Pasiphae

Pasiphaë is a figure in Greek mythology known as the wife of King Minos of Crete and the mother of the Minotaur. She is described as the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and the Oceanid Perse. By Minos she bore several children, most famously the Minotaur, a half-bull creature kept in the Labyrinth on Crete. In the most famous version of the myth, Poseidon sent a sacred white bull to Minos as a sign of his favor, but Minos failed to sacrifice it. As punishment, the god caused Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull, leading Daedalus to construct a hollow wooden cow to help her mate with the animal. The Minotaur’s birth and subsequent fate are central to Crete’s later legends surrounding Minos, the labyrinth, and Theseus.

Pasiphaë’s other children, including Ariadne and Phaedra, appear in various myths and later literary works. In different tellings, Pasiphaë’s character ranges from a loving queen to a figure associated with divine punishment and perilous desire. The myths surrounding her have been interpreted in diverse ways, from etiological explanations for the Minotaur to critiques of power, family dynasties, and sexual taboo.

Pasiphaë is also the name of a moon of Jupiter. It is an outer irregular satellite with a retrograde orbit, named after the mythological figure in keeping with the convention of using mythic names for Jovian moons. As an outer, distant moon, Pasiphaë is far from Jupiter’s major satellites and is studied primarily through telescopic observations and orbital dynamics.