Crete in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Crete

55 passages from 13 ancient authors that tell of Crete, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Crete is the largest island in Greece and has been the backdrop for a number of stories of ancient Greek mythology.Zeus, the king of gods and men, w... For the story in one place, read our article on Crete.

Hesiod (4)

Hesiod, Theogony 450–479Rhea and Cronus; the birth of Zeus (450-479)Hecate is made a nurse of the young. Rhea bears Cronus Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, and Cronus swallows each child as it is born, because Gaia and Uranus have told him his own son will overcome him. When she is about to bear Zeus, Rhea asks her parents for a plan, and they send her to Lyctus in Crete, where Gaia receives the child.
Hesiod, Fragments 1.68The suitors of HelenThe best-preserved passage of the Catalogue lists the heroes who came to woo Helen, each with his gifts, from Philoctetes and the sons of Amphiaraus to Odysseus, Menestheus, Aias and Idomeneus. Tyndareus sends none away and receives no gift, and the passage ends with the birth of Hermione.
Hesiod, Theogony 480–504Zeus hidden in Crete; Cronus vomits up his children (480-504)Gaia takes the infant Zeus to a hidden cave on Mount Aegeum and gives Cronus a great stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallows. When Zeus is grown, Gaia's counsel tricks Cronus into vomiting up his children, the stone first, which Zeus sets up at Pytho. Zeus also frees his father's brothers, the Cyclopes, who give him thunder and the lightning bolt.
Hesiod, Fragments 1.72–85Athens, Crete and central GreeceThese fragments name Butes, Breyon and Cychreus, and then Minos, Androgeos and Ariadne. They end with the families of Eurytus, Autolycus, Locrus, Ileus, Clymene and Thoas.

Homer (5)

Homer, Odyssey 14.191–359The false tale of the CretanOdysseus, in the character of a Cretan, tells Eumaeus that he was the son of a rich man and a slave woman, and fought at Troy under Idomeneus. Back in Crete he sailed with raiders to Egypt, where his men were killed or enslaved, and he was saved by the king. He then tells of a Phoenician who took him to Libya, of a shipwreck, and of how he was washed up in Thesprotia, where he heard that Odysseus was alive.
Homer, Odyssey 19.164–316The stranger's tale of CreteOdysseus says that he comes from Crete, that his name is Aethon and that he is the younger brother of Idomeneus, and that he once entertained Odysseus in Crete when the wind drove him toward Troy. Penelope weeps, and tests him, asking what clothes Odysseus wore, and he describes the purple cloak with the golden brooch and the tunic that shone like the skin of an onion. He then says that Odysseus is alive in Thesprotia and will return, but Penelope does not believe him.
Homer, Iliad 13.328–454Idomeneus' onslaughtIdomeneus and Meriones go into the battle like fire on a mountain, and Idomeneus kills Othryoneus, who had sought Cassandra's hand, and then Asius. He kills Alcathous, a son-in-law of Anchises, and Deiphobus' spear, thrown at Idomeneus, misses him and kills Hypsenor. Idomeneus boasts over each of his victims and calls on Zeus.
Homer, Odyssey 13.185–286Odysseus awakes on IthacaOdysseus wakes in his own land, but Athena has shed a mist about it, so that he does not know it, and he laments, thinking that the Phaeacians have tricked him. He counts his gifts, and Athena comes to him in the likeness of a young shepherd. Odysseus tells her a false tale that he is a Cretan who killed a son of Idomeneus and fled.
Homer, Iliad 2.645–785The Catalogue of Ships (3): Crete, Achilles' Myrmidons and ThessalyThe Catalogue turns to the Cretans under Idomeneus, Tlepolemus of Rhodes and Nireus of Syme. It lists Achilles' Myrmidons, who lie idle by their ships while he nurses his wrath, and then the contingents from Thessaly, including those of Protesilaus, Philoctetes and Eumelus. The poet asks the Muse who were the best of the men and horses, and names Ajax as the best man while Achilles was angry.

