Red-figure painting on the interior of a cup (kylix), showing Pasiphae with the baby Minotaur (340-320 B.C.), from Vulci, now in the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, France.
Pasiphae, whose name signifies “the bright one” (probably an epithet of the moon), was the daughter of the sun god and the wife of the king Minos of Crete. She fell in love with a wonderful white bull, which Minos had received from the sea god, Poseidon, as a gift. From the intercourse with the animal, the Minotaur was born, a being with a human body and the head of a bull, who held also the name of Asterion or Asterios and was sometimes depicted with his body sparkled with stars, a symbol of his sacred character. The image of the Minotaur is widespread in the artistic representations, because of the diffusion of the motif of the fight between the hero and a bull-man: the killing of the monster is indeed attributed to Theseus, the Athenian hero.


[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur]