User:Scorpiohistory/Pasiphaë

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In Greek mythology, Pasiphaë (/pəˈsɪfiiː/; Greek: Πασιφάη Pasipháē, "wide-shining" derived from πᾶς pas "all, for all, of all" and φάος/φῶς phaos/phos"light") was a queen of Crete, and was often related to as goddess of Witchcraft and Sorcery. The daughter of Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse, Pasiphaë is notable for being the mother of the Minotaur. She conceived the Minotaur after mating with the Cretan Bull who was hidden within a hollow cow that the Athenian inventor Daedalus built for her. The curse was sent after her husband Minos failed to sacrifice to Poseidon the bull as he had promised.

Family[edit]

Parentage[edit]

Pasiphaë was the daughter of god of the Sun, Helios, and the Oceanid nymph Perse. She was thus the sister of Aeëtes, Circe and Perses of Colchis. In some accounts, Pasiphaë's mother was identified as the island-nymph Crete herself. Like her doublet Europa, the consort of Zeus, her origins were in the East, in her case at the earliest-known Kartvelian-speaking polity of Colchis (Egrisi (Georgian: ეგრისი, now in western Georgia). She was the sister of Circe, Aeëtes and Perses of Colchis.

Marriage and Children[edit]

Pasiphaë was given in marriage to King Minos of Crete. With Minos, she was the mother of Acacallis, Ariadne, Androgeus, Glaucus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Xenodice, and Catreus^[1].

After laying down with the Cretan Bull, she gave birth to the "star-like" Asterion, who became known as the Minotaur.

Mythology[edit]

Creation of the Minotaur[edit]

Following the birth of "the fairest bull born in its herd" each year, it was required of Minos to sacrifice it to Poseidon. One year, a bull that was extremely beautiful was born, Minos not wanting to sacrifice this bull, chose to sacrifice another, more inferior bull. Thus, the god cursed Pasiphaë to experience lust for the white, splendid bull. Pseudo-Apollodorus, mentions a slightly differing reason; citing that Minos wanted to be King, and he called upon Poseidon to send him a bull in order to prove to the kingdom that he had received sovereignty from the gods. Upon calling on Poseidon, Minos failed to sacrifice the bull, as Poseidon wished, causing the god to grew angry and curse Pasiphaë.

Ultimately, Pasiphaë went to Daedalus and asked him to help her mate with the bull. Daedalus then created a hollow cow covered with real cow-skin, so realistic it fooled the Cretan Bull, allowing her to mate with him. Pasiphaë fell pregnant and gave birth to a half-human half-bull creature that solely fed on human flesh. The child was named Asterius, after the previous king, but was commonly called the Minotaur ("the bull of Minos").

Other Versions of the myth[edit]

According to sixth century BC author Bacchylides, the curse was sent by Aphrodite. Similarly mentioned in Hyginus', Fabulae, the reason behind Aphrodite cursing Pasiphaë was because she had neglected Aphrodite's worship for years, and failed to make offerings to her.

In yet another version, Aphrodite cursed Pasiphaë (as well as several of her sisters and father) with unnatural desires as a revenge against her father Helios, for Helios had revealed to her husband Hephaestus her secret affair with Ares, the god of war, earning Aphrodite's eternal hatred for himself and his whole race.

The myth of Pasiphaë's coupling with the bull and subsequent birth of the Minotaur was the subject of Euripides' lost play the Cretans, of which few fragments survive; a chorus of priests presenting themselves and addressing Minos, someone (perhaps a wetnurse) informing Minos of the newborn infant's nature (informing Minos and the audience, among others, that Pasiphaë breastfeeds the Minotaur like an infant), and a dialogue between Pasiphaë and Minos where they argue over which between them is responsible. Pasiphaë's speech defending herself is preserved, an answer to Minos' accusations (not preserved) where she excuses herself on account of acting under the constraint of divine power, and insists that the one to blame is actually Minos, who angered the sea-god.

(Note: Keep quote of Original Wiki (including photos) section same, I just didn't want to copy it in here).

Pasiphaë's Curse[edit]

Note: Keep entire first part of original wiki section the same

Procris then inserted a goat's bladder into a woman, told Minos to ejaculate the scorpions in there, and then sent him to Pasiphaë. The couple was thus able to conceive eight children. Records indicate, this became the first modern documentation of a sheath or condom.^[2]

Daedalus and Icarus[edit]

In one version of the story, Pasiphaë supplied Daedalus and his son Icarus with a ship in order to escape Minos and Crete. In another, she helped him hide until he fashioned wings made of wax and bird feathers.

Variation's about Pasiphaë's Death[edit]

While Pasiphaë is an immortal goddess in some texts, other authors treated her as a mortal woman, like Euripides who in his play Cretans has Minos sentence her to death (her eventual fate is unclear, as no relevant fragment survives. In Virgil's, Aeneid, Aeneas sees her when he visits the Underworld, describing Pasiphae residing in the Mournful Fields, a place inhabited by lovers who (cite)

Personae of Pasiphaë[edit]

In the Greek literalistic understanding of a Minoan myth, in order to actually copulate with the bull, she had the Athenian artificer Daedalus construct a portable wooden cow with a cowhide covering, within which she was able to satisfy her strong desire. This interpretation reduced a near-divine figure (a daughter of the Sun) to a stereotyped emblem of grotesque bestiality and the shocking excesses of lust and deceit. Pasiphaë appeared in Virgil's Eclogue VI (45–60), in Silenus' list of suitable mythological subjects, on which Virgil lingers in such detail that he gives the sixteen-line episode the weight of a brief inset myth. In Ovid's Ars Amatoria Pasiphaë is framed in zoophilic terms: Pasiphae fieri gaudebat adultera tauri—"Pasiphaë took pleasure in becoming an adulteress with a bull."

Pasiphaë is often included on lists among women ruled by lust and intermingled with the vernacular romance tradition. Other women include Phaedra, Byblis, Myrrha and Scylla. Scholars see ancient Greek of her as a personified sin of bestiality. Ovid's Ars Amatoria portrays Pasiphaë's jealousy of the cows that seem to attract the bull. (JSTOR^[3]).

She curses ev'ry beauteous cow she sees; (Ars Amatoria)

Ars amatoria story shows Pasiphae's jealousy of the cows, primping in front of a mirror while she laments that she is not a cow and killing of her rivals.

Cult of Pasiphaë[edit]

On Divination[edit]

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Celestial deity[edit]

In Description of Greece, Pausanias equates Pasiphaë with Selene, implying that the figure was worshipped as a lunar deity. However, further studies on Minoan religion indicate that the sun was a female figure, suggesting instead that Pasiphaë was originally a solar goddess, an interpretation consistent with her depiction as Helios' daughter. Poseidon's bull may in turn be vestigial of the lunar bull prevalent in Ancient Mesopotamian religion.

Nowadays, Pasiphaë's and her son the Minotaur are associated with the astrological sign of Taurus.

Visual representations[edit]

Pasiphaë in art[edit]

The myth of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull became widely depicted in art throughout history. Pasiphaë was most often depicted with a bull near her, signifying the connection to the myth.