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| Grouping | Legendary creature |
|---|---|
| Country | Greece |
| Region | Crete |
InGreek mythology, theCretan Bull (Ancient Greek:Κρὴς ταῦρος,romanized: Krḕs taûros) was the bullPasiphaë fell in love with, giving birth to theMinotaur.
Minos was king inCrete. In order to confirm his right to rule, rather than any of his brothers, he prayedPoseidon send him a snow-white bull as a sign. Poseidon sent Minos the bull, with the understanding that the bull would be sacrificed to the god. Deciding that Poseidon's bull was too fine of a specimen to kill, Minos sent the bull to his herds and substituted another, inferior bull for sacrifice. Enraged, Poseidon hadAphrodite cursePasiphaë, the wife of Minos, causing her to fall in love with the bull. She subsequently gave birth to the half-man, half-bull,Minotaur. Poseidon passed on his rage to the bull, causing him to lay waste to the land.[1]
After consulting the oracle at Delphi, Minos hadDaedalus construct theLabyrinth to hold the Minotaur.[2]
Heracles was sent to capture the bull byEurystheus as hisseventh task. He sailed toCrete, whereuponMinos gave Heracles permission to take the bull away[3] as he had been wreaking havoc on Crete by uprooting crops and leveling orchard walls. Heracles captured the bull, and then shipped him to Eurystheus in Tiryns. The bull later broke loose and wandered intoMarathon, becoming known as the "Marathonian Bull".[3] Eurystheus then sent Heracles to bring back the man-eatingMares of Diomedes (the next task).
Androgeus, a son of Minos and Pasiphaë, competed in the games held byAegeus,King of Athens. He won all the games, but the bull, which broke free from his pen, rampaged through the city and trampled Androgeus. Devastated, Minos went to war with Athens and won. As punishment, theAthenians had to sendseveral youths every 9 years to be devoured by theMinotaur.
Theseus set to try to capture the bull. On the way to Marathon, Theseus sought shelter from a storm in the shack owned by an old lady namedHecale. She swore to make a sacrifice toZeus if Theseus was successful in capturing the bull. Theseus did capture the bull, but when he returned to Hecale's hut, she was dead. Theseus built ademe in her honour. He then dragged the bull to Athens where he sacrificed him toAthena and/orApollo. Theseus then went to Crete where he killed the Minotaur with the help of Minos' daughterAriadne.
According to Jeremy McInerney, the iconography of the bull permeatesMinoan culture.[4] The cult of the bull was also prominent in southwestern Anatolia. Bernard Clive Dietrich notes that the most important animal in the Neolithic shrines atÇatalhöyük was the bull. The bull was achthonic animal associated with fertility and vegetation. It figured in cave cults connected with rites for the dead.[5]
The palace at Knossos displays a number of murals depicting young men and women vaulting over a bull. While scholars are divided as to whether or not this reflects an actual practice, Barry B. Powell suggests it may have contributed to the story of the young Athenians sent to the Minotaur.[6] McInerney observes that the story of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull was not written until after Crete had come under Greek control.Emma Stafford notes that the story of the Cretan Bull does not appear before the Hellenistic period and suggests the connection between Crete and Athens is the result of the development of the myth of the Theseus cycle in late sixth century Athens.[7]
Media related toCretan Bull at Wikimedia Commons