Seventh Labour (Cretan Bull)

For the seventh labour, Heracles needed to fetch the Cretan Bull, the bull that belonged to Minos, king of Crete. This bull was sacred to Poseidon, and had the ability to walk and even run on the surface of the sea.

When Minos gained the bull from Poseidon, he refused to sacrifice the bull to the sea god. To punish Minos for his broken promise, Poseidon caused Pasiphaë, daughter of Helius, to fall in love with beast. So the Cretan Bull fathered upon Pasiphaë, the monster Minotaur.

Embarrassed from the offspring and union between his wife and the bull, Minos no longer wanted the Cretan Bull. So Heracles had Minos' consent to take the bull. The only problem was that the bull would not go aboard a ship.

So Heracles rode on its back while the bull crossed the sea, from Cnossus, in Crete, all the way back to Greece.

Heracles released the bull after showing the creature to Eurystheus. The Cretan bull left the Peloponessus and roamed all the way to Marathon, in Attica. The Cretan bull then became known as Marathonian bull.

The Marathonian bull continued to ravage the country on the plains of Marathon, until Theseus killed the bull.