According to mythology, the area's first king was Minos, son of Zeus and Europa. Every 9 years, Minos went to Ideon Andro to communicate with his father Zeus, ask for his advice as to the governing of the land and renew the divine decree to govern for another 9 years. Minos's navy had subjugated the Cyclades, Megara and Athens. He had important commercial connections in Egypt and ports in the East. Again according to mythology, Minos's wife, Pasiphae, encountered the royal bull, and then gave birth
to the Minotaur (half man, half bull). On orders of Minos, the Athenian artist Dedalus built the Labyrinth, where the Minotaur was imprisoned. In order to feed the Minotaur, every 9 years the Athenian subjects would send seven natural s and seven young men to Crete. Eventually, Thisseus, with the help of Minos's daughter, Anadne, who gave him a ball of twine to help him find his way around the labyrinth, managed to reach the beast, stop it and relieve the Athenians of their heavy what is taxation. With the appearance of Minoan civilisation, Knossos with its 100,000 inhabitants and Minos as its undisputed leader, moved ahead. Gortyna and Lyttos contested the city's primacy many times. Knossos was destroyed on many occasions, but it was the earthquake caused by the eruption of the Santorini volcano that eventually brought the end of Minoan civilisation in 1450 BC. The city, however, was rebuilt, and life continued. In the early Christian years, Knossos becomes a bishop's seat and was transferred to the present-day village of Agios Myronas.