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- Aeacus
- Angelos
- Arae
- Ascalaphus
- Cerberus
- Ceuthonymus
- Charon
- Erinyes
- Eurynomos
- Hades
- Hecate
- Hypnos
- Melinoë
- Menoetius
- Minos
- Moirai
- Nyx
- Persephone
- Pluto
- Rhadamanthus
- Thanatos
- Zagreus
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- Acheron
- Asphodel
Meadows - Cocytus
- Elysium
- Fields of sorrow
- Fortunate Isles
- Land of dreams
- Lethe
- Phlegethon
- Styx
- Tartarus
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In Greek mythology, Rhadamanthus (Template:IPAc-en) or Rhadamanthys (Template:Langx) was a wise king of Crete. As the son of Zeus and Europa he was considered a demigod. He later became one of the judges of the dead and an important figure in Greek mythology.
His name, whose etymology is obscure,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was later used to allude to persons showing stern and inflexible judgement.<ref name=":0" />
FamilyEdit
Rhadamanthus was, according to Bulfinch's The Age of Fable, the son of Zeus and Europa and brother to Sarpedon and Minos (also a king and later a judge of the dead).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Together with his brother, Rhadamanthus was raised by Asterion, their stepfather. He had two sons, Gortys (associated with Gortyn, Crete) and Erythrus (founder of Erythrae).
A different tradition represents Rhadamanthys as the son of Hephaestus, Hephaestus as a son of Talos, and Talos as a son of Cres, the personification of Crete. This tradition is reported by Pausanias, who cites the poet Cinaethon of Sparta as his source.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Athenaeus, the lyric poet Ibycus wrote of Rhadamanthys as the lover of Talos, rather than grandson.<ref>Ibycus Fragment 32 in Template:Cite book</ref> The Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedia from the tenth-century CE, adds to this that Talos and Rhadamanthus introduced homosexuality to Crete.<ref>Suda s.v. Theta 41. Θάμυρις.</ref>
Other sources (e.g. Plutarch, Theseus 20) credit Rhadamanthys rather than Dionysus as the husband of Ariadne, and the father of Oenopion, Staphylus and Thoas. In this account, Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, Rhadamanthys's brother; another Ariadne was the daughter of Minos's grandson and namesake, who features in Theseus's legend and was rescued by Dionysus.
MythologyEdit
LegislationEdit
Template:See also Although he was frequently considered one of the judges of the dead in the underworld, he was also known for a few legislative activities. There is a reference to a law of Rhadamanthus ordering the Cretans to swear oaths by animals<ref>Porphyry, De Abstinentia III.16.6, on which see Jean Bouffartigue, Porphyre, De l'abstinence, (Paris) 1979, p. 171 n. 2.</ref> and to another law of Rhadamanthus saying if people defend themselves against others who initiated violence then they should suffer no penalty.<ref>Apollodorus Library of Greek Mythology, II.4</ref> His legislation, and its subsequent analogue in Lacadaemonian Sparta, is briefly described in Book I of Plato's Laws, after he is introduced as the brother of Minos, and credited with being the justest of men and an administrator of justice.
Exile from CreteEdit
King Asterius died childless and Minos inherited the throne. When Minos became the king of Crete, he drove Rhadamanthus out of Crete, because he had been jealous of his popularity. Rhadamanthus fled to Boeotia, where he married Alcmene, widow of Amphitryon and mother of Heracles. According to some traditions, he became a tutor to Heracles.Template:Citation needed This is also mentioned by John Tzetzes, a medieval historian.Template:Citation needed
In general, the particular sphere of activity of Rhadamanthus tends to be the Aegean islands, apart from Crete itself, where Minos was active. He is also often connected by ancient authors with central Greece.<ref name="auto">John Davidson, "Rhadamanthys and the Family of Herakles." L'antiquité classique Vol 68, 1999, pp. 247–252</ref>
AfterlifeEdit
According to later legends (c. 400 BC), on account of his inflexible integrity he was made one of the judges of the dead in the lower world, together with his half-brother Aeacus and his full-brother Minos. He was supposed to judge the souls of easterners, Aeacus those of westerners, while Minos had the casting vote (Plato, Gorgias 524A). He is portrayed in Books 4 and 7 of Homer's Odyssey. Virgil (69–18 BC) makes Rhadamanthus one of the judges and punishers of the unworthy in the Underworld (Tartarus) section of the Aeneid.
Homer represents him as dwelling in the Elysian Fields (Odyssey iv. 564), the paradise for the immortal sons of Zeus. Pindar says that he is the right-hand man of Cronus (now ruling Elysium) and was the sole judge of the dead. Lucian depicts Rhadamanthus as presiding over the company of heroes on the Isles of the Blest in True History.
Argive GenealogyEdit
Template:Argive genealogy in Greek mythology
See alsoEdit
- Chinvat Bridge, the bridge of the dead in Persian cosmology
- Sraosha, Mithra and Rashnu, guardians and judges of souls in Zoroastrian tradition
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
External linksEdit
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