Chapter 17 Lecture One of Two Myths of Crete ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Chapter 17Lecture One of Two

Myths of Crete

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

Myths of Crete

• Told by Greeks, not by Cretans themselves• Full of tricksters and monsters, beastiality and

human sacrifice• Tell us more about what the Greeks thought

of them than what the early people on Crete were really like


EUROPA AND THE BULL


Europa and the Bull

• Agenor (Semitic “leader of men”)• Brother Belus (=Baal, “lord”) ruled in Egypt• Agenor settled in Phoenicia

– Europa– Cadmus– Cilix– Phoenix


Europa and the Bull

• Agenor sends sons to look for her• Phoenix stays near home = Phoenicia• Cilix goes to southern Turkey = Cilicia• Cadmus goes to Thebes = Cadmeia


Europa and the Bull

• Europa’s Sons on Crete– Minos– Sarpedon– Rhadamanthys

• Talus (the bronze giant)• Laelaps (the magic dog)


Fig. 17.1Europa and the Bull


Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Tarquinia; Scala/Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali / Art Resource, New York

Minos and Pasiphaë


MINOS AND PASIPHAË


Minos and Pasiphaë

• As a sign that he should be king, Minos asks Poseidon to send a bull, which he will sacrifice

• Poseidon sends the bull, but Minos sacrifices another one

• Married Pasiphaë, a daughter of Helius– Ariadne, Androgeus


Minos and Pasiphaë

• Makes Pasiphaë lust for the bull• Daedalus from Athens is in Crete

– Left Athens after killing his nephew and student Perdix over a patent quarrel about the saw

• Daedalus makes a device for Poseidon and her “bull-friend”– Minotaur is born


Fig. 17.2Pasiphaë and the Minotaur as an infant.


Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris

Minos and Pasiphaë

• Minos asks Daedalus to build a prison for the Minotaur– Labyrinth


Fig. 17.3 Mt. Ida in Crete


De Agostini Editore/PhotoLibrary

MINOS AND SCYLLA


Minos and Scylla

• Androgeus (a son of Minos) enters athletic contest in Athens and defeats all the local boys

• Aegeus orders him to fight a wild bull at Marathon and Androgeus is killed

• Minos collects his fleet and moves to attack Athens


Minos and Scylla

• On his way, he attacks Megara, ruled by Nisus, a brother of Aegeus

• Daughter Scylla falls in love with Minos• Betrays Nisus by cutting off his protective

purple lock of hair• The city falls, but Minos abandons her


THESEUS AND AMPHITRITÊ


Theseus and Amphitritê

• Cannot take Athens• Zeus sent a plague and famine• Even four human sacrifices couldn’t deliver

the Athenians• An oracle tells them to surrender



• Every 9 years (or every year), 7 girls and boys must be sent to Crete to be sacrificed to the Minotaur

• Theseus, the son of Aegeus, the king of Athens, volunteers to go and face the Minotaur



• Theseus is also a son of Poseidon• Minos is on the ship and makes a pass at one

of the girls, Eriboea• Theseus warns him off and claims that he is

son of Poseidon, just as Minos is a son of Zeus



• Zeus sends thunderbolts to prove that Minos is his son

• To test him, Minos throws a ring off the ship and orders him to get it

• Theseus dives in but returns with a wreath given to him by Amphritritê, the wife of Poseidon


Fig. 17.4Theseus and Amphitritê


Musée du Louvre, Paris; Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, New York

PERSPECTIVE 17.1Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson


Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson

• The world-wide popularity of the Percy Jackson novels and films show that even when tampered with to suit the tastes of the time the characters and basic structures of Greek myth continue to engage the imagination. Percy, whose name mirrors Perseus, is a hero in the true sense of the word, and has to fulfill his fate on earth, like the Greek heroes we've been studying.


THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR


Theseus and the Minotaur

• On Crete, Ariadne (daughter of Minos) falls in love with Theseus

• She gives him the ball of thread on the suggestion of Daedalus, with which he returns from the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur


Theseus and the Minotaur

• But Theseus dumps Ariadne on Naxos, though she is rescued and married by Dionysus

• Theseus also stops on Delos, Apollo’s sacred island, and dedicates a statue of Aphrodite

• The youth dance the “crane dance” in celebration


Fig. 17.5Theseus and the Minotaur


Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence; Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome

Perspective 17.2Picasso's Minotauromachia twists the images of the slaying of the Minotaur into a complex system of symbols and meaning.


Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, New York

DAEDALUS AND ICARUS


Daedalus and Icarus

• Minos turns on Daedalus• He makes wings, bound with wax, and escapes

with his son Icarus• Icarus flies too close to the sun and falls into

the sea


DEATH OF MINOS


Death of Minos

• Daedalus now flies to Sicily, to the court of Cocalus

• Minos, looking for Daedalus everywhere, arrives in Sicily with a scheme to catch Daedalus: the shell

• Daedalus is exposed, but the king’s daughters kill Minos in boiling water


End


Chapter 17 Lecture One of Two Myths of Crete ©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

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