The fabled tale of the minotaur, the half-human half-bull creature, who lived within a maze, hidden from the world.
Part I: The Labyrinth and the Minotaur, Part II: The Slaying of the Minotaur.
The Labyrinth and the Minotaur
In Athens, there lived the inventor Daidalos. He was an ingenious man who invented sails for ships, amongst many other things. No task was too hard for him, with his only competition being from his young nephew. Jealous at his nephew's ability, Daidalos took him on a walk one day, and pushed him over the steep rocks of the Acropolis. After this heinous act, he fled to Crete with his son Ikaros, where King Minos ruled.
In his earlier days, King Minos struggled with his brothers for the throne. Minos had prayed to the god Poseidon for a white bull, as an indication that the gods favoured him, and that he would sacrifice the bull as a sign of his subservience. However, when the white bull finally rose out of the sea, Minos instead sacrificed the best of his herd, while keeping the white bull for himself. Angry at the mortal's defiance, Poseidon made the king's wife, Queen Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull. The Queen, as an act of desperation, summoned Daidalos and asked him to get the bull to make love to her. Not wishing to offend the Queen, he made a wooden frame of a cow, and had Pasiphae lie inside, with which the bull mated.
When King Minos found out, he was livid, and sentenced Daidalos to imprisonment, but Pasiphae was pregnant, and Minos had to hide her. Therefore, he had no choice but to enlist Daidalos' help once again, in exchange for his freedom, to hide Pasiphae from the world. Daidalos created an underground maze, in which passages ran like a spider web of tunnels. A labyrinth, whose secret only Minos and Daidalos knew.
So the pregnant Pasiphae was put into the centre of the maze, and there she bore a child- half bull, half human. It was the Minotaur, and its bellowing could be heard from time to time, from deep within the maze. No one who went in ever came out, for the Minotaur fed on flesh.
After the completion of the labyrinth, Daidalos wanted to leave. Minos barred Daidalos from leaving Crete, for fear he might let out the secret of the labyrinth. That night, Daidalos made wings for himself and his son, Ikaros. He fashioned the wings out of feathers stuck together by
wax. The following morning, they rode on the first up currents of air as the sun warmed the earth, and flew away from Crete. Unfortunately, Daidalos' son, Ikaros, flew too near to the sun, and the wax in his wings melted and he plummeted towards the sea. Daidalos was distraught, but he flew on and finally landed in Sicily.Back in Athens, King Aigeus was childless, and was wary of the many factions after his position. He seeked advice from an oracle, where the priest told him not to unfasten a wineskin's foot until he reached the Acropolis, or he would cause his own death. Not knowing what to make of it, he went to visit his friend, the King of Troizen, to see if he knew what it meant. Along the way, he visited Corinth where his friend Medea was furious because her husband had obtained a mistress. She told Aigeus if he gave her shelter in Athens, she would bear him a child, to which Aigeus readily agreed.
When he finally reached the city of Troizen, King Pittheus was overjoyed to see him and held a banquet in his honour that night. Wineskin after wineskin he drank. He had forgotten all about the oracle's advice. In a drunken stupor, he went to bed that night only to find himself sleeping with King Pittheus's daughter, Aithra. Ashamed of what he had done, he left the city in the morning, but not before burying a sword and a pair of sandals under a rock. He told Aithra if she bore a son, to tell him about the items when he was old enough. If he could lift the rock, he should go to Athens, and be welcomed as his heir.
Aithra did bear a son, and she named him Theseus. Throughout his childhood, Aithra refused to divulge who his father was, saying that he was a son of Poseidon. When Theseus did come of age, his mother told him about the rock. The rock was heavy and all who tried it were unable to lift it, but Theseus managed to lift it, and he set off for Athens with the sword and sandals, to find his father.
The Slaying of the Minotaur
Meanwhile in Athens, Aigeus had taken Medea in, and she bore him a son named Medos. Medea knew the dark arts and she kept the factions contesting Aigeus'
power at bay. When Theseus arrived at Athens, Aigeus did not yet know of his parentage, but Medea knew, and she wanted to kill Theseus to preserve her son's position as future King.
Medea thus convinced Aigeus that Theseus was a spy and laced his wine cup with poison during supper that night. However, just before he drank the wine, he drew out his sword to cut his meat. Aigeus immediately recognized the sword and threw the poisoned cup onto the floor. Angered, Theseus tried to kill Medea, but she cast a spell of invisibility and she and her son escaped.
With Medea and her magic gone, the fifty sons of Aigeus' brother immediately prepared an attack to usurp the throne. Theseus single-handedly killed half the brothers, which left the rest cowering. Poseidon gave Theseus the chance to prove himself as his son, and told him how to outwit the white bull. With this knowledge, he set out to capture the bull whom Minos had called forth. Thesues finally did so, and brought it to the Acropolis, where he sacrificed it, finishing what Minos should have done a long time ago.
After his sacrifice, he found a procession towards the port, and on further questioning he realised that these were sacrifices for the Minotaur. Theseus, having killed the father of the Minotaur, thought it simple enough to kill the Minotaur itself. He took the place of one of the young men and sailed to Crete. Aigeus did not want his newfound son to leave, and told him to hoist a white flag when he returned, if he had survived.
