The Minotaur
The sad story of the Minotaur begins on the Isle of Crete. At the
death of King Asterius, a feud broke out among his sons over which one should
inherit the throne. Minos boasted that that he was the logical choice, because
the gods could not refuse to honor any of his wishes. Praying to Poseidon, he
asked that a bull would emerge from the sea so that in return he could sacrifice
it to the god. The god heard his pleas and in answer to his prayers a beautiful
white bull suddenly appeared from the waves. Minos was so captivated by it's
splendor that he could not bring himself to kill it, so instead he hid the bull
away and offered another one in it's place. Poseidon was not fooled and decided
to make Minos pay for this disgraceful insult through the actions of his wife
Pasiphaë.
The angry
god caused Pasiphaë to fall so madly in love with the beast that she could not
think of anything else. So filled with passion was the Queen, that she went to
see the artist Daedalus, who because of his exile from Athens was living in
Crete. Consenting to help Pasiphaë, Daedalus fashioned a piece of wood into the
shape of a hollow cow. Pasiphaë was able to climb inside through a door that was
made in the hind quarters, where she waited until the bull of Minos approached
her in a meadow. Believing the disguised Queen was a cow, the bull mounted the
wooden structure and sired a half bull, half man offspring that would be known
throughout the ancient world as the Minotaur. In order to hide this abomination,
Minos petitioned Daedalus to construct the Labyrinth, a giant maze-like prison
and confined the Minotaur to it's center. Minos' hardships did not end with
Pasiphaë. His son Androgeus, while living in Athens was participating in the
Panathenaic games. Though he won all the honors for himself, he unfortunately
was killed shortly thereafter. Suspecting that King Aegeus of Athens was
responsible for his death, Minos prayed to the gods and a plague soon fell upon
Attica.
As the
situation grew desperate, Aegeus sent messengers to question the Delphic Oracle.
The words of the Priestess were grim. Aegeus, in order to make up for the death
of his son, was to grant Minos anything he desired. Minos commanded that every
nine years Aegeus would send him seven youths and seven maidens to be fed to the
Minotuar. Sadly, Aegeus could do nothing but comply. When the time came about
for the third tribute to be sent to Crete, Aegeus' son Theseus was one of the
youths chosen to be on board. There are different versions of how this happened.
Some say that Minos came to Athens himself and personally chose Theseus because
of his strength and courage, while others say that lots were drawn and Theseus
was among the losers. The most popular story is that Theseus volunteered to go
with the understanding that if he should slay the Minotaur, King Minos would
forever relinquish Athens from her debt. Aegeus begged him not to go, but
Theseus would have it no other way. As was the custom, the Athenian always left
for Crete bearing the black sails of death.
Theseus took
on board a pair of white ones promising his father that if he was successful, he
would fly the white sails on the voyage home as a signal of his well being. When
Theseus arrived in Crete, he brought with him Aphrodite as a guardian. The
goddess worked her magic and caused Ariadne, the daughter of Minos to
immediately fall madly in love with Theseus. Going to him in secret, Ariadne
promised to help him kill the Minotuar if he swore to marry her and bring her
back to Athens.
Theseus readily agreed and with that Ariadne gave him a ball of magic thread
that had also been created by Daedalus. She instructed Theseus to tie the one
end to the entrance of the maze and then to unwind the twine behind him as he
made his way into the center. After killing the Minotuar he would be able to use
the thread as a guide and retrace his steps back to the beginning, thus making
his escape from the Labyrinth.
Later that same night, Theseus along with the other Athenians
entered into the dark corridors of the prison maze. Following the words of
Ariadne, he carefully unwound the ball of twine as he made his way thorough the
narrow and twisted passageways. As he entered into the center of the maze, he
found the creature asleep. It is disputed whether he slew the beast with his
sword, his club or his bare hands, but whichever method was used the end result
was the death of the Minotuar. Using the magic twine, Theseus retraced his steps
back to the entrance where he was met and embraced by Ariadne. She led him and
the other prisoners to the harbor where their ship was waiting. They made it
safely aboard, but were soon met by the vessels sent by Minos to capture the
Athenians and return them back to Crete. They were forced to fight a sea battle
in the darkness but luckily no one was hurt and they were successfully able to
sail away. During the journey home, Theseus stopped over on the Isle of Naxos.
What happened there is a mystery. Ariadne was left behind on the
island but there are many versions as to the reason why. One tale tells us that
Theseus deserted her because he had fallen in love with another woman. Another
story tells us that after landing on Naxos, Theseus had time to think about his
situation, and decided that bringing Ariadne back to Athens would surely cause a
scandal so he chose to leave her behind. A third version tells us that Ariadne
being extremely tired from the sea voyage, fell fast asleep on the island. A
giant wind rose and pushed the ship out to sea before anyone had a chance to
wake her.
One of the more well known
endings has to do with the god Dionysus. It was said that the lord of the vine fell in love with Ariadne himself and warned Theseus in a dream to leave her behind. All agree it was the priests of Dionysus who found the maiden frantic and alone. Feeling betrayed, she prayed to the gods for revenge and her words reached the ears of Zeus. The god came to her aid and saw to it that Theseus forgot the promise that he made to his father before leaving for Crete. In all the excitement neither Theseus nor any of his men bothered to hoist the white sails of victory, but instead proceeded towards
Athens displaying the black sails of death. Aegeus, who was watching for the
ship form the Acropolis saw it approaching the shore bearing the black sails.
Believing this to be a sign that his son was dead, the grieving King through
himself into the water, which to this day has been called the Aegean Sea after
him. Dionysus then married Ariadne, to whom
she bore many children.
