Scientific name -- Homo taurus
Size -- about 9' tall
Diet -- humans, especially maidens

King Minos prayed to Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull as a sign he was fit to rule Crete. He promised to sacrifice the animal, but when it appeared, he kept it for his own. In retribution, Poseidon caused Minos' wife to fall in love with the bull. Their offspring was the Minotaur, a beast with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Minos had a huge labyrinth constructed under Crete where the Minotaur could be kept. Each year seven boys and seven girls were sent into the maze to be eaten by the beast. Eventually the Minotaur was slain by Theseus who unraveled a ball of twine as he moved into the labyrinth so he could find his way out.

The legend of the minotaur may have originated because of the important of the bull in Minoan ritual. Minoan buildings were adorned with bull horns, and their hourglass shields covered with bull hide. Early frescoes show Minoan youths leaping over the horns of bulls as a form of sport.