Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 1 (Greek and Roman).djvu/202

64 characteristics of the powerful race of sea-kings who ruled over Crete in the days which preceded the dominion of the Argives. In a certain sense, then, the tradition is correct which places him three generations before the Trojan war; he is not far from being a historical character.

Minos is chiefly known as a ruler of powerful initiative in many fields. He founded numerous cities In Crete, the most notable being his capital, Knossos; to facilitate the administration of government he divided the island into three districts with Knossos, Phaistos, and Kydonia as head cities; and he extended his sway far out over the islands and the coasts of the mainland, and many settlements were named after him. He divided the Cretan burghers into two main classes, farmers and soldiers—producers and defenders; with the assistance of the people of Karia he is said to have cleared the sea of pirates; and to enable his citizens to develop their maritime commerce he invented a type of small coasting vessel. The code of laws which he established among the Cretans he received in the first place from Zeus, and, in order to obtain advice with reference to such modifications of it as should be necessary from time to time, he went to Mount Ida every ninth year and conferred with Zeus. In his administration of the law his brother Rhadamanthys assisted him in the cities, and Talos, the man of bronze, in the country, but Rhadamanthys succeeded only too well, so that he incurred the jealousy of Minos and was banished to a remote part of the island. As a warrior Minos showed himself cruel and harsh and in conflict with his character as a just and mild ruler, although this side of his portrait is, no doubt, coloured by Athenian prejudice. His career in arms will be narrated In the myths of Attike.

Daidalos.—Though a native of Athens, Daidalos is more closely connected with the legends of Crete than with those of Attike. At Athens he killed his nephew in a fit of jealousy and fled to Crete, where Minos received him in his court and encouraged his inventive genius. Among the many wonderful