Cretan Bull
creatureThe magnificent bull sent by Poseidon to Minos that became the father of the Minotaur, later captured by Heracles as his seventh labour.
The Myth
Poseidon sent a beautiful white bull from the sea to King Minos of Crete, expecting Minos to sacrifice it. But Minos kept the bull and sacrificed an inferior animal, provoking Poseidon's wrath. The god caused Minos's wife Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull, and with the help of Daedalus's wooden cow disguise, she conceived the Minotaur. The bull itself rampaged across Crete until Heracles was sent to capture it as his seventh labour by Eurystheus, following the command of Hera who sought to torment Heracles. He wrestled the bull into submission and carried it back to the Peloponnese. Eurystheus released it, and the bull wandered to Marathon in Attica, terrorising the countryside until Theseus captured it before his journey to Crete to face the Minotaur in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus.
Parents
Poseidon (sent from sea)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The constellation Taurus, identified with the Cretan Bull or the bull form of Zeus, gives its name to the zodiac sign, the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, the Ford Taurus, and the Lamborghini logo. Bull imagery from Minoan Crete — where athletes literally vaulted over charging bulls — became the foundation of Spanish bullfighting culture after spreading through the Mediterranean over millennia.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Minotaur
creatureA monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, imprisoned in the Labyrinth beneath Crete....
Heracles (Labours)
heroHeracles performed twelve seemingly impossible labours as penance for killing his family in a...
Theseus (Labyrinth)
heroAthenian prince who entered the Cretan Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, then...
Cretan Bull (Labour)
conceptThe seventh labour of Heracles: capturing the monstrous bull of Crete, either the one Poseidon sent...
Minotaur's Labyrinth
creatureThe Minotaur was a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, born from Pasiphaë's...
Daedalus
heroThe greatest inventor and craftsman of Greek mythology. Daedalus built the Labyrinth, crafted wings...
Daedalus (Inventions)
heroThe legendary master craftsman of Athens and Crete who created the Labyrinth, artificial wings, and...
Europa
heroEuropa was the Phoenician princess whom Zeus, in the form of a white bull, carried across the sea...
Hera
godQueen of the Olympian gods and goddess of marriage. Known for her jealous rages against Zeus's...
Hera Teleia
godAn epithet of Hera as goddess of marriage and its fulfilment, worshipped as the divine model of the...
Heracles
heroThe greatest hero of Greek mythology, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Famous for his...
Labyrinth
placeAn impossibly complex maze built beneath the palace of Knossos on Crete by the master craftsman...