In Greek mythology, Helios was Pasiphae’s father, making him the Minotaur’s maternal grandfather. Helios was the personification of the Sun and was traditionally counted among the Titans or Titan-generation deities.
Pasiphae was the daughter of Helios and the Oceanid Perseis. She married Minos, king of Crete, and became the mother of several children, including Ariadne, Phaedra, Androgeus, and the Minotaur.
The Minotaur’s birth followed Pasiphae’s unnatural passion for the Cretan Bull. In the best-known version, Poseidon caused or permitted the episode as punishment for Minos’s failure to sacrifice the bull. Daedalus then constructed the device that enabled Pasiphae to approach the animal.
Helios is sometimes confused with Apollo because both became associated with the Sun in later interpretations. In the Minotaur’s genealogy, however, the named divine ancestor is Helios.