When people talk about the ancient mythological creature Minotaur, a ferocious beast immediately comes to mind and perhaps the infamous myth of the labyrinth as well. What people may not know, though, are the interesting details of the events that lead up to the birth of the mighty Minotaur. What is universally recognized as a feared creature of unusual birth was actually created from unfortunate actions between a selfish king and a vengeful god.
King Minos and his wife Queen Pasiphae led a good life ruling over the island of Crete. Minos held power over multiple islands of Greece and was recognized for his success and power by many. In an attempt to prove his rightful claim as King of Crete, Minos had sworn to locate the best bull he could find among his cattle, one that would be very favorable to its intended receiver. Minos would then take this great bull and sacrifice it to Poseidon, god of the seas, as he did each year in order to secure his ownership of the throne. One year in particular, among King Minos’ herd, there birthed a magnificent bull, one that possessed a unique kind of beauty that King Minos had never seen before. Minos truly was in awe of this magnificent bull, so much so that he found himself captivated by its beauty, and he realized that this bull was something he did not want to give up to the promised Poseidon. In fact, Minos purposefully chose to overlook the magnificent bull when making his decision, and settled on a less attractive bull to sacrifice to Poseidon.1
Watching him and his deceitful actions very closely, Poseidon took notice of King Minos’ plan in sacrificing a lesser bull to keep the best for himself. This made Poseidon very angry, and he immediately began thinking about how to discipline Minos for his selfishness. Poseidon saw that Minos loved his wife Pasiphae immensely, and with this knowledge, constructed a plan that would leave Minos and Pasiphae in the presence of a monster. 2
Poseidon cast a curse upon Queen Pasiphae, one of love, which she could not escape. Her love was not for her husband; instead, she felt love for his magnificent bull. Pasiphae would be found swooning over the magnificent bull as if it were a handsome and powerful man ready to take her into his strong arms. Alas, she was so utterly infatuated with the magnificent bull that she constructed a plan to lure the bull towards her, and hopefully lay with her romantically.3
Queen Pasiphae instructed a craftsman of the island, Daedalus, and his son, Icarus, to build her a wooden structure that represented a near-perfect body form of a female bull. She insisted that the piece be built as realistically as possible and large enough for herself to comfortably fit inside without revealing that she was human. In spite of her odd orders, Daedalus and Icarus did what the Queen asked of them. As a finishing touch, Queen Pasiphae placed a large cow hide over the structure so that the magnificent bull would notice the structure and take it as a female looking to mate. The Queen rolled the structure out to the field where she would often see the magnificent bull grazing day after day. She strategically placed herself in the view of the magnificent bull, stepped inside the structure, and waited patiently for the bull’s approach.4
After grazing for a bit, the magnificent bull caught sight of what it thought was the beautiful female and approached it. Before long, the Queen’s plan worked, as the magnificent bull fastened itself upon her and together, engaged in sexual and intimate relations. As a result of this, Queen Pasiphae became pregnant with the baby of the bull and upon its birth realized she was carrying something horrific inside of her.5
Just as Poseidon intended, Pasiphae had relations with the bull she loved and later birthed an unusual creature, born half-bull, half-human to be known as the Minotaur.
The creation and birth of the Minotaur, as well as other monsters, typically is done in response to acts of sin. In this particular case, King Minos’ egotistical actions led him to break a promise made to a god, and in return, that god made Minos’ wife feel the same love that her husband did for the magnificent bull, giving in to her abnormal fascination and eventually birthing an infamous monster of ancient Greece.6
- UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology, 2009, s.v. “Minotaur.” ↵
- UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology, 2009, s.v. “Minotaur.” ↵
- Christian Moevs, “Centaurs, Spiders and Saints,” in Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy: Volume 2, edited by Corbett George and Webb Heather (Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2016), 14-17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1sq5vb5.7. ↵
- UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology, 2009, s.v. “Minotaur.” ↵
- Christian Moevs, “Centaurs, Spiders and Saints,” in Vertical Readings in Dante’s Comedy: Volume 2, edited by Corbett George and Webb Heather (Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2016), 14-17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1sq5vb5.7. ↵
- George Palmer Garrett, “The Function of the Pasiphae Myth in Brother to Dragons,” Modern Language Notes 74, no. 4 (1959): 311-13. doi:10.2307/3040070. ↵
134 comments
Raymond Munoz
I think its so funny that I have read many of the Greek mythologies with all their abnormalities and yet I still find myself baffled at the origins of the fearsome Minotaur. With that, I feel that the author did an amazing job of unraveling the origins, because most Greek mythology articles drag the story out so long, but not this one. The author structures this article so that it gets straight to the point of what they want you to know. Now , having read this article I don’t know if there is any other Greek mythologies that can catch me off guard.
