Minotaur for Aulis to Shangri-La: Myth & Folklore Challenge: http://www.polyvore.com/aulis_to_shangri-la_myth_folklore/group.show?id=142718
Zeus, in the form of a bull, brought Europe from the Phoenician seashore to Gortys in Crete where he made love with her under a plane tree, since then the plane tree was blessed to never lose its leaves. From their union three sons were born triplets. Next, Zeus arranged the marriage of Europe to the Cretan King Asterion, who appointed Europe's and Zeus' sons as his successors. As promised, the three sons of Europe and Zeus (Minos, Radamanthis, Sarpidon) succeeded King Asterion to the throne of Crete. Initially they seemed satisfied to co-govern, but Minos, who wanted the reign to be his exclusively, ended up banishing his brothers: Radamanthis was sent to Viotia and Sarpidon to Asia Minor. Minos became the monarch who believed the gods would give him everything and anything he wished. The gods loved Minos because his father, Zeus, honored him above all. They presented him with a wife, Pasiphae, daughter of Helios and Persida, and sister of Circe, the sorceress, Kalypso and Aete, and aunt of Mideia, the grand sorceress. There is talk of eight children for Minos and Pasiphae: Androgeos, Katrefs, Defkalion, Glafkos, Akali, Xenodiki, Ariadne and Phaedra. Once, wanting to offer a sacrifice in honor of his uncle Poseidon, Minos asked Poseidon to send the best bull he could find from the sea. The bull was so beautiful that Minos didn't sacrifice him, but instead kept him with his flock. To revenge Minos for not keeping his promise, Poseidon made the bull so ferocious and dangerous that his eventual capture in Crete became one of the twelve feats of Hercules. When Pasiphae, his immortal wife, saw the bull she fell in love and coupled with him. She was able to couple with him with the help of Daedalus, who constructed a wooden likeness of a cow, in which Pasiphae hid. From this union the monster Minotaur was born, a humanoid being with a bull's head, which Minos promptly jailed in the Labyrinth, an enormous construction in Knossos. Minos, as ruler of the greatest naval kingdom of that time, undertook many journeys and military expeditions. His best known aggressive expedition was against Athens to avenge the murder of his first born son, Androgeos. When the siege of Athens continued for too long of a period, Minos asked his father, Zeus, for help, and Zeus unleashed a terrible epidemic. Following the instructions of the Oracle, the Athenians were forced to surrender and accept all of Minos' terms of submission. The most onerous condition of the surrender was the blood tribute. This called for Athens to provide every year (or every three or nine years) seven young men and seven young women as food for the monster Minotaur for as long as he lived. When the last group of young men and women arrived from Athens, prince Theseus, son of Poseidon and the successor of King Aegeas of Athens, was among them. The princess of Knossos , Ariadne, fell in love with the brave youth from Athens, and helped him escape. She devised a plan and gave Theseus a ball of yarn (mitos) so he could find his way through the Labyrinth and kill the monster Minotaur. After the killing, Ariadne departed Crete together with Theseus. However, along the way Theseus deserted her. Eventually, Ariadne became the wife of the god Dionysos.
http://www.explorecrete.com/history/labyrinth-minotaur.htm
