Glaucus son of Minos- Greek FigureMortal
Also known as: Γλαῦκος
Description
A child's hand reached into a jar of honey chasing a mouse, and the son of Minos and Pasiphae drowned in sweetness. Sealed in a tomb with the boy's corpse, the seer Polyeidus watched a snake revive its mate with a herb and restored the child to life.
Mythology & Lore
The Honey Jar
Glaucus was chasing a mouse through the palace when he fell into a large jar of honey and drowned. No one saw it happen. Minos searched the island and consulted the Curetes, who told him that whoever could solve a riddle about a newborn calf that changed color, from white to red to black, would find his son. Polyeidus the seer answered: the calf was like a ripening mulberry. Minos ordered him to find the boy.
Apollodorus records that Polyeidus tracked Glaucus by an omen: an owl perched above the wine cellar, bees circling near it. He found the child drowned in the honey jar. Minos was not satisfied with a corpse. He sealed Polyeidus inside the tomb with the boy's body and told him to bring Glaucus back or die beside him.
A snake crawled toward the body. Polyeidus killed it. A second snake appeared, saw the first lying dead, left, and returned carrying a herb. It laid the herb on the dead snake, and the snake revived. Polyeidus took the herb and pressed it to the boy's body. Glaucus opened his eyes.
Hyginus adds one final detail. Before Polyeidus sailed home from Crete, he told Glaucus to spit into his mouth. The boy obeyed, and everything the seer had taught him vanished from his memory.