Apollodorus (4)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.1.1–4Europa, Minos and the birth of the MinotaurZeus takes the form of a bull and carries Europa from Phoenicia to Crete, where she bears Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys, while her brothers Cadmus, Phoenix and Cilix, with Telephassa and Thasus, settle in distant lands. The three sons quarrel over Miletus, and Minos marries Pasiphae and has his children. Minos wins the kingdom by praying for a bull from Poseidon and then sacrificing another; Poseidon makes the bull savage and makes Pasiphae fall in love with it, so that with Daedalus's wooden cow she bears the Minotaur, shut up in the Labyrinth.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.6.1–29The returns from Troy: Nauplius, Agamemnon's murder and OrestesThe Greeks quarrel at an assembly over whether to leave at once, and the section follows the returns: Calchas and Mopsus at Colophon, the storm at Tenos in which Ajax dies, Nauplius's false beacon at Caphereus, Neoptolemus in Molossia, and the fates of Demophon and Phyllis, Podalirius and the Locrian maidens. Agamemnon is murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and Orestes avenges him, is tried at Athens, and brings the image of Artemis from the Taurians. The section ends with Menelaus's wanderings and his return to Sparta.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.2.1–2Catreus, Althaemenes and NaupliusAn oracle tells Catreus that one of his children will kill him, and his son Althaemenes leaves Crete for Rhodes with his sister Apemosyne, whom he later kicks to death when she says Hermes took her by trickery. Catreus gives his daughters Aerope and Clymene to Nauplius to sell abroad; Aerope marries Plisthenes and becomes the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus, and Clymene marries Nauplius. In old age Catreus goes to Rhodes and is killed unknowingly by Althaemenes, who then vanishes into a chasm.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.1.1–7Uranus, the Titans and the birth of ZeusSky (Uranus) and Earth have the Hundred-handers, the Cyclopes and the Titans, and Sky casts the Cyclopes into Tartarus. At Earth's urging the Titans attack their father, and Cronus mutilates him with an adamantine sickle, so that the Furies are born from the blood. Cronus takes the sovereignty, binds his brothers again, marries Rhea and swallows his children at birth, until Rhea hides the infant Zeus in a cave in Crete among the Curetes and nymphs and gives Cronus a stone to swallow.

Euripides (2)

Euripides, Hippolytus 121–175Parodos: the women of Troezen ask what ails PhaedraThe Chorus of women of Troezen sings of a rock from which dew drips and of the river where the queen washes her clothes, and tells how they have heard that Phaedra is ill and has lain for three days without food. They guess that she may be possessed by a god, or troubled by news from Crete, or by some secret in her house.
Euripides, Hippolytus 732–789Second choral song; Phaedra hangs herselfThe Chorus wishes to be a bird in some pathless cavern, flying to the Adrian shore and the waters of the Eridanus, where Phaethon's sisters weep amber tears, and to the apple-bearing strand in the west. It sings of the ship that brought Phaedra from Crete to Athens, and says that Aphrodite has crushed her heart with unholy love so that she will tie a noose in her bridal chamber. A servant then cries that the queen has hanged herself, and the Chorus hears that she is dead.

Apollonius Rhodius (1)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1537–1693Triton, and Talos of CreteTriton, in the form of a young man, gives Euphemus a clod of earth and later shows the way out of Lake Triton to the sea. At Crete the bronze man Talos hurls rocks at Argo until Medea overcomes him with her spells and he falls.

Callimachus (2)

Callimachus, Hymns 1.1–96Hymn to ZeusThe poet asks where Zeus was born, on Ida in Crete or in Arcadia, and calls the Cretans liars for building his tomb. He tells how Rhea bore Zeus in Parrhasia and washed in a spring she struck from the mountain, how the nymph Neda carried him to Crete and how the Dictaean Meliae and Adrasteia reared him on the milk of the goat Amaltheia. The hymn praises Zeus as the god who took kings for his portion, and ends with a prayer for goodness and prosperity.
Callimachus, Hymns 4.205–326Hymn to Delos: the birth of ApolloLeto sits by the Inopus and leans against a palm-tree, bidding her child be born, and Iris tells Hera, who relents because Zeus has calmed her. The swans of Pactolus circle Delos seven times, which is why Apollo's lyre has seven strings, and the island turns to gold as the god is born. Delos tells Earth that Apollo will love her above all lands and that she will wander no more. The poet then describes the first-fruits sent to Delos from the north, the dance of Theseus at the image of Cypris, and the sailors' rite at the altar.

