8.

Minos, it is said, used as an arsenal Amnisus,789 where is a temple of Eileithyia. Cnossus formerly had the name of Cæratus, which is the name of the river790 which runs beside it.

Minos791 is regarded as an excellent legislator, and the first who possessed the sovereignty of the sea. He divided the island into three portions, in each of which he built a city; Cnossus * * * * * * *,792 opposite to Peloponnesus, which lies toward the north.

According to Ephorus, Minos was an imitator of Rhadamanthus, an ancient personage, and a most just man. He had the same name as his brother, who appears to have been the first to civilize the island by laws and institutions, by founding cities, and by establishing forms of government. He pretended to receive from Jupiter the decrees which he promulgated. It was probably in imitation of Rhadamanthus that Minos went up to the cave of Jupiter, at intervals of nine years, and brought from thence a set of ordinances, which he said were the commands of Jove; for which reason the poet thus expresses himself;

“There reigned Minos, who every ninth year conversed with the great Jupiter.”793

Such is the statement of Ephorus; the ancients on the other hand give a different account, and say that he was tyrannical and violent, and an exactor of tribute, and speak in the strain of tragedy about the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, and the adventures of Theseus and Dædalus.