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Pasiphaë
Mother of the Minotaur
(heads up: this is one of the earliest entries written for RP, and it's not up to the research standards of the rest of the site.)
Pasiphaë is best known for two things. The first, and better known of the two, was that she had an insatiable need to have sex with a bull. Not just any bull, but a bull that Poseidon gave her husband, king Minos. So the legend goes, her husband was supposed to sacrifice the bull back to Poseidon, but decided to keep it. In response, Poseidon was like, “Hey Pasiphaë, you know what’d be real good right now? Bull penis.” So she had the court inventor, Daedalus, build her a hollowed-out wooden cow so that she could have sex with the bull.
She later gave birth to the Minotaur. Daedalus got busy building a labyrinth.
The second thing she was well-known for was ruining her husband’s sex life. Being a powerful sorceress (her sister was Circe) and knowing that her husband was cheating on her, she made a charm such that if he slept with anyone save her, he would ejaculate serpents, scorpions, and millipedes. Gross.
She made a charm such that if he slept with anyone save her, he would ejaculate serpents, scorpions, and millipedes.
So what’s the deal? As best as historians are able to determine, they were the same legend. Europa was the Minoan version, and Pasiphaë the Greek one. When the Greeks rolled through and conquered Crete, they essentially rewrote things. Instead of her being a powerful and in-charge woman, she was a depraved and lustful pawn. Their way of breaking Minoan traditions and bending it to their own ends. Dick move, guys.
(enjoy the art? you can get it as a poster, shirt or phone case!)Art Notes
- Her laurel garland makes two horns (she was often depicted with a horned crown, being a bull goddess).
- The night sky in the background is the Taurus constellation, naturally.
- The setting is a direct copy of king Minos’s palace at Knossos (which really exists).
- The cow is modeled after a native breed local to that region called the Greek shorthair.
- The only severe inaccuracy I’m aware of is that the cow was supposed to be on wheels – probably a reference to an actual statue that the ancient Minoans used. I liked it better with hooves though.
- Oh, and the lady in the background is wiping scorpions off her chest and there are some in her hair. Make of that what you will.
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Hi. Um…Well… I just wanted to inform you that Pasiphaë wasn’t an bull goddess. In fact, she was not a goddess at all. Like Circe she is an immortal sorceress, which is totally diffrent than a goddess. Many sorceresses served and learned magic from Hecate, who is the goddess of magic. ☺
Sorry… I feel quite sheepish now.
theoi.com has a really good collection of links to all of her myths.
did anyone notice in the background of the picture i think it is kinda funny they are all screaming and she is like “who me?” but it is still really gross
why? i guess i don;t understand the story really good, i know she fucked a bull. but why did she have the urge to fuck a bull? have something to do with cupid making a mistake with his bow and arrows or something?
soooo? zeus is the father of the minotaur? cool.
Basically King Minos was supposed to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon. However, Minos backed down on the promise, so Poseidon made Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. THAT’S how the Minotaur was born.