Diodorus Siculus (10)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.73.1–5.77.8The gods' discoveries and their Cretan originsZeus is said to have given each god a field of invention: the Muses the letters and poetry, Apollo the lyre, healing and the bow, Hermes the herald's staff, Athena the olive, and Dionysus the vine. The chapters then give an older Heracles, Artemis, Plutus, and the claim that most of the gods began in Crete and spread to other lands.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.59.1–4.63.5TheseusThe historian tells of Theseus' birth at Troezen and his labours against the robbers on the road to Athens, then of the Minotaur: Minos' war over the death of Androgeos, the tribute of youths, Ariadne's help, and Theseus' union of the Attic demes into one city. He adds the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus and the exploits of Peirithoüs, including the abduction of Helen and the descent to Hades.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.76.1–4.80.6Daedalus, Minos in Sicily and the Mothers at EngyumDaedalus, an Athenian craftsman who invents the saw and the potter's wheel, flees to a deme of Attica after the death of his nephew, then to Crete, where he makes the contrivance for Pasiphae, and then escapes to Sicily; Icarus falls into the sea. Minos pursues him to Sicily and dies at the court of Cocalus. The section ends with the cult of the Mothers at Engyum and the great temple the townspeople built for them.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.78.1–5.80.4Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon; the peoples of CreteMinos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon are sons of Zeus and Europa; Rhadamanthys is the most just of men and rules many islands and a stretch of the Asian coast. Minos' descendants include Idomeneus and Meriones, and the historian lists the peoples who later mixed with the Cretans.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.64.1–5.67.5Early Crete: the Dactyls, the Curetes and the TitansThe Cretans claim that the Eteocretans were native to the island, and that the Idaean Dactyls discovered fire and the working of metals. They tell of the Curetes and of the Titans near Cnosus under Cronus' rule, whose age is described with lines of Hesiod, and of Hyperion's observation of the heavens.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.81.1–5.84.4Lesbos, Tenedos and the CycladesThe historian tells of the first settlers of Lesbos, including the Pelasgians, and of Lesbos son of Lapithes, who gave it its name, and of the colonies from Lesbos led by Macareus. He then tells of Tennes and the founding of Tenedos, and ends with the smaller Cyclades, which Minos colonised from Crete.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.55.1–5.59.6Rhodes: the Telchines, the Heliadae and later settlersThe Telchines first lived on Rhodes, followed by the children of Helius and Rhodos, the Heliadae, who are famed for their learning and for their sacrifice without fire. The historian tells of the killing of Tenages and Danaüs's visit to Lindus, and of the later settlers Phorbas, Althaemenes and Tlepolemus.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.68.1–5.72.5Zeus and the children of Cronus in CreteAccording to the Cretans the children of Cronus and Rhea discovered or introduced many arts, and the sea, the hearth and the corn belong to Poseidon, Hestia and Demeter. The historian gives the conflicting accounts of how Zeus became king, the places in Crete tied to his infancy, his benefactions to mankind and the punishment of the Giants.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.17.1–4.21.7Heracles and the cattle of GeryonesFor his tenth labour Heracles gathers an army and sails from Crete, which he first clears of wild beasts. In Libya he kills Antaeus, in Egypt Busiris, and he sets up the Pillars at the western ocean. He then crosses Celtica, where he founds Alesia, and the Alps, passes the Ligurians, and camps on the Tiber where Rome later stands.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.60.1–5.63.3The Cherronesus and the sanctuary of HemitheaThe historian turns to the Cherronesus opposite Rhodes, where Triopas was purified of his brother's murder, and then tells how the daughters of Staphylus were rescued by Apollo. One of them, honoured as Hemithea, came to have the great temple at Castabus.

