About Crete
Cretan mythology
Minotaur
One of the most popular myths of greek mythology is the one of Minotaur. According to the tradition, King Minos asked God Poseidon to send hime a sign which could prove that only him should take the throne of Knossos. Poseidon sent him a beautiful white bull and asked Minos to sacrifice in his honour. Minos was stunned by the beauty of the taurus and decided to mislead Poseidon and sacrifice another bull instead of the one he offered him. As revenge, Poseidon, with the help of Aphrodite, made Kind Minos’s wife lust for the bull. Desperate as she was Pasiphae asked for help from Daedalus, who created a hollow wooden cow, Damalis, which he covered with real cow’s skin, so Pasiphae could mate with the bull. From that unnatural coitus Minotaur was born, a creature with the body of a man and the face of the bull instead of the one he offered him. Poseidon understood what happened and angry as he was caused the love of Mino’s wife, Pasiphae for the bull. Desperate as she was Pasiphae asked for help from Daedalus, who created a wooden cow effigy , Damalis, which he covered with real cow’s skin. Pasiphae stepped into the effigy and misled as the bull was coupled with her. From that unnatural coitus Minotaur was born, a beast with human body and a taurus head, which was eating human blood.
Talos
In Greek mythology, Talos - also spelled Talus, was a mythical guard of Crete. He was a giant, automaton, made out of Cooper. He is regarded as the first robot in ancient mythology. Talos was the restless guard of Crete, who was traveling through Cretan shores three times daily and protected it from enemies. When he saw unknown ships he threw huge rocks against them. In the coast when he had to encounter someone he was burning them with his breath or by hugging them with his burning coper body.
According to a theory, the God of fire and iron, Hephaestus created Talos and offered him to the King of Knossos, Minos in order to guard Crete. Another legend says Zeus gave him as a gift to Europa, who then offered him to her son, King Minos. Also, some historians believe that Talos means sun in Crete and that Talos was a God of Sun who later turned into a hero.
Talos perhaps symbolised the technological development of the Minoan metallurgy. Plato says that he had the duty to supervise the application of laws, which shows the importance given by the Minoans to justice.
