De Incredibilibus

The myth that’s told about Pasiphae is that she was consumed by lust for a grazing bull, and that Daidalos made a wooden cow and shut her within it so that the bull would mount and mate with the woman. He impregnated her and she gave birth to a child that had the body of a man and the head of a bull. I for one say that this never happened. To start with, it is impossible for an animal of one kind to mate with one of another unless the womb and genitals are compatible. For it is not possible for a dog and an ape to mate with one another and produce offspring, nor a wolf and a hyena, nor an antelope and a deer (for the fact is that they are of different species). More to the point, I do not think that a bull had sex with a wooden cow: for all four-footed animals smell the genitals of an animal before mating and mount it afterwards. Nor would a woman be able to withstand being mounted by a bull, nor could she have carried a horned embryo.

The truth is as follows. They say that Minos had pain in his genitals and was taken care of by Procris, the daughter of Pandion, in exchange for the dog and the javelin …[*](There is a lacuna in the text here, at the end of which appears the word ‘Cephalos’, the name of Procris’ husband. ) At this time, a very attractive young man served Minos. His name was Tauros [‘Bull’]. Pasiphae was seized by love for him, persuaded him to sleep with her, and gave birth to his child. Minos, when he calculated that the child was conceived while he was suffering from genital pain, realised that the child was not his own because they had not had sex during that time. After examining the child closely, he worked out that it was Tauros’. Despite this, Minos decided against killing him since he looked like his own children’s brother.

He sent him away into the mountains so that when he grew up he might help the herdsmen there. However, when he reached manhood he no longer obeyed the cowherds. When Minos learnt of this, he ordered him back to the city so that he might keep him under control. If he would come willingly, he could travel unrestrained; if not, he would be brought in chains. When he heard this, the young man fled further into the mountains and survived by snatching livestock. Minos sent a larger force to apprehend him and the young man dug a deep tunnel and shut himself up in it. They regularly threw sheep and goats down to him and he survived by eating them. Whenever Minos wanted to punish someone he would kill him by sending him to the man caged up in this dwelling. When Minos captured Theseus, one of his enemies, he brought him also to the place to be killed. But Ariadne had already placed a sword in the enclosure, and there Theseus killed ‘Minotauros’...[*](There is a lacuna in the text here.) This is the event as it actually happened; the poets altered the story into a myth.

An old tale says that Cadmos, after slaying a serpent, plucked out its teeth [odontes] and sowed [speirō] them in his own land, and that men with weapons sprung up from them. If this were true, noone would sow anything other than serpents’ teeth; and if they would not grow elsewhere then they would at least sow them in the land in which they had sprung up previously.

Here is the truth. Cadmos, a Phoenician by birth, arrived at Thebes to compete against his brother, Phoinix, for the kingdom. The king of Thebes at the time was Draco [‘Serpent’], a son of Ares, who, among all the things that a king usually has, owned elephant tusks [odontes]. Cadmos killed him and became king himself. Draco's friends began to wage war against him, and his sons also joined forces against Cadmos. When Draco’s allies had been defeated in battle, they seized Cadmos’ possessions, including the elephant tusks, which were stored in a sanctuary. They began to run away, fleeing to their homelands. They scattered [speirō] in different directions, with some going to Attica, and others going to the Peloponnese, Phocis or Locris. From these places they continued to wage war against the Thebans. They were difficult opponents since they spoke the same language and were knowledgeable about the terrain. After they had stolen the tusks and fled, the townspeople would say, Cadmos has harmed us in killing Draco, for, because of that man's tusks, many noble men have risen up [spartoi] and prevailed over us. The myth was fabricated from this real event.