Ovid (7)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.152–263The Minotaur; Daedalus and IcarusMinos returns to Crete and shuts the Minotaur, the monster born of Pasiphae's unnatural love, in a labyrinth built by Daedalus. The Athenians pay tribute of youths and maidens until Theseus kills the monster with the help of Ariadne's thread, and Ariadne is placed among the stars as a crown. Daedalus, long exiled in Crete, makes wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son Icarus, who flies too near the sun and falls into the sea. Daedalus' nephew Perdix, whom he threw from a tower out of jealousy, is changed into a partridge, and Daedalus is received by King Cocalus in Sicily.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.666–797Iphis and IantheLigdus, a poor man of Crete, tells his pregnant wife Telethusa that if the child is a girl it must be killed, but Isis appears to Telethusa in a dream and tells her to rear it. The girl Iphis is brought up as a boy and betrothed to Ianthe, whom she loves, and as the wedding approaches she prays in despair. Isis, remembering Telethusa's faith, changes Iphis into a man.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.1–151Scylla and NisusMinos besieges Megara, where Nisus, the king, wears a purple lock of hair on which his safety depends. His daughter Scylla, who loves Minos from the wall, cuts off the lock and takes it to him, but Minos rejects her for her treachery and sails away. Scylla, abandoned, swims after the ship and is turned into a sea-bird, the ciris, which is pursued by her father, turned into an osprey.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.1–137Cadmus and the DragonZeus (Jupiter) reveals himself to Europa in Crete, and her father Agenor sends his son Cadmus to look for her and not to return without her. Cadmus consults the oracle of Apollo, which tells him to follow a heifer and to found a city where she lies down. He kills the dragon of Ares (Mars), which guards a spring, and sows its teeth on Athena's (Minerva's) advice, and armed men spring up from the furrows and fight until only five are left. These help him to build Thebes, and Cadmus prospers, though his story shows that no man can be called happy before his death.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.453–613Cephalus at Aegina; the plagueMinos is gathering a fleet to make war on Athens, and Cephalus is sent from Athens to ask help from Aeacus, king of Aegina, and is received with honour. Aeacus tells how Hera (Juno), angered that the island was named after Zeus' (Jupiter's) lover Aegina, sent a plague that killed its people. The plague began among animals and spread to men, and the dead lay unburied in thousands.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.477–551Egeria and HippolytusNuma, having learned these lessons, goes back to Rome and rules in peace, and when he dies his wife Egeria, grieving, wanders until she lies down in tears at the foot of a mountain. Hippolytus, now the god Virbius, tries to console her with the story of how he was killed by his own horses and restored to life by Asclepius (Aesculapius), and taken to the grove of Artemis (Diana). Egeria is not comforted, and Artemis in pity turns her into a spring.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.833–875Europa and the BullHermes (Mercury) returns to Olympus, and Zeus (Jupiter) sends him to drive the herds of King Agenor down to the shore, where Agenor's daughter Europa is playing. Zeus, taking the form of a bull, wins her favour, and she climbs on his back. He carries her over the sea toward Crete.

Pausanias (14)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.2.1–7Sparta: the Agid kings from Eurysthenes to Alcamenes, and Lycurgus’ lawsPausanias traces the Agid royal house from Eurysthenes and Agis through Echestratus, Labotas, Doryssus and Agesilaus, noting colonies such as Patrae and the Aeolian colony of Gras, the expulsion of the Cynurians and the first wars with Argos. He records that Lycurgus gave the laws in the reign of Agesilaus, whether from Delphi or Crete, and the conquest of Aegys and of Amyclae, Pharis and Geranthrae under Teleclus, who was killed by Messenians at Limnae.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.4.1–10Samos and Chios: the Heraeum, Smilis and DaedalusPausanias recounts the Ionian settlement of Samos under Procles of Epidaurus, quoting Asius on the earlier line of Phoenix and Ancaeus, and the Ephesian attack under Androclus. He discusses the sanctuary of Hera, which the Samians say was founded where the goddess was born by the Imbrasus under a willow, and the old image by the Aeginetan Smilis. A digression on Daedalus, his flight from Athens to Minos and then to Cocalus in Sicily, follows. The section ends with the legendary history of Chios according to Ion, from Poseidon and Oenopion to King Hector.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.38.1–11Lycosura and Mount Lycaeus: the oldest city, the sacred precinct and Hagno's springPausanias calls Lycosura the oldest city on earth, the first the sun saw. He describes Mount Lycaeus, which the Arcadians say is the true Crete where Zeus was reared by the nymphs Thisoa, Neda and Hagno, and where the priest of Lycaean Zeus makes rain by stirring the spring of Hagno with an oak branch. On the mountain are a sanctuary of Pan, a hippodrome, the forbidden precinct of Lycaean Zeus where creatures cast no shadow and the festival of Parrhasian Apollo.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.17.1–6Athens: altar of Mercy, gymnasium of Ptolemy and sanctuary of TheseusIn the market-place are altars of Mercy, Modesty, Rumour and Impulse, which Pausanias takes as proof of Athenian piety. Nearby are the gymnasium of Ptolemy and the sanctuary of Theseus, with paintings of the Amazon war, the Centaur battle and Minos testing Theseus with a ring. He then gives the conflicting tales of Theseus’ death: his capture in Thesprotia with Pirithous, his loss of the throne to Menestheus, and his end on Scyros, from where Cimon later brought his bones to Athens.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.27.1–10Athens Acropolis: Athena Polias, the Arrephoroi, Tolmides and the bull of MarathonIn the temple of Athena Polias Pausanias lists a wooden Hermes, Daedalus’ folding chair, Persian spoils and the sacred olive, then the temple of Pandrosus and the secret night rite of the Arrephoroi. He describes figures of Erechtheus and Eumolpus, the statue of Tolmides with a summary of his campaigns, and bronze groups of Theseus lifting the rock, and of Theseus and the bull of Marathon, told through Troezenian and Cretan tales.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.36.1–6Salamis, Psyttalia and the Sacred Way: tombs of Anthemocritus and CephisodorusAt Salamis Pausanias notes a sanctuary of Artemis, a trophy of the sea-fight and a shrine of Cychreus, and on Psyttalia some rude idols of Pan. He then follows the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis, noting the tomb of Anthemocritus, murdered by the Megarians, the place Scirum named after a Dodonaean seer, and the tomb of Cephisodorus, who brought Roman help against Philip V of Macedonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.30.1–10Aegina’s cults of Hecate and Aphaea; the early history of TroezenPausanias lists Aegina’s temples, Hecate’s mysteries with Myron’s image, the sanctuary of Aphaea and the Cretan legend of Britomartis, and the sanctuary of Panhellenian Zeus, referring readers to Herodotus for the images of Auxesia and Damia. He then turns to Troezenia, giving its legendary kings from Orus and Althepus through Saron, Hyperes and Anthas to Pittheus and Troezen, and notes Dorian rule from Argos and the colonies founded from Troezen.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.3.1–10Ionia: Colophon, Clarus, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and PhocaeaPausanias gives the early history of several Ionian cities. At Colophon, the sanctuary of Clarus is linked to the Cretan Rhacius and to Manto, daughter of Tiresias, and her son Mopsus. He tells of Lebedus, destroyed by Lysimachus to enlarge Ephesus, of Teos with its Minyan, Attic and Boeotian settlers, and of Erythrae, which had Cretan, Lycian, Carian and Pamphylian inhabitants. He then covers the founding of Clazomenae and of Phocaea, whose settlers had to obtain kings of the race of Codrus before the Ionians would admit them.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.49.1–7Tegea: Philopoemen's early careerPausanias describes the theatre of Tegea and the pedestal of the statue of Philopoemen. He recounts Philopoemen's upbringing at Megalopolis by Cleander of Mantinea and his admiration for Epaminondas. He tells how Philopoemen led two thirds of the Megalopolitans to Messene when Cleomenes seized the city, refused Cleomenes' overtures, and fought at Sellasia, where he was run through both thighs and snapped the spear by walking forward. He then served as a captain in Crete, commanded the Achaean cavalry and defeated the Aetolian and Elean horse at the Larisus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.50.1–10Philopoemen: army reforms, victory over Machanidas and war with NabisPausanias tells how Philopoemen, as leader of the Achaeans, reequipped their infantry with breastplates, greaves, Argolic shields and long spears. At Mantinea he routed the Spartan foot and killed the tyrant Machanidas, and the audience at the Nemean games turned to him when a song about the crown of freedom was sung. He escaped an assassination plot by Philip of Macedon and relieved Messene from Nabis. He then fought the Spartans at Gythium and in the retreat, until the Aetolians had Nabis assassinated.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.53.1–11Tegea: Apollo, God of Streets, the sons of Tegeates and the sanctuaries of the cityPausanias explains why Tegea has images of Apollo, God of Streets: Apollo and Artemis took vengeance on those who ignored Latona, and Limon killed his brother Scephrus, for which the festival rite re-enacts a pursuit by the priestess of Artemis. He reports the migration of Cydon, Archedius and Gortys to Crete and the Cretan version of those names. He lists the Tegean tribes, the temples of Demeter and the Maid, Paphian Aphrodite, Dionysus and Apollo with an image by Chirisophus, the Common Hearth, and the high place of Clarian Zeus, then the roads to Laconia and their sanctuaries.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.2.1–7The Sacred War: Philomelus, Onomarchus, Phaylus and PhalaecusPausanias tells how the Phocians, fined by the Amphictyons, were persuaded by Philomelus to seize Delphi. He follows the ten years of war with the Thebans, the death of Philomelus at Neon, the defeat and death of Onomarchus against Philip, the dream and illness of Phaylus and the dismissal of Phalaecus, who died on Crete before Cydonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.6.1–7Delphi: the founding of the city, Lycorea, Delphus and the slaying of PythoPausanias gives the early history of Delphi: the oldest city founded by Parnasus, its flooding in Deucalion's time and the survivors led by wolves to found Lycorea. He reports the various accounts of Delphus' parentage and of the first Thyiad, and explains the name Pytho either from Pythes or from the rotting of the creature Apollo shot, said to be a dragon or a robber from Euboea whom the oracle foretold would be purified by men of Crete.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.16.1–8Delphi: the stand of Alyattes' bowl, the Navel and the offerings of the Elyrians and LiparaeansPausanias describes the iron stand of Alyattes' bowl by Glaucus of Chios, the first welder of iron, and the Navel of white marble, said to mark the centre of the earth. He lists the Spartan statue of Hermione, the Aetolian statue of Eurydamus, the bronze goat of the Elyrians of Crete, the Carystian ox and the Liparaean images of Apollo, one for each Tyrrhenian ship captured.

Nonnus of Panopolis (2)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 13.201–308Book 13: Aiacos, Asterios and Aristaios joinAiacos comes with his Myrmidons, who were once ants, and Asterios brings the Cretans, who will later settle in Colchis. Aristaios comes last, because he had challenged Dionysos with his honey and lost. He is the son of Cyrene and leads the Arcadians, armed by Apollo.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.364–495Book 47: Ariadne's lament; her marriage to Dionysos; the madness of ArgosAriadne laments her abandonment and begs any passing sailor to take her to Athens. Dionysos appears, consoles her and promises her a crown of stars, and they marry on Naxos amid songs and dances. He then goes to Argos, where the people, fearing Hera, refuse his rites, and he drives the Argive women mad so that they kill their infant children.

Aratus (1)

Aratus, Phaenomena 1–115Zeus and the northern sky: the Bears and the DragonAratus begins with Zeus, who gave men the signs of the heavens, and with a prayer to the Muses. He describes the Axis and the two Bears, Helice and Cynosura, which were set in the sky for nursing the infant Zeus in Crete, and the Dragon winding between them. He goes on to the kneeling figure called Engonasin, the Crown, Ophiuchus with the Serpent and the Scorpion, Arctophylax or Boötes, and the Maiden, whom men called Justice and who lived on earth in the Golden Age.

Bacchylides (2)

Bacchylides, Epinicians (Odes of Victory) 1.111–2.14Odes 1–2: Minos on Ceos; Argeius, boys' boxing at the IsthmusOde 1 breaks in on Minos, who comes from Crete with fifty ships, weds Dexithea on Ceos and leaves half his host there, and their son Euxantius becomes lord of the island. The poet then praises Argeius, son of Pantheides, whose family Apollo favoured, and reflects that Virtue's renown outlasts death. Ode 2 is a short song announcing Argeius' victory in boys' boxing at the Isthmus and recalling the seventy wreaths won there by the Ceans.
Bacchylides, Dithyrambs 17.1–132Dithyramb 17: Theseus and MinosA ship bears Theseus and fourteen Athenian youths and maidens to Crete, where Minos lays a hand on a maiden and Theseus rebukes him. Minos asks Zeus for a sign and challenges Theseus to bring back his gold ring from the sea. Theseus dives, is carried by dolphins to the hall of his father Poseidon and robed by Amphitrite, and comes back unwetted to the ship while the Athenians sing a paean.

Lycophron (1)

Lycophron, Alexandra 1253–1368Alexandra 1253–1368: The sow's colony and the Sibyl, and the chain of rapes and reprisals between the two continentsThe founder sets up a bronze image of the sow and her young and builds a shrine to Pallenis, putting his fathers' gods and his aged sire before his wife and goods, and, judged most pious even by his foes, founds a famous land near Circaeon and the Sibyl's cave. Cassandra then recounts the older quarrel: the carrying off of the ox-eyed girl from Lerne to the lord of Memphis, the reprisal on the Saraptian heifer taken to Crete, an expedition sent with Teucer and Scamandrus to the Bebryces, and the theft of the fleece by the leader of the single sandal. Further raids follow, a hero taking the girdle and an archer from Themiscyra, the Amazons' invasion of Attica, and a champion in a hide who levels the hill of Troy with the spade. The falcons from Tmolus then ravage Italy, and the fire-brand wakes the old strife again, so that the wronged side will repay the injury threefold and fourfold.