The Cretan Bull

Before Minos was king of Knossos the people wanted a sign that he was worthy, so he prayed to Poseidon and offered that he would sacrifice anything he presented to him in the gods name so he could become king. So, Poseidon gave Minos a beautiful bull and he became king, but Minos thought the bull was too beautiful so he sacrificed a different bull. This angered Poseidon and he made King Minos's wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull. Poseidon also made the bull rampage across the Cretan country side destroying farms and killing villagers.

Herakles in the Palace of Knossos. Heraklion, Crete.

After Pasiphae fell in love with the Cretan Bull she became pregnant and gave birth to a half man-half bull baby. This creature was named Minotaur, Bull of Minos. King Minos was very angry with this thing so he locked it in the labyrinth, a maze prison that the genius Daedalus built for him. Every year the Athenians had to give King Minos several of their people as tribute. One year the hero, and cousin of Herakles,Theseus, went to Crete as one of the tributes and killed the Minotaur. 

Herakles's labors depicted at the Archaeological Museum in Delphi 

For Herakles's seventh labor he was ordered to capture the Cretan Bull and bring it back to Mycenae. He went to Crete after his labor to fight the Stymphalian Birds in the Peloponnese. Herakles easily tackled the bull and brought it back to King Eurysthseus of Mycenae. King Eurystheus let the bull go and it rampaged across Greece killing and destroying again until it ended up in Marathon where Theseus killed it. The gods put the Cretan Bull in the night sky as the constellation Taurus.

Palace in Mycenae where Herakles brought the bull to Eurystheus

I have gone to the Palace of Knossos and seen part of what I think is the maze that the Minotaur lived in. I also went to Mycenae where Herakles brought the bull.