King Minos of Crete is said to have lived three generations before the Trojan War. He was the son of Europa and Zeus (in the form of a bull) and at the same time the son of Europa and Asterion the King of Crete.

After Asterion's death. Minos became ruler of Crete, and against his brothers' objections, he offered a sacrifice to Poseidon, asking the god to make a great bull emerge from the sea, which he promised to sacrifice to Poseidon in return. But when Minos refused to fulfill this promise, Poseidon caused the bull to become mad, and caused Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love with it, and she then gave birth to the Minotaur, half-human, half-bull.