Chapter 8: Minos and Krete
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♠ Od 11.321-22 – Homer, Odyssey
“And Phaedra and Procris I saw, and fair Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of baneful mind.” Greek Text
♠ Th 947-8 – Hesiod, Theogony
“And golden-haired Dionysus made brown-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, his buxom wife” Greek Text
♠ Il 13.451-2 – Homer, Iliad
“Minos again got him a son, even the peerless Deucalion, and Deucalion begat me, a lord over many men in wide Crete” Greek Text
♠ Pherekydes 3F85 FGrH – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, p. 83, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 148a MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 72-73, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ Pa 4.35-53 SM – Pindar, Paian Odes – Pindarus 2, pp. 23-24, ed. B. Snell and H. Maehler. Leipzig 1975.
I approve the words of lord
Euxantius,
who refused to rule over the Cretans, although they
were eager,
and to share a seventh part of one hundred
cities with the sons of Pasiphaë.
But he told them his own omen:
“Truly I fear war
with Zeus and I fear loud-rumbling Earthshaker.
With their thunderbolt and trident they once
sent the land and all the people
into deep Tartarus, sparing my mother
and the entire well-fenced house.
Then, am I to pursue wealth and reject as totally void
this land’s ordinance from the blessed gods,
in order to have a great inheritance elsewhere? Too
great
would be my constant
fear. Give up, my mind, the cypress tree,
give up the pasture land around Ida.
To me has been given a small (portion?) of bush(?) . . .
but I have been allotted no sorrows, no civil strife.
♠ Bak 1.112-28 – Bakchylides, Odes
on the third day warlike Minos came with a host of Cretans in fifty ships with flashing sterns. And by the will of Zeus Eukleios he subdued the deep-waisted maiden Dexithea, and left with her half of his people, battle-loving men, to whom he gave the craggy land as their share; and then he sailed off to the lovely city of Knossos, the king, the son of Europa. And in the tenth month the bride with beautiful hair bore Euxantius, to be ruler over the glorious island… Greek Text
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 145 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 71, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ DS 4.60.4-5 – Diodoros, Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica
And marrying Pasiphaê, the daughter of Helius and Cretê, he begat Deucalion and Catreus and Androgeos and Ariadnê and had other, natural, children more in number than these. As for the sons of Minos, Androgeos came to Athens at the time of the Panathenaic festival, while Aegeus was king, and defeating all the contestants in the games he became a close friend of the sons of Pallas. [5] Thereupon Aegeus, viewing with suspicion the friendship which Androgeos had formed, since he feared that Minos might lend his aid to the sons of Pallas and take from him the supreme power, plotted against the life of Androgeos. Consequently, when the latter was on his way to Thebes in order to attend a festival there, Aegeus caused him to be treacherously slain by certain natives of the region in the neighbourhood of Oenoê in Attica. Greek Text
♠ Aischylos, Kressai fr 116 R – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 3, p. 229, ed. S. L. Radt. Göttingen 1985.
♠ Pal 26 – Palaiphatos, Peri Apison (On Incredible Things) – Mythographi Graeci 3 pt. 2, p. 34 ed. N. Festa. Leipzig 1902.
Polyidos son of Koiranos (who was from Argos) had seen a serpent put a plant on another serpent that had died, and resurrect it. He did the same to Glaucus and resurrected him. Greek Text
♠ ApB 3.3.1-2 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
To Deucalion were born Idomeneus and Crete and a bastard son Molus. But Glaucus, while he was yet a child, in chasing a mouse fell into a jar of honey and was drowned. On his disappearance Minos made a great search and consulted diviners as to how he should find him. The Curetes told him that in his herds he had a cow of three different colors, and that the man who could best describe that cow’s color would also restore his son to him alive. So when the diviners were assembled, Polyidus, son of Coeranus, compared the color of the cow to the fruit of the bramble, and being compelled to seek for the child he found him by means of a sort of divination. But Minos declaring that he must recover him alive, he was shut up with the dead body. And while he was in great perplexity, he saw a serpent going towards the corpse. He threw a stone and killed it, fearing to be killed himself if any harm befell the body. But another serpent came, and, seeing the former one dead, departed, and then returned, bringing a herb, and placed it on the whole body of the other; and no sooner was the herb so placed upon it than the dead serpent came to life. Surprised at this sight, Polyidus applied the same herb to the body of Glaucus and raised him from the dead.
[2] Minos had now got back his son, but even so he did not suffer Polyidus to depart to Argos until he had taught Glaucus the art of divination. Polyidus taught him on compulsion, and when he was sailing away he bade Glaucus spit into his mouth. Glaucus did so and forgot the art of divination. Thus much must suffice for my account of the descendants of Europa. Greek Text
♠ Fab 136 – Hyginus, Fabulae
POLYIDUS: When Glaucus, son of Minos and Pasiphae, was playing ball, he fell into a jar full of honey. In the parents’ search, they made inquiry of Apollo about he boy. Apollo told them: A prodigy has been born for you. Whoever explains it will restore the child to you. Upon hearing this reply, Minos began inquiring from his people about the prodigy. They told him that a bullock had been born which changed colour three times a day, every four hours — first white, then red, then black. Minos then called together the augurs to explain the prodigy, and when no one was found who could do so, Polyidus, son of Coeranus, showed that the bullock was like a mulberry tree, for first its fruit is white, then red, and when ripe, black. Then Minos said to him: “According to the words of Apollo, you should be able to restore my son to me.” While Polyidus was observing omens, he saw an owl sitting over the wine-cellar and putting bees to flight. He interpreted the omen, and brought out the lifeless boy from the jar. Minos said to him: “You have found the body. Now restore life to it.” When Polyidus said this was impossible, Minos ordered him to be shut in a tomb with the boy, and a sword placed there. When they had been shut in, a snake suddenly made for the body of the boy, and Polyidus, judging the creature whished to devour the body, suddenly drew the sword and killed it. Another snake, seeking its mate, saw that it was dead, and came and brought a herb, and its touch restored life to the dead snake. Polyidus did the same. When they called out from within, a passerby reported it to Minos, who opened the tomb and found his son safe. He sent Polyidus many gifts back into his country. Latin Text
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, April 2023
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