Matthew Bustamante
This article was very interesting yet also thought provoking. I had always been curious about where the Minotaur came from specifically in the ancient Greek myths. This article gave a great summary of the origins of the mythical creature. The respect of the gods was something that polytheistic religions all kept sacred. This myth of the egotistical king and the outcome of his selfishness reinforces that fear. Great article!
Jasmine Rocha
Poseidon is ingenious when it came to creating a revenge plot. The best way to conduct a revenge plan is to make the things that one loves into something that can create fear or hate. I’m also wondering if the minotaur was still in a way loved by Pasiphae because it is her child, a monster yes but still her child and in many cultures and belief loving one’s child is important and this is a special case because the Minotaur was created out of sin is it still the same idea.
Roman Olivera
The great Minotaur…a product of a vengeful god and sexual sin. Now we know. This article was on a topic that I have not read up on before, but like many myths from ancient times it includes the displeasure of a god and the consequences for such actions. What we see is this story is bestiality which is indeed out of the norm but was not unheard of in ancient times nor is it unheard of today. Though the real world form of this is definitely a sexual sin, thank God that offspring can not be produced by such an act. It is interesting to me to see how in Greek mythology the fear for displeasing the gods is always manifested into the most unheard of and life altering situation that man could imagine. His wife fell in love with a bull and had intercourse with it producing offspring. Explain that to your subjects King Minos. This could ultimately sound like a cover for his wife’s sexual sin and or a hideous baby. I will stop there because I might have already offended Poseidon. Great article by the writer, it was very informative on a subject that people do not typical research on their own.
Reagan Meuret
This article was great because it was so informative as I had no clue to how the Minotaur came to be. It is a little odd and gross, but none the less very interesting. It is definitely cool to know the backstory behind this creature even if it was born in a very unnatural way. Hopefully Minos has learned his lesson to always sacrifice the best bull. This article was great for giving a good backstory and having good development.
Suvesh Vasal
Wow, I had never heard this story. I was unaware of the Minotaurs origin but I am glad I did. This was really interesting and fun to read about because I had no idea how it was created. I had read and seen many movies, books, and games with the mythological creation but I had never really thought how it came to be. This was a very informative and fun article. Nice job.
Andrew Dominguez
Before this article i was never aware of the true story of the Minotaur, and this article did well at explaining the actual events. What i don’t understand is how minos thought he could fool a god so easily. Surely he had to know their would be punishment for trying to trick the gods. What i don’t under stand is how is wife was surprised her baby was a monster, what would she expect since she hooked up with an animal.
Noah Laing
This article certainly made did justice for making the story of the Minotaur interesting. This tale definitely seems to have a dark twist as Mino’s wife was attracted to the creature and ultimately ended up pregnant with a mythological creature inside her. This article was a good summary of how the tale of the Minotaur came to be.
Alexandra Cantu
I don’t think I have ever heard of a Minotaur. I enjoy reading mythological stories and their origins because it is completely fascinating. There are no limits to how far a story can go. The birth of the Minotaur is utterly insane. The Queen had a structure made to lure the magnificent bull in and then she carried half bull/half human inside her. Thats disturbing but extremely captivating. This article was was brief and very well written.
Elias Garza
Greek mythology is a subject that has recently started grabbing my attention, including this article. Every Greek story tends to have a beautiful beginning with a tragic plot twist. For example, the lady’s satisfaction towards the bull made me cringe. I feel like the power and attention gets to these creatures to point where they have to take vital actions.