In Greek mythology, Androgeus (Androgeos) was a Cretan prince, son of Minos and Pasiphaë, whose death in Attica provoked Minos' war on Athens and the recurring tribute of youths and maidens to the Minotaur. Distinct from the Greek soldier named Androgeus in Virgil's sack of Troy.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Androgeus (son of Minos)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Death in Attica
Androgeus was brother of Ariadne, Phaedra, Deucalion, Glaucus, Catreus, and others; Apollodorus names sons Sthenelus and Alcaeus among Heracles' companions. Sources disagree on how he died: winning all prizes at the Panathenaea, then ambushed on the road to games for Laius at Thebes; murdered by jealous Athenians and Megarians; sent by Aegeus against the Marathonian bull; slain by Aegeus for fear he would back the sons of Pallas; or killed in open war between Cretans and Athenians.
Pausanias records an Attic hero cult with an altar at Phaleron. Propertius knows a version in which Asclepius restored him to life.
II.Minos' vengeance and the tribute
Apollodorus sets the news at Paros while Minos sacrifices to the Charites: the king casts off his garland and silences the music, yet finishes the rite—whence Parian Charites festivals omit flutes and flowers. Failing to sack Athens, Minos prays to Zeus; famine and plague follow. Oracles finally bid Athens grant Minos whatever he asks: youths (and maidens) sent every seven or nine years to the Minotaur, until Theseus ends the tribute.
The atlas id androgeus is Minos' son, not the Trojan-War Greek of Aeneid 2.