Minos is the judge and guardian of the second circle of Hell, a giant figure “laden with tentacles and serpent tails” whose tail assigns each soul its circle. Without his judgment souls have no circle.
| Type | Entity |
| Spanish entry | Minos |
Description
He sits, gigantic and elevated, across the river by the edge of the pit through which the descent continues. He rides, or rode, a guanay, from which he can be made to fall.
Judgment
Each soul is wrapped in his “double tail”; the number of coils is its circle. The rings were made with a whip. He then throws the soul “at a certain angle”, which decides where it lands. He is “a difficult guardian”. His verdicts are irreversible: “because of you my daughter is in the second circle”. He is credited with power over oaths or pacts in an unexplained phrase: “I never asked for her hand”.
To reach the bottom one must pass him, by negotiation, combat or evasion.
Two layers
He is both the great judge of Crete, who gave laws to all, and the infernal guardian. As king of Crete he promised Poseidon to sacrifice the bull that put him on the throne, and did not, adoring its beauty. Heracles defeated Cerberus and Minos.
History
A company toppled him, and “a lot of souls came”. A landscape feature is named “the product of the fall of grandfather Minos’s slip”.
The Eyes
The Eyes of Minos circulate outside Hell. One is set in a companion who no longer shows a cow’s skull but appears human, with a gray wolf pelt, back tattoos and wolf’s eyes, one of which “seems in motion”. The Eye sees what is true within 120 feet; its gaze fills those who lack resolve with dread for about a minute. It sees better far than near.
Conflicting accounts
- Most records describe tentacles and serpents; one calls him “this dog”.
- “Who are the Minoses? They are the two of two”: physical duplicity, or the two traditions counted separately.
Open questions
- What a guanay is, or whether the word was misheard; whether he uses it at his post.
- The fate of the escaped souls; whether he was replaced or restored.
- How many Eyes exist, how they are taken, and what losing them costs him.
- What pact “I never asked for her hand” holds.
- Whether the fall of “grandfather Minos” is the fall from the guanay.
- Whether the Minos Heracles defeated is today’s.