Pasiphaes

Pasiphae is a figure from Greek mythology, primarily known as the wife of King Minos of Crete and the mother of the Minotaur. Her parentage varies in different accounts, but she is often described as the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and the Oceanid Perse. Pasiphae was renowned for her beauty and her connection to the divine.

Her most famous myth involves her cursed infatuation with a bull. Poseidon, the sea god, had gifted Minos a magnificent white bull, which Minos was supposed to sacrifice. Minos, however, kept the bull, angering Poseidon. In retribution, Poseidon caused Pasiphae to fall deeply in love with the bull. To fulfill her desire, Pasiphae, with the help of the craftsman Daedalus, had a wooden cow constructed, inside which she concealed herself to mate with the bull.

The result of this union was the Minotaur, a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Minos, ashamed and horrified, had Daedalus build the Labyrinth to contain the monstrous offspring. Pasiphae's story is a tragic tale of divine punishment and unnatural desires, and it significantly shapes the narrative of Minos and the subsequent fate of Crete. She also appears in some myths as a sorceress.