According to poets later than Homer, Europê is brought over by Zeus
from Phœnicia to Krête, where she bears to him three sons, Minôs,
Rhadamanthus and Sarpêdôn. The latter leaves Krête and settles in
Lykia, the population of which, as well as that of many other portions
of Asia Minor, is connected by various mythical genealogies with
Krête, though the Sarpêdôn of the Iliad has no connection with Krête,
and is not the son of Europê. Sarpêdôn having become king of Lykia,
was favored by his father, Zeus, with permission to live for three
generations.[524] At the same time the youthful Milêtus, a favorite
of Sarpêdôn, quitted Krête, and established the city which bore his
name on the coast of Asia Minor. Rhadamanthus became sovereign of
and lawgiver among the islands in the Ægean: he subsequently went to
Bœôtia, where he married the widowed Alkmênê, mother of Hêraklês.
[524] Apollodôr. iii. 1, 2. Καὶ αὐτῷ δίδωσι Ζεὺς ἐπὶ τρεῖς γενεὰς
ζῇν. This circumstance is evidently imagined by the logographers
to account for the appearance of Sarpêdôn in the Trojan war,
fighting against Idomeneus, the grandson of Minôs. Nisus is the
eponymus of Nisæa, the port of the town of Megara: his tomb
was shown at Athens (Pausan. i. 19, 5). Minôs is the eponym of
the island of Minoa (opposite the port of Nisæa), where it was
affirmed that the fleet of Minôs was stationed (Pausan. i. 44, 5).
Europê finds in Krête a king Astêrius, who marries her and adopts her
children by Zeus: this Astêrius is the son of Krês, the eponym of the
island, or (according to another genealogy by which it was attempted to
be made out that Minôs was of Dôrian race) he was a son of the daughter
of Krês by Tektamus, the son of Dôrus, who had migrated into the island
from Greece.
Minôs married Pasiphaê, daughter of the god Hêlios and Perseïs, by
whom he had Katreus, Deukaliôn, Glaukus, Androgeos, names marked in
the legendary narrative,—together with several daughters, among whom
were Ariadnê and Phædra. He offended Poseidôn by neglecting to fulfil a
solemnly-made vow, and the displeased god afflicted his wife Pasiphaê
with a monstrous passion for a bull. The great artist Dædalus, son of
Eupalamus, a fugitive from Athens, became the confidant of this amour,
from which sprang the Minôtaur, a creature half man and half bull.[525]
This Minôtaur was imprisoned by Minôs in the labyrinth, an inextricable
inclosure constructed by Dædalus for that express purpose, by order of
Minôs.
[525] Apollodôr iii. 1, 2.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account