Pasiphae in Greek Mythology

The story of Pasiphae, from Greek mythology, is a story which is often quickly passed over in polite society. It is though also a story that is integral in understanding the lives of many other famous individuals within Greek mythology. Many people are of course unaware who Pasiphae was, because of the lack of emphasis put upon her tale, but she was perhaps best known as the mother of the Minotaur.

Pasiphae was an immortal, being the daughter of Helios, the Greek sun god, and the Oceanid, Perse. Pasiphae was born with her own special gift, and like her sister, Circe, had witchcraft powers. Despite these powers though, it was only upon her marriage to Minos, the King of Crete that she came to prominence in the stories of Ancient Greece. This marriage produced a number of offspring, Ariadne, future wife of Dionysus; Glauco, the boy inside the honey cask; Adrogeus, the son who caused the Athenian tribute; Catreus, the son who died a the hands of his own sons; and Phaedra, future wife of Theseus.

Pasiphae’s husband though had wronged the gods, and in particular Poseidon. To ascend to the thrown he had prayed to the god who had sent the sign of a snow-white Cretan Bull to show that Minos was the chosen one. Minos though did not sacrifice the bull as was required, and instead substituted an inferior animal in its place. Poseidon of course noticed this deception and came up with a plan to make Minos suffer.

Daedalus and Pasiphae - Pompei - PD-old-100

Poseidon’s revenge came about by transposing the love that Minos had for the Cretan Bull, onto Pasiphae, a love that was physical in nature. The will of Poseidon meant that Pasiphae was forced to give into her unnatural desires, and to make this happen, Pasiphae brought in the expertise of Daedalus, the legendary inventor. Daedalus invented a mechanical hollow wooden cow, which when wrapped in the skin of a cow was indistinguishable from the real thing. Pasiphae entered into the hollow space, and the wooden cow was left in the field where the Cretan Bull was grazing. The Cretan Bull copulated with the fake cow, and thus copulated with Pasiphae. Pasiphae became pregnant by the Cretan Bull, and gave birth to another son for Minos, this one was called Asterion, or Minotauros as he was also known. Asterion though was not an ordinary human boy, and was born with the body of a male, but the head and tail of a bull.

This is where the knowledge of Pasiphae ends for most people familiar with Greek mythology but there is more to the story of the immortal. King Minos was far from being faithful to his wife, and his indiscretions became known to Pasiphae. Pasiphae made use of her witchcraft skills to place Minos under a spell, a spell which ensured that when Minos ejaculated poisonous creatures were brought forth. These creatures would kill of the kings lovers, apart from the immortal Pasiphae. It was a spell that was only broken when Prokris, a young Athenian girl, produced a remedy to counteract the spell.

Pasiphae as previously mentioned is not a name well known with readers of Greek mythology, primarily because her story is not one that people are easily comfortable in reading. Most readers are willing to just know that the Minotaur was born of Pasiphae without knowing the details.

Copyright - First Published 25th June 2009

Keywords - Pasiphae and Circe, Pasiphae and Minos, Pasiphae and the bull, Pasiphae Crete

The Graeae in Greek Mythology

The grouping of three old women has played a sinister role in many pieces of literature, one only has to bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to mind to visualise the three witches from the opening acts. One of the original groupings of three women from literature comes from Greek mythology, and were collectively known as the Graeae.

Perseus and the Graiae - Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) - PD-art-100

The Graeae were three women normally depicted as the epitome of old age, and their name indeed means the grey ones or old women. They only come to prominence though when their life story crosses that of one of the most famous of Greek heroes, Perseus.

The Graeae were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, Phorcys being one of the gods of the sea, often called the original old man of the sea, whilst Ceto is often depicted as the original sea monster. This parentage though ensured that the Graeae were sisters to the Gorgons, Sirens, Echidna, Ladon, Scylla and Thoosa. Traditionally they were always depicted as elderly and grey haired women, who were born with only one eye and one tooth between them.

Hesiod, and other contemporary sources name the three Graeae as Enyo, also known as horror, Deino, dread, and Pemphredo, alarm. Enyo is perhaps the most significant of the trio, and is often described as the waster of cities, although there is some conjecture that there were two females in Greek mythology with the same name.

The role of the Graeae was primarily seen as being the guardians of their sisters, the Gorgons, and in particular were the holders of the secret to their location. It was in this role that eventually saw them visited by Perseus, who was in search of their sister, Medusa, in order that his own quest could be brought to a conclusion. Perseus made use of the fear that the Graeae had, a fear of being permanently blind, and so as the sisters passed the one eye between them, Perseus stole in and took it. Perseus then demanded answers to his questions, and held the eye as the bargaining chip. The Graeae were more fearful of losing their eye forever, than they were of failing to fulfill their obligations as secret keeper. Thus Perseus managed to discover the location of the Gorgons.

After the visit of Perseus, the Graeae did not appear again in any mainstream stories from Greek mythology. They were though only one of a number of three sisterhoods that populated the tales, and the likes of the Moirae also played key roles in Greek mythology.

Although often described as being hideous to look at, the Graeae did little to antagonise anyone, and it is a continuing theme amongst stories from Greek mythology, that the hero is not exactly heroic in his dealings with them. Perseus played on their fears and scared information out of the Graeae to his own ends.

Copyright - First Published 6th July 2009

Keywords - Graeae, Graeae Sisters, Perseus and the Graeae, Graeae in Greek mythology, Graeae myth, sisters in Greek mythology,