In
Greek mythology Minos ( or ; ,
Minos) was the first
King of
Crete, son of
Zeus and
Europa. Every nine years, he made
King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to
Daedalus' creation, the
labyrinth, to be eaten by the
Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in the underworld. The
Minoan civilization of Crete has been named after him by the archaeologist
Arthur Evans. By his wife,
Pasiphaë (or some say
Crete), he fathered
Ariadne,
Androgeus,
Deucalion,
Phaedra,
Glaucus,
Catreus,
Acacallis and Xenodice. By a
nymph, Pareia, he had four sons,
Eurymedon,
Nephalion, Chryses and Philolaus, who were killed by
Heracles in revenge for the murder of the latter's two companions; and by Dexithea, one of the
Telchines, he had a son called
Euxanthius. By Androgeneia of
Phaestus he had Asterion, who commanded the Cretan contingent in the war between
Dionysus and the Indians. Also given as his children are Euryale, possibly the mother of
Orion with
Poseidon, and Pholegander,
eponym of the island
Pholegandros.
