A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

MINOS. MINUCIA. 1091
king of Pontus, in B. C. 86, was betrayed by one Sarpedon, and conquered. (Herod. i. 173.) But
of his confederates, and put to death. (Appian,' Minos, who admired the beauty of the bull, did
Mithr. 48.) [W. B. D.J not sacrifice him, and substituted another in his
MI'NIIUS CERRI'NIUS, a Campanian, the place. Poseidon therefore rendered the bull furious,
son of Minia Paculla, was appointed by her one of and made Pasiphae conceive a love for the animal.
the two hierophants of the Bacchanalia at Rome in Pasiphag concealed herself in an artificial cow made
B. c. 186. On the discovery of these orgies [HIs- by Daedalus, and thus she became by the bull the
PALA FECENIA, HERENNIUS CERRINIUS], Minius mother of the Minotaurus, a monster which had
was arrested; and, having confessed before the the body of a man, but the head of a bull. Minos
senate the impure and atrocious character of the shut the monster up in the labyrinth. (Apollod,
rites over which he presided, was placed in close iii. 1. ~ 3, &c.; comp. DAEDALUS.) Minos is
custody at Ardea. His final sentence is unknown. further said to have divided Crete into three parts,
(Liv. xxxix. 13, 17, 19.) [W. B. D.] each of which contained a capital, and to have
MINOS (Mlvcos). 1. The son of Zeus and ruled nine years. (Hom. Od, xix. 178; Strab. x.
Europa, brother of Rhadamanthus, and king of pp. 476, 479.) The Cretans traced their legal and
Crete, where he is said to have given many and political institutions to Minos, and he is said to
useful laws. After his death he became one of the have been instructed in the art of law-giving by
judges of the shades in Hades. (Hom. I. xiii. 450, Zeus himself; and the Spartan, Lycurgus, was
xiv. 322, 04. xi. 321, 567, xvii. 523, xix. 178; believed to have taken the legislation of Minos as
comp. MILETUS.) He was the father of Deucalion his model. (Paus. iii. 4. ~ 2; comp. Plat. Min.
and Ariadne; and; according to Apollodorus (iii. p. 319, b.; Plut. De ser. Num. Vind. 4; Val.
1. ~ 1, &c.), Sarpedon aso was a brother of his. Max. i. 2. ~ 1; Athen. xiii. p. 601.) In his time
Diodorus (iv. 60; comp. Strmb. x. p. 476, &c.) re- Crete was a powerful maritime state; and Minos
lates the following story about him. Tectamus, a not only checked the piratical pursuits of his conson of Dorus, and a great-grandsoa of Deucalion, temporaries, but made himself master of the Greek
came to Crete with an Aeolian and Pelasgian islands of the Aegean. (Thuc. i. 4; Strab. i.
colony; and as king of the island, he became the p. 48; Diod. 1..) The most ancient legends defather of Asterius, by a daughter of Cretheus. In scribe Minos as a just and wise law-giver, whereas
the reign of Asterius, Zeus came to Crete witkI the later accounts represent him as an unjust and
Europa, and became by her the father of Minos, cruel tyrant. (Philostr. Vit. Apoll. iii. 25; Catull.
Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus. Asterius afterwards Epitkal. Pel. 75; Eustath. ad Hornm. p. 1699.) In
married Europa; and having no issue by her, he order t avenge the wrong done to his son Anadopted her three ~sons. Thus Minos succeeded drogeus [ANDROGEUS] at Athens, he made war
Asterius, and married Itone, daughter of Lyctius, by against the Athenians and Megarians. He.subwhom he had a son, Lycastus. The latter became, dued Megara, and compelled the Athenians, either
by Ida, the daughter of Corybas, the father of every year or every nine years, to send him as a
another Minos, whom, however, some also called a tribute seven youths and seven maidens, who were
son of Zeus. It should be observed, that Homer devoured in the labyrinth by the Minotaurus. (Apoland Hesiod know only of one Minos, the ruler of lod. iii. 15. ~ 8; Paus. i. 27, ~ 9, 44. ~ 5:; Plut.
Cnossus, and the son and friend of Zeus; and of Thes. 15; Diod. iv. 61; Ov. Met. vii. 456, &c.;
this one they on the whole relate the same things, comp. ANDROGEUS, THESEUS.) [L. S.]
whichl later traditions assign to a.second Minos, MINOTAURUS (MLd'Taupos), a monster with
the grandson of the former; for here, as in many a human body and a bull's head, or, according to
other mythical traditions of Greece and other others, with the body of an ox and a human head;
countries, a rationalistic criticism attempted to is said to have been the offspring of the intercourse
solve contradictions and difficulties in the stories of Pasiphag with the bull sent from the sea to
about a person, by the assumption that the contra- Minos, who shut him up in the Cnossian labyrinth,
dictory accounts must refer to two different per- and fed him with the bodies of the youths and
sonages. maidens whom the Athenians at fixed times were
2. A grandson'of No. 1, and a son of Lycastus obliged to send to Minos as tribute. The monster
and Ida, was likewise a king and law-giver of was slain by Theseus. It was often represented
Crete. He is described as possessed of a powerful by ancient artists either alone in the labyrinth, or
navy, as the husband of Pasiphaii, a daughter of engaged in the struggle with Theseus. (Paus. i.
Helios, and as the father of Catreus, Deucalion, 24. ~ 2, 27, in fin. iii. 18. ~ 7; Apollod. iii. 1. ~ 4,
Glaucus, Androgeus, Acalle, Xenodice, Ariadne, 15. ~ 8.) [L. S.]
and Phaedra. (Apollod. ii. 1. ~ 3.) He is said MINTA'NOR, the author of a lost treatise on
to have been killed in Sicily by king C6calus, music. (Fulgent. Mythol. i 1; Schol. ad Stat.
when he had gone thither in pursuit of Daedalus. T/eb. iii. 661.) [C. P. M.]
(Herod. vii. 170; Strab. vi. pp. 273,279; Paus. vii. MINTHA or MENTHA (Mtlvf), a Cocythian
4. ~ 5.) But the scholiast on Callimachus (Hymn. nymph, and beloved by Hades, was metamorphosed
in Jov. 8) speaks of his tomb in Crete. The detail by Demeter or Persephone into a plant called after
of his history is related as follows. After the her AzlvOt, or mint, or, according to others, she was
death of Asterius, Minos aimed at the supremacy changed into dust, from which Hades caused the
of Crete, and declared that it was destined to him mint plant to grow fatth. In the neighbourhood
by the gods; in proof of it, he said that any thing of Pylos there was a hill called after her, and at its
he prayed for was done. Accordingly, as he was foot there was a temple of Pluto, and a grove of.
offering up a sacrifice to Poseidon, he prayed that Demeter. (Strab. viii. p. 344; Ov. Met. x. 729;
a bull might come forth from the sea, and promised Oppian, Hal, iii. 486; Schol. ad Nicand. Alex.
to sacrifice the animal. The bull appeared, and 374.)' [L. S.]
Minos became king of Crete. Others say that MINU'CIA, one of the Vestal priestesses in
Minos disputed the government with his brother, B, C, 337. Her passion for gay attire made her
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