So the ship left the port, and when it arrived in Crete, the sacrifices were thrown into prison, to be led into the labyrinth the next day. Minos' daughter, princess Ariadne, had seen Theseus, and fallen in love with him. He went to his prison cell that night, and offered him the secret of the labyrinth in exchange for a promise to bring her back to Athens and to marry her. Theseus agreed, and so she gave him the secret of the labyrinth.
It was a spindle of thin, strong thread, made by Daidalos himself. Everyone had thought the maze to be a horizontal puzzle of passageways, but in fact it was vertical, spiralling down into the earth, when it finally reached the centre of the maze, where the Minotaur was. Gravity itself would guide the spindle to the centre of the maze, and to leave would be a matter of having tied the thread to the start of the maze, and following the thread back up.
So that night, Theseus set out along the labyrinth and used the spindle to find his way into the heart of the labyrinth, where the Minotaur was fast asleep. The chamber was filled with human bones and the stench of death. He stabbed the Minotaur so many times he was sure it was dead, before hurrying back to the entrance as a feeling of disgust filled him.
Once out of the maze, he ran to unlock all the Athenians with him. He brought Ariadne along, and they sank every Cretan ship at the port before getting on their own ship and sailing back to Athens. Along the way, they stopped over at an island for water, while everyone rested and Ariadne slept along the beach. The god, Dionysos, was enchanted by Ariadne's beauty, and made Theseus forgetful such that he forgot to wake the sleeping Ariadne and left the island without her.
Ariadne awoke, angry that Theseus had deserted her. Not long after appeared Dionysos, who filled her with love for him, and removed all memory of Theseus. Ariadne became his queen and they travelled the world together.
Theseus was afflicted with Dionysos' dose of forgetfulness, and forgot his promise to hoist a white flag if he survived. When Aigeus saw the ship sailing with a black flag, he was overcome with grief and jumped off the steep rocks of the Acropolis and killed himself. He had fulfilled the prophecy that the oracle told to him many years before: not to unfasten a wineskin's foot until he reached the Acropolis, lest causing his own death.
Meanwhile in Athens, Aigeus had taken Medea in, and she bore him a son named Medos. Medea knew the dark arts and she kept the factions contesting Aigeus'
power at bay. When Theseus arrived at Athens, Aigeus did not yet know of his parentage, but Medea knew, and she wanted to kill Theseus to preserve her son's position as future King.Medea thus convinced Aigeus that Theseus was a spy and laced his wine cup with poison during supper that night. However, just before he drank the wine, he drew out his sword to cut his meat. Aigeus immediately recognized the sword and threw the poisoned cup onto the floor. Angered, Theseus tried to kill Medea, but she cast a spell of invisibility and she and her son escaped.
With Medea and her magic gone, the fifty sons of Aigeus' brother immediately prepared an attack to usurp the throne. Theseus single-handedly killed half the brothers, which left the rest cowering. Poseidon gave Theseus the chance to prove himself as his son, and told him how to outwit the white bull. With this knowledge, he set out to capture the bull whom Minos had called forth. Thesues finally did so, and brought it to the Acropolis, where he sacrificed it, finishing what Minos should have done a long time ago.
After his sacrifice, he found a procession towards the port, and on further questioning he realised that these were sacrifices for the Minotaur. Theseus, having killed the father of the Minotaur, thought it simple enough to kill the Minotaur itself. He took the place of one of the young men and sailed to Crete. Aigeus did not want his newfound son to leave, and told him to hoist a white flag when he returned, if he had survived.
So the ship left the port, and when it arrived in Crete, the sacrifices were thrown into prison, to be led into the labyrinth the next day. Minos' daughter, princess Ariadne, had seen Theseus, and fallen in love with him. He went to his prison cell that night, and offered him the secret of the labyrinth in exchange for a promise to bring her back to Athens and to marry her. Theseus agreed, and so she gave him the secret of the labyrinth.
It was a spindle of thin, strong thread, made by Daidalos himself. Everyone had thought the maze to be a horizontal puzzle of passageways, but in fact it was vertical, spiralling down into the earth, when it finally reached the centre of the maze, where the Minotaur was. Gravity itself would guide the spindle to the centre of the maze, and to leave would be a matter of having tied the thread to the start of the maze, and following the thread back up.So that night, Theseus set out along the labyrinth and used the spindle to find his way into the heart of the labyrinth, where the Minotaur was fast asleep. The chamber was filled with human bones and the stench of death. He stabbed the Minotaur so many times he was sure it was dead, before hurrying back to the entrance as a feeling of disgust filled him.
Once out of the maze, he ran to unlock all the Athenians with him. He brought Ariadne along, and they sank every Cretan ship at the port before getting on their own ship and sailing back to Athens. Along the way, they stopped over at an island for water, while everyone rested and Ariadne slept along the beach. The god, Dionysos, was enchanted by Ariadne's beauty, and made Theseus forgetful such that he forgot to wake the sleeping Ariadne and left the island without her.Ariadne awoke, angry that Theseus had deserted her. Not long after appeared Dionysos, who filled her with love for him, and removed all memory of Theseus. Ariadne became his queen and they travelled the world together.
Theseus was afflicted with Dionysos' dose of forgetfulness, and forgot his promise to hoist a white flag if he survived. When Aigeus saw the ship sailing with a black flag, he was overcome with grief and jumped off the steep rocks of the Acropolis and killed himself. He had fulfilled the prophecy that the oracle told to him many years before: not to unfasten a wineskin's foot until he reached the Acropolis, lest causing his own death.
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