In Greek mythology, Minos’s wife was called Pasiphae, who became the Minotaur’s mother.
Pasiphae belonged to a divine family: she was the daughter of Helios and Perse. Her marriage to Minos connected a solar deity’s line with the royal dynasty of Crete. She was also the mother of several important mythological characters, including Ariadne and Phaedra.
The best-known episode involving Pasiphae begins when Minos refuses to sacrifice Poseidon’s bull. The god then causes Pasiphae to desire the animal. Daedalus constructs a wooden cow so that she can approach it, and the resulting offspring is the Minotaur.
Pasiphae should not be confused with Europa, Minos’s mother, or Ariadne, his daughter. Those family relationships are often mixed up because all three women are central to the Cretan cycle of myths.