He decided to curse Minos, and he spent days brooding over a curse worthy of this offense. The next morning, Paciphae woke with a new longing in her heart. Then he told Paciphae to hide inside the cow and wait for the bull to come by.
Eventually, the bull came into the pasture, searching for sweet green grass—but an even sweeter sight met his eyes. He was instantly enamored by the beautiful cow and decided to mate with her. Little did he know, he was actually mating with Paciphae, who was hidden inside the cow. He ordered Daedalus to build a cage to imprison the child.
Daedalus studied the child, and again, he came up with a solution. The child was already strong, and Daedalus predicted that he would grow up to be so powerful that he could rip through any cage. However, he did not seem to be very intelligent.
Therefore, Daedalus decided to build a massive puzzle to trap the beast, and the first labyrinth was created. When it was finished, the Minotaur was placed in the center of the puzzle, where he had no chance of finding his way out.
Later, King Minos waged war against Athens and won. As a punishment, he demanded that Athens send seven young men and seven young women, each year, to be sacrificed. The young people were stripped of weapons and sent into the labyrinth, to feed the Minotaur.
After Athens had sacrificed countless young men and women to the bloodthirsty Minotaur, Theseus , the prince of Athens, decided to put an end to the carnage. He volunteered to go with the next group of Athenians and kill the Minotaur. The Athenians were stripped of weapons and tossed into a prison cell, where they would wait until morning came and then be sent into the labyrinth, while all of Minos celebrated.
Luckily for Theseus, Princess Ariadne had fallen in love with him at first sight. She snuck to his prison cell and gave him a sword and a ball of thread. The next morning, the Athenians were forced into the labyrinth. Theseus told the rest of the group to stay by the door. Then, trailing the thread behind him, he began to make his way towards the center of the labyrinth.
Eventually, he encountered the Minotaur. The battle between them was terrifying, but Theseus won. He then followed the thread back to the door and called to Princess Ariadne until she let him and the rest of the Athenians out. Other Wikis. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? History Talk 0. Do you like this video? Play Sound. There is a likelihood that this article contains material not suited for young people and in general holds topics that are upsetting.
Categories Monster history Minotaurs. He called on Daedalus, who had been at least partially responsible for its birth, to devise a solution. This famous structure was a maze-like prison for the Minotaur. Its twisting, confusing hallways were designed to be impossible to escape from.
According to Ovid, Daedalus was so successful in designing the intricate and baffling passages of the Labyrinth that he himself could barely find his way out when its construction had been completed. Most legends say that the great Labyrinth was built underground. The cold and darkness beneath the earth made it even less likely that the monster would ever find its way out.
The Minotaur was imprisoned, but Minos still had to find a way to feed it. A few even claimed that he had been killed by the Cretan Bull itself after it migrated to Marathon. When Minos took power, one of his first acts was to mount a war against Athens to avenge the death of the prince. The city was forced to pay a tribute to its conqueror, and Minos saw an opportunity to solve the greatest problem he faced at the time.
The Minotaur required human flesh, so Minos commanded Athens to send seven young men and seven young women as payment. The legends vary as to how often Athens was forced to hand over its young people.
Some said the price was to be paid every seven years, others said nine. Some even said that the Athenians were forced to sacrifice fourteen of their young people every single year. The young men and women were chosen by lot in a horrible drawing.
They knew that once they were sent to Knossos there was no hope of ever coming back alive. Athens at the time was ruled by King Aegeus, the man who would give his name to the Aegean Sea as an indirect result of his involvement with Crete. Before the war began Aegeus had been childless. Eager to have an heir, he had consulted the oracle at Delphi to ask why none of his previous wives had given him children.
The prophesy given to him was that he should not loosen the mouth of his wineskin until he reached the pinnacle of Athens or he would die of grief. He stopped in the city of Troezen as he traveled toward Athens. The king of Troezen plied Aegeus with strong wine and, once the Athenian was drunk, offered him his daughter. That same night, Aethra had a vision in a dream sent by Athena that prompted her to wade to a nearby island.
There, she was visited by Poseidon. Her son Theseus, therefore, was regarded as having been fathered by both the Athenian king and the god of the sea. Such dual fatherhood was common in the legends of the great heroes of the ancient past. They were mortal but possessed strength and courage far beyond that of ordinary men. Before he left, he buried his sandals, shield, and sword under a great rock.
Aethra told him the story of his birth and he decided to set out for Athens, taking the longer and more dangerous land route instead of traveling by ship. Along the way he passed by six entrances to the underworld, each guarded by a terrible monster. He did not identify himself immediately, however. Worried that Theseus would supplant her own son as heir, Medea saw him as a threat.
She tried several times to cause his death or have him killed, but the young hero always emerged victoriously. She even sent him to kill the Cretan Bull, who by this point had been brought to the mainland by Heracles and was causing mayhem near Marathon. It was only after this great feat that Theseus was recognized by his father and accepted as his heir. The happy reunion Aegeus had with his son would not last long, though. The time was quickly approaching for