In this connection Professor Murray has emphasized[*] certain facts
in connection with the legendary history of Minos, which would
seem to link the Cretan monarchy with a custom not infrequently
observed in connection with other ancient monarchies and faiths.
It will be remembered that the legend of Minos states variously
that he 'ruled for nine years, the gossip of Great Zeus,' and that
every nine years he went into the cave of Zeus or of the bull-god,
to converse with Zeus, to receive new commandments, and to give
account of his stewardship. The nine-year period recurs in the
account of the bloody tribute of seven youths and seven maidens
who were offered to the Minotaur every ninth year. May we not,
therefore, have in these statements a distorted recollection of
the fact that the Royal Incarnation of the Bull-God originally
held his office only for a term of nine years, and that at the
end of that period he went into the Dictaean Cave, the sanctuary
of his divinity, and was there slain in sacrifice, while from the
cave his successor came forth, and was hailed as the rejuvenated
incarnation of divinity, to reign in his turn, and then to perish
as his predecessor had done? In this case the seven youths and
seven maidens who were offered to the Minotaur at the end of the
nine-year period may have been slain with him to be his companions
and servants in the underworld, or, as is perhaps more likely,
they may, in a later stage of the custom, have been accepted as
his substitutes, so that the death of the King was merely a ritual
one.
Pages:
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281