Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Legends

Minos is a very tall and imposing man in white robes, with a thin royal circlet of gold on his head. His beard was pointed like a spear blade, while his eyes glittered cruelly. Ten years later, while visiting King Cocalus, Minos's pointed beard had gone gray, while he himself looked thinner, but the same cold cruel light shined from his eyes, and Minos still looked so tall and serious, that he made Cocalus look silly.

Minos is authoritative and commanding, yet he possesses a strong sense of justice and fairness. He is deeply committed to his responsibilities as a ruler and often struggles with the moral implications of his decisions.

Minos himself is said to have died at Camicus in Sicily, in pursuit of Daedalus, who had given Ariadne the clue by which she guided Theseus through the Labyrinth. He was killed by the daughters of Cocalus, king of Agrigentum, who poured boiling water over him while he was taking a bath. Subsequently, his remains were sent back to the Cretans, who placed them in a sarcophagus, on which was inscribed: "The tomb of Minos, the son of Zeus." Upon his death, Minos was succeeded by his eldest son, Catreus, though he and his son, Althaimenes, died soon afterwards and the throne of Crete passed onto Minos' only surviving son, Deucalion. The earlier legend knows Minos as a beneficent ruler, legislator, and suppressor of piracy. His constitution was said to have formed the basis of that of Lycurgus for Sparta. In accordance with this, after his death he was appointed as one of the judges of the dead in the Underworld.