LP0064 - The Cretan Bull - Daedalus, Cephalus, & Megacles, from Tzetzes' Chiliades

Legendary Passages #0064 - The Cretan Bull -
Daedalus, Cephalus, & Megacles, from Tzetzes' Chiliades.

Last time we covered the stories of sanctuaries in Thebes. This time we hear several tales concerning the Bull of Minos, the Dog of Cephalus, and the Olympics.

The Bull of Crete ties into several myths. Not only was retrieving it the seventh labor of Heracles, but it also became the Marathon bull, and was the sire of the Minotaur.

We also get more background on Daedalus, exiled from Athens for jealously slaying the son of his sister Perdix. Minos gave sanctuary to Daedalus, and with the slave Naucrate he had a son named Icarus.

Daedalus helped Queen Pasiphae commit adultery with either a bull, or with General Taurus, causing the Minotaur to be born. For this, Daedalus and his son were imprisoned, and eventually escaped either by ship, or by flying. Icarus died, and was buried by Heracles on the island of Icaria.

Daedalus fled to Sicily, but soon Minos followed him there. As King Minos was taking a bath, the daughters of Cocalus added boiling water, and Minos died.

The second story concerns Cephalus and his wife Procris. After a misunderstanding, she fled to Crete, and as a reward for helping Minos, she received a magic spear and a dog that could catch anything. Procris gave these to her husband Cephalus, who sent the dog after the uncatchable Teumessian Fox, so the gods turned both animals into stone. Cephalus took the magic spear hunting with him, and when Procris went to fetch him, he thought she was a wild animal. The magic of the spear was that it never missed.

The last tale concerns Megacles, son of the noblewoman Coesyra, who won third place in the Olympics for horse-racing. The Olympics were founded by Heracles in Olympia, just next to the Augean Stables in Elis, and took place every fifty months.

Next time, more stories of Heracles carved onto The Chest of Cypselus.

http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#19

The Cretan Bull,
a Legendary Passage,
from Tzetzes' Chiliades,
translated by Ana Untila.

1.19 - 1.21

1.19 CONCERNING THE BULL OF MINOS (STORY 19)

Minos was a son of Asterion Zeus.
Since the beginning of the world kings were called Zeus as well.
Just like the star of Zeus, which came quickly when he was born
To foretell he would have a destiny of a lion.
It appears only in front of kings who wear a crown.

After the death of the king Asterion,
Minos was not permitted to rule Crete after him
Because, they say, the kingdom must be given by the gods.

A strange sign from the sea would be revealed to him.
Minos promised that, whatever it was,
it would be sacrificed to Poseidon.
Then a beautiful bull appeared from the sea
And he was given immediately the kingdom of the Cretans.

He sacrificed to Poseidon another bull
That he asked to be brought from his herd.
That bull was said to have laid with his wife Pasiphae
Even though she was involved in intercourse
with Daedalus artificial inventions,
She gave birth to Minotaur, a beast half man and half bull.

-

Daedalus was a son of Eupalamus and Alcippe.
He was a craftsman and sculptor in Attica.
He threw from Attica’s citadel
The son of his sister Perdix, whose name was Attalus.
He was being a disciple alongside his uncle Daedalus.
He was the first to make an artificial serpent’s jaw
Which could catch a small piece of wood.
When his uncle saw that,
Being envious of the child’s genius, he killed him.

He went to Minos. There, with the slave Naucrate
He had a son, Icarus. Minos detained them
For having helped his adulterer wife.
He was about to kill them, that’s why he imprisoned them.

They escaped from the prison
Having put wings upon them, they flew through air.
Icarus fell into the sea when he left.
The Icarian Sea, where he fell, was named after him.

Daedalus was saved in Caminus of Sicily.
In Sicily came Minos looking for him.
Minos was killed by the daughters of Cocalus;
By pouring upon him boiling waters he immediately froze.

Now, I should say about the bull
and the involved intercourse,
About the Minotaur and the wings made by Daedalus
And how, they say, Daedalus’ sculptures could move.
As Euripides has said in his play Hecuba:
“I wish I could speak through my arms,
Through my hands and my hair and my walking
And through Daedalus’ crafting or some God’s”
And Plato, the master of comedy, has said:
“Every sculpture made by Daedalus must be seen
To move; that is a wise man”.

-

Minos, who was not permitted to be the ruler before,
Having consulted the seers, spoke to the Cretans.
He would be revealed a sign from the sea.
Commander Taurus showed up with his merchant ships
And Minos took the kingdom as if it were a god’s will.

It was this Taurus, the commander, not the bull,
With whom Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, committed adultery
In cooperation with Daedalus, who helped her
To be closed in the most guarded rooms,
The so-called wooden bull of Daedalus,
Where she had a baby; since the child had two fathers,
Minos and Taurus, he was called Minotaur.

Daedalus knew the ships of those merchants
were so quick as if they had feathers.
He left with them to Sicily.
Icarus was plundered and drowned during a shipwreck.
Daedalus was saved in the house of Cocalus.

The things crafted by Daedalus
were believed to move because of this:
Many years before Daedalus, the statues
Were made without arms, legs or eyes.
Daedalus was the first one to make them with arms and legs
As well as with fingers, eyelids and everything else.
That’s why they say his statues were capable of moving.

1.20 CONCERNING CEPHALUS’ DOG (STORY 20)

Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus and Praxithea,
Was the wife of Cephalus, Deioneus’ son.
She was bribed with a golden crown to lie down with Pteleon.
She fled to Minos after Cephalus discovered her.
Minos had secret intercourse with her
And gave her as a gift a sharp javelin and a fast-running dog.
This dog could quickly catch any fast beast.

She took these presents and returned to Cephalus.
He received the gifts and went hunting.
Believing it was a wild beast, he killed her with a javelin.
Judged by the Areopagus, he went into exile.

At that time there was a Teumessian Fox
That was bringing disaster to the children of Thebes.
Cephalus sends his dog to hunt the fox.
Zeus, by transforming the roads into stones, made the dog win.

This story has been written by Apollodorus.
While the wise Palaephatus, a really intelligent man,
Says a slightly different story.
He says there was a commander named Alopekos
Who was fighting against the Thebans along with other rebels,
Whom Cephalus killed having been called from Athens.
I, too, agree with this version of the story,
which is the most known.

Minos was involved in a secret intercourse with Procris
And after that, he sent her upon fast ships
Along with commander Cynas and many gifts for Cephalus.
Cephalus then sent this Cynas to Alopekos
To fight him as an enemy. They fought upon their horses
Until they destroyed each other.
Alopekos escaped with his ships
And Cynas was chased until the cliffs beside the sea,
Where his ships were, and left this life.

1.21 CONCERNING MEGACLES (STORY 21)

The claiming Megacles was son of Coesyra,
The most noble among all women under the sun.
He was the third one in the horse contest in Olympia.

Olympia was a place next to Triphylia
Where the river Alpheus is still flowing.
Heracles had been forced by Olympian Zeus
To fight and win the beasts of Augeas.
He was honoured with a young branch of a wild olive tree.
This contest continued to take place every fifty months.

http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#19