In Greek mythology, Poseidon punished Minos by making Pasiphae desire the Cretan Bull.
Minos asked Poseidon to send a sign confirming his right to rule Crete. Poseidon sent a magnificent white bull from the sea, and Minos was expected to sacrifice it. Minos kept the animal instead, sacrificing another bull in its place according to the usual account.
Poseidon responded by causing Pasiphae, Minos’s wife, to develop a passion for the bull. With help from Daedalus, she approached the animal, and their union produced the Minotaur. Minos then had Daedalus construct the Labyrinth to contain the creature.
This episode connects the Minotaur’s birth with a broken religious obligation rather than with ordinary human parentage. Poseidon is sometimes confused with Zeus because both are major gods associated with kingship and divine ancestry, but Poseidon is the deity specifically linked with the sea-bull and the punishment in this story.