Minos and his Brothers

Minos (Μίνως) was a son of the god Zeus and Europa, the daughter of King Agenor of Sidon. Minos was also the brother of Rhadamanthys (´Ραδάμανθυν) and Sarpedon (Σαρπηδών). His step-father was Asterius, who was king of Crete.

Zeus had brought Europa to Crete while in the form of a beautiful bull. In Crete, he seduced the Phoenician princess, and became the father of Minos and his brothers.

Asterius raised Minos and his brothers as if they were his own sons, when he married their mother. Asterius and Europa may have had a daughter named Crete (some said that Crete was the daughter of Deucalion). The island was named after Crete.

Minos was a powerful, athletic man, known for his skill in hunting. In his younger days, Minos often went out hunting. He once fell in love with a nymph named Britomartis, daughter of Zeus and Karme (Carme), daughter of Eubulus. But Britomartis, like her goddess Artemis, had no interest in men as sexual partners, because she wished to remain a virgin. Since he couldn't have her love, Minos decided to rape the maiden.

For several days, Minos pursued the nymph, until in desperation she leaped into the sea to escape. She was saved by fishermen who pulled her out of water, using their fishing net. Admiring her determination to preserve her virginity, Artemis awarded her companion immortality. She was frequently called Dictynna, as a goddess of hunting and fishing. See the Mother Goddesses page for more about Britomartis.

Of course, Minos' sexual preference wasn't limited to just nymphs or beautiful young women, as you will soon see.

Rhadamanthys was respected as a judge for his fairness and wisdom. He was said to have established the code of laws in Crete, which was why he was nicknamed as the "Lawgiver".

Tension was always high among the three Cretan brothers. Minos and his brothers were often rivals.

One day, their rivalry ended in open hostility because each fell in love with a beautiful youth named Miletus or Atymnius. Miletus was the son of Apollo and either of Acacallis, Areia or Deione. (As Atymnius, he was the son of Zeus and Cassiopea.)

When Miletus (Atymnius) was forced to choose, he told the brothers that he preferred Sarpedon. The jealous Minos seized power and drove Miletus and his two brothers out of Crete.

Sarpedon and his lover fled to Asia Minor, where Miletus captured the town called Anactoria, which he renamed to Miletus (of course). Sarpedon continued east, where he and his followers conquered the Solymi tribe and occupied their land. Sarpedon and his Cretan followers were known as the Termilae. They continued to be called Termilae, until the arrival of the Athenian Lycus together with his followers. Sarpedon shared the kingdom with Lycus, and their country became known as Lycia.

Sarpedon had a son named Evander, whom he married off to Bellerophon's daughter, Deïdameia. Sarpedon then made Evander king. Evander became the father of Sarpedon, the Lycian leader who had fought and died at Troy.

It was said that Europa wasn't Sarpedon's mother, because he was sometimes known as the son of Zeus and Laodameia, another daughter of the hero Bellerophon. According to Homer, this Sarpedon fought in the Trojan War.

Rhadamanthys headed in the opposite direction of his brother. Apollodorus said that Rhadamanthys settled in Boeotia where he married the widow Alcmene, mother of Heracles. He was the father of Erythrus and Gortys.

When Rhadamanthys died, he was transformed into a god in the Underworld, particularly that of the Elysium, acting as one of three judges. The other two judges were Aeacus, son of Zeus and Aegina, and the other was Rhadamanthys' own brother, Minos.