Minos, son of Zeus and Europe, was the mythical King of Crete, which he ruled from royal palace of Knossus. Though he's depicted as a bad guy a lot of the time, he also had a reputation as a capable ruler who transformed Crete into one of the major naval powers of the Mediterranean Sea. When British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the remains of an advanced Bronze Age society on Crete, he named it the Minoan Civilization after the legendary King Minos. Mythology says that after Minos died he became a Judge of Dead and decided which souls were rewarded and which were punished in the dark pit of Tartarus.