)|Cres]], the personification of Crete. This tradition is reported by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], who cites the poet [[Cinaethon of Sparta]] as his source.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pausanias |author-link=Pausanias (geographer) |title=[[Description of Greece]] |at=[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:8.53 8. 53.2–5]}}</ref> According to [[Athenaeus]], the lyric poet [[Ibycus]] wrote of Rhadamanthys as the lover of Talos, rather than grandson.<ref>Ibycus Fragment 32 in {{cite book |editor-last=Edmonds |editor-first=J. M.|title=Lyrae Graeca Vol. 2|publisher=Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press|year=1924 |page=101}}</ref> The [[Suda]], a Byzantine encyclopedia from the tenth-century CE, adds to this that Talos and Rhadamanthus introduced homosexuality to Crete.<ref>Suda s.v. Theta 41. [https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/theta/41  Θάμυρις].</ref>

Other sources (e.g. [[Plutarch]], ''Theseus'' 20) credit Rhadamanthys rather than [[Dionysus]] as the husband of [[Ariadne]], and the father of [[Oenopion]], [[Staphylus (son of Dionysus)|Staphylus]] and [[Thoas (king of Lemnos)|Thoas]]. In this account, Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, Rhadamanthys's brother; another Ariadne was the daughter of Minos's grandson and namesake, who features in [[Theseus]]'s legend and was rescued by Dionysus.

== Mythology ==

===Legislation===
{{See also|Syssitia#Crete}}
Although he was frequently considered one of the judges of the dead in the [[Greek underworld|underworld]], he was also known for a few legislative activities. There is a reference to a law of Rhadamanthus ordering the Cretans to swear oaths by animals<ref>[[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], ''[[On Abstinence from Eating Animals|De Abstinentia]]'' [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/porphyry_abstinence_03_book3.htm III.16.6], on which see Jean Bouffartigue, ''Porphyre, De l'abstinence'', (Paris) 1979, p. 171 n. 2.</ref> and to another law of Rhadamanthus saying if people defend themselves against others who initiated violence then they should suffer no penalty.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus ''Library of Greek Mythology'', II.4]]</ref>  His legislation, and its subsequent analogue in Lacadaemonian Sparta, is briefly described in Book I of [[Plato's Laws]], after he is introduced as the brother of Minos, and credited with being the justest of men and an administrator of justice.

{{cquote|Athenian: And first, I want to know why the law has ordained that you shall have [[syssitia|common meals]] and [[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnastic exercises]], and wear arms?

Cleinias of Crete: I think, Stranger, that the aim of our institutions is easily intelligible to any one. Look at the character of our country: Crete is not like Thessaly, a large plain; and for this reason they have horsemen in Thessaly, and we have runners—the inequality of the ground in our country is more adapted to locomotion on foot; but then, if you have runners you must have light arms,—no one can carry a heavy weight when running, and bows and arrows are convenient because they are light. Now all these regulations have been made with a view to war, and the legislator appears to me to have looked to this in all his arrangements:—the common meals, if I am not mistaken, were instituted by him for a similar reason, because he saw that while they are in the field the citizens are by the nature of the case compelled to take their meals together for the sake of mutual protection. He seems to me to have thought the world foolish in not understanding that all men are always at war with one another; and if in war there ought to be common meals and certain persons regularly appointed under others to protect an army, they should be continued in peace. For what men in general term peace would be said by him to be only a name; in reality every city is in a natural state of war with every other, not indeed proclaimed by heralds, but everlasting. And if you look closely, you will find that this was the intention of the Cretan legislator; all institutions, private as well as public, were arranged by him with a view to war; in giving them he was under the impression that no possessions or institutions are of any value to him who is defeated in battle; for all the good things of the conquered pass into the hands of the conquerors.
| source = [[s:Laws (Plato)/Book I|Plato's Laws, Book I]]
}}

===Exile from Crete===
King [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterius]] died childless and Minos inherited the throne. When Minos became the king of Crete, he drove Rhadamanthus out of Crete, because he had been jealous of his popularity. Rhadamanthus fled to [[Boeotia]], where he married [[Alcmene]], widow of [[Amphitryon]] and mother of [[Heracles]]. According to some traditions, he became a tutor to Heracles.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} This is also mentioned by [[John Tzetzes]], a medieval historian.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In general, the particular sphere of activity of Rhadamanthus tends to be the Aegean islands, apart from Crete itself, where Minos was active. He is also often connected by ancient authors with central Greece.<ref name="auto">John Davidson, [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/antiq_0770-2817_1999_num_68_1_1340# "Rhadamanthys and the Family of Herakles."] ''L'antiquité classique'' Vol 68, 1999, pp. 247–252</ref>

=== Afterlife ===
According to later legends (c. 400 BC), on account of his inflexible integrity he was made one of the judges of the dead in the lower world, together with his half-brother [[Aeacus]] and his full-brother Minos. He was supposed to judge the souls of easterners, [[Aeacus]] those of westerners, while Minos had the [[casting vote]] ([[Plato]], ''[[Gorgias (dialogue)|Gorgias]]'' 524A). He is portrayed in Books 4 and 7 of Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]''. [[Virgil]] (69–18 BC) makes Rhadamanthus one of the judges and punishers of the unworthy in the Underworld ([[Tartarus]]) section of the ''[[Aeneid]]''.

[[Homer]] represents him as dwelling in the [[Elysium|Elysian Fields]] (''Odyssey'' iv. 564), the [[paradise]] for the immortal sons of Zeus. [[Pindar]] says that he is the right-hand man of [[Cronus]] (now ruling [[Elysium]]) and was the sole judge of the dead. [[Lucian]] depicts Rhadamanthus as presiding over the company of heroes on the [[Isles of the Blest]] in ''[[True History]]''.

== Argive Genealogy ==
{{Argive genealogy in Greek mythology}}

==See also==
* [[Chinvat Bridge]], the bridge of the dead in Persian cosmology
* [[Sraosha]], [[Mithra]] and [[Rashnu]], guardians and judges of souls in Zoroastrian tradition

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].

==External links==
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*{{wiktionary-inline|Ῥαδάμανθυς}}
*{{wiktionary-inline|Rhadamanthus}}
*{{wiktionary-inline|rhadamanthine}}

{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

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[[Category:Agenorides]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Hephaestus]]
[[Category:Children of Zeus]]
[[Category:Greek judges of the dead]]
[[Category:Greek underworld]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Kings of Crete]]
[[Category:LGBTQ themes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Cretans]]