Glaucus (son of Minos)

Mythology

Glaucus died after falling into a jar of honey while playing with a ball or chasing a mouse. His parents, unable to find him, consulted the Oracle at Delphi, who told them that whoever found the true likeness of a marvelous creature born among them would also find the child. They interpreted this as referring to a newborn calf in Minos's herd that changed color from white to red to black three times a day. Polyidus, or Asclepius, observed the similarity to the ripening of mulberry fruit, and Minos sent him to search for Glaucus. Polyidus found the boy dead inside a honey cask after seeing an owl driving bees away from a wine-cellar. Minos demanded Glaucus be brought back to life; when Polyidus objected, Minos had him entombed with the body. Inside the tomb, Polyidus killed a snake, and a second snake brought a herb that revived the first. Using the same herb, Polyidus resurrected Glaucus. Minos then refused to let Polyidus leave Crete until he taught Glaucus divination. Polyidus did so, but before departing asked Glaucus to spit in his mouth, causing Glaucus to forget everything. This story was the subject of a lost play attributed to Euripides. Glaucus later led an army that attacked Italy, introducing the military girdle and shield, which gave him the Italian name Labicus, meaning 'girdled'. His daughter Deiphobe was a priestess of Phoebus Apollo and Diana Trivia who appears in The Aeneid in Book 6.