Rhadamanthus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Rhadamanthus

7 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Rhadamanthus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Rhadamanthus was a king in Greek mythology, son of Zeus and Europa and brother of Sarpedon and Minos. Rhadamanthus as well as his brother Minos later ... For the story in one place, read our article on Rhadamanthus.

Apollodorus (2)

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 2.4.6–12Amphitryon, Alcmene and the youth of HeraclesElectryon's sons are killed in a cattle raid by the Taphians, and Amphitryon accidentally kills Electryon and takes refuge at Thebes, where he wins the Teleboan war with the help of Cephalus's dog. Zeus lies with Alcmene in Amphitryon's likeness and she bears Heracles and Iphicles; the infant Heracles strangles the serpents Hera sends. Heracles is taught by several masters, kills the lion of Cithaeron after fathering children by Thespius's fifty daughters, and defeats the Minyans of Erginus. Hera then drives him mad and he kills his children, and the Pythia at Delphi names him Heracles and sends him to serve Eurystheus.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 2.1–100Olympian 2: for Theron — the house of Cadmus and the Isles of the BlestPindar praises Theron of Acragas, victor in the chariot race, and prays that time may heal the sorrows of his house. He recalls the house of Cadmus, with Laïus, Oedipus, the Fury that made his sons kill one another, and Polyneices' son Thersander. He then describes the afterlife, in which the wicked are punished and the good go to the Isles of the Blest, where Rhadamanthys judges and Peleus, Cadmus and Achilles dwell, and he ends by answering envy with the praise of Theron's generosity.

Diodorus Siculus (2)

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) 5.81.1–5.84.4Lesbos, 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.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.413–571Byblis and CaunusThemis' prophecy ends, and Byblis, a girl of Miletus, falls in love with her twin brother Caunus, and at first tries to deceive herself that it is only sisterly love. She dreams of him, and debates with herself whether she should write to him, and in the end writes a letter confessing her love. As she gives the tablets to a servant, they slip from her hands and fall.

Pausanias (1)

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.