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Key Details
Type
RealmMythology
Greek Pantheon
Coordinates
35.24°N, 24.91°E
About This Location
Minos, the maze, and a birth-cave
Crete in myth is Minos's thalassocracy: the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, Pasiphae's bull, and Daedalus's flight. Homer calls Minos a judge of the dead and Zeus's son. Hesiod and later poets put Zeus's infancy in a Cretan cave, hidden from Cronus. The palace at Knossos is archaeology; the Labyrinth as a built maze is a Greek story laid over Minoan ruins. No Linear B tablet names the Minotaur. Theseus's tribute of youths is Athenian charter myth.
Primary Sources
“Minos, the nine-year companion of great Zeus, who held the scepter.”
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River Styx
Body Of WaterThe principal river of the underworld, upon which even the gods swore binding oaths. Charon ferried the dead across its dark waters.