Minos
Greek mythology · king · sea power, judgment
King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa, master of the Aegean, who commissioned the Labyrinth to hide his queen's monstrous child and exacted Athens' tribute of youths to feed it. After death, he judges the dead in the underworld.
Stories
Theseus and the Minotaur
Athens pays Minos a tribute of youths to feed the bull-headed thing in Daedalus's Labyrinth. Theseus enters as tribute; Ariadne's thread leads him through the dark, and he kills the Minotaur at its heart. He sails home with her, and leaves her sleeping on Naxos.
The Wings of Daedalus
Imprisoned by Minos in the maze he himself built, Daedalus shapes wings of feather and wax for himself and his son. He warns Icarus to fly the middle course; the boy climbs into the sun's heat for joy, the wax runs, and the sea that receives him takes his name.