CHAEACTER OF MINOS IN LEGEND. 229 under one government, or ever exercised maritime dominion in the JEgsean is a fact which we are neither able to affirm nor to deny. The Odyssey, in so far as it justifies any inference at all, points against such a supposition, since it recognizes a great di- versity both of inhabitants and of languages in the island, and designates Minos as king specially of Knossus : it refutes still more positively the idea that Minos put down piracy, which the Homeric Kretans as well as others continue to practise without scruple. Herodotus, though he in some places speaks of Minos as a per- son historically cognizable, yet in one passage severs him point- edly from the generation of man. The Samian despot " Poly- krates (he tells us) was the first person who aspired to nautical dominion, excepting Minos of Knossus, and others before him (if any such there ever were) who may have ruled the sea ; but Polykrates is the first of that which is called the generation of man who aspired with much chance of success to govern Ionia and the islands of the ^Egtean." 1 Here we find it manifestly in- timated that Minos did not belong to the generation of man, and the tale given by the historian respecting the tremendous calam- ities which the wrath of the departed Minos inflicted on Krete confirms the impression. The king of Knossus is a god or a hero, but not a man ; he belongs to legend, not to history. He is the son as well as the familiar companion of Zeus ; he mar- ries the daughter of Helios, and Ariadne is numbered among his offspring. To this superhuman person are ascribed the oldest and most revered institutions of the island, religious and politi- cal, together with a period of supposed ante-historical dominion. That there is much of Kretan religious ideas and practice em- bodied in the fables concerning Minos can hardly be doubted : nor is it improbable that the tale of the youths and maidens sent 1 Herodot. iii. 122. Tlo^vKpuTrie -yap earl irpuroc TUV qfiEic Idpev ' vuv, of da^aaooKpa-eeiv tTrtvorjdT), 7rape TAivuof re TOV Kvuoaiov, nai el St) Tic aP-/*,Of Tporepof TOVTOV fyp^e r?;f i?a2,arrj?f T?jf de uv& p UTTTJI q( Xey o ftiv rj f y ev erj f Ho7MKpur^g tori Trpurof i faidaf 7ro^,/luf i%uv 'Iwvi//j re nal VTJGUV up^eiv. The expression exactly corresponds to that of Pausan'as, ix. 5, 1, im TUV Ka7iovfj.svuv 'Hpuuv, for the age preceding the avtipu'irqir yEVEtj ; also viii. 2 I, if rcl u-jurepu TOV uir&puirav jevovc.
