in fabulous history, a king of Crete, who was the son of Jupiter and Europa. He flourished about 1432 years before the Christian era, and gave laws to his subjects, which remained in force in the age of the philosopher Plato, about a thousand years after the death of the legislator. His justice and moderation procured him the appellation of the favourite of the gods, the confidant of Jupiter, and the wise legislator, in almost every city of Greece; and, according to the poets, he was after death rewarded for his equity with the office of supreme and absolute judge in the infernal regions. In this capacity he is represented sitting in the middle of the shades, and holding a sceptre in his hand. The dead plead their different causes before him; and the impartial judge shakes the fatal urn, which is filled with the destinies of mankind.