How King Minos insulted the gods, and they forced his wife to give birth to a Minotaur bull

Greek mythology is full of sex, cruelty and incredible intricacies of plots. In addition to promiscuous sexual relations, there is a place for betrayal and bestiality. What is the story of the Cretan king Minos, who did not respect the gods, as punishment, his wife gave birth to a Minotaur bull

Many believe that the great traitor Zeus was simply weak-willed and could not restrain his impulses, whereas in fact his every act of love had a great purpose behind it.

That is why after the birth of Hercules, the hero who defeated the indestructible for God, but vulnerable to mortal giants, Zeus stopped cheating on Hera. And the betrayals of Zeus also began because of and for Hercules - with Io, who gave birth to a family of great heroes, among her descendants was Hercules, and the beautiful Europa, the sister of Cadmus.

And the descendants of Cadmus were seduced by Zeus, so Dionysus is the grandson of Cadmus; but Zeus also kidnapped Europa in the form of a bull. He took her to Crete made love to her there, too, and got to know her. From this union three brothers were born: Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus. Zeus left Europe after he fell in love with her, but Asterius, the king of Crete, took her to wife and adopted her children.

After his death, the brothers somehow divided the power: Minos took everything for himself, and dealt with the brothers.

Minos was loved by the gods — Poseidon released a dazzling bull from the sea, which was supposed to be sacrificed. But this bull was so beautiful that Minos took pity on him and sacrificed another one to the sea god instead.

Poseidon became angry and decided to take revenge on the king. Usually this myth ends with this: the bull went mad, began to ravage the neighborhood, then Hercules came and defeated the bull, forced himself to be transported across the sea.

Hercules released the bull, but Theseus put an end to the mad cattle. But an important part is cut out in this plot, which made some mythologists ashamed.

Where did the Minotaur come from, the stepson of the king of Crete, the son of his wife Pasiphae, but not his son? Poseidon first punished Minos much more severely: he made Pasiphae fall in love with a bull.

The queen languished, not knowing how to achieve reciprocity from the thoughtless brute. Finally, master Daedalus helped her: he built a mechanical stuffed cow, in which Pasiphae fit, after which she began to wait until the bull of Poseidon noticed the scarecrow.

He noticed. When Pasiphae was born a Minotaur, Minos ordered Daedalus to build a huge maze, in which he imprisoned his wife and stepson. Every 9 years, the Minotaur demanded sacrifices for himself.

This continued until the hero Theseus put an end to this — as well as to the Minotaur himself. Daedalus fell out of favor for his help to Pasiphae. The master had to escape from Minos by building huge wings.

On the way, his son Icarus died, taking off on wings too close to the sun. Daedalus was pursued by Minos, but his new masters loved this master so much that they killed Minos.