King Minos of Crete asked Poseidon, God the Sea, for a sign to prove to his people that he was their true king. Poseidon sent a white bull from the sea for King Minos to sacrifice before his people. Minos did not perform the sacrifice. He kept the bull on display for his self-aggrandizement.

To punish King Minos, Poseidon caused Pasiphae, Minos’ queen, to fall in love with the white bull. They mated (with a little help from Daedalus), and the creature, called Minotaur, was their offspring.

Minos built a giant underground maze called the Labyrinth, and imprisoned the savage creature within it. The Minotaur fed upon virgin youths, coerced from Athens as their yearly tribute. The Greek myth of Theseus tells the whole story.

Usually, the Minotaur is portrayed as rampant, fangs bared, obviously a threatening posture. I am pleased that I captured, and even intensified his menace, by drawing him in an attitude of repose. His savageness and earthiness are still apparent, and his sexual attraction is strong and seductive.

An interesting note (to me at least) is that his tongue did not appear in my preliminary drawings. It only came out (Ha!) as I was working on the finished pen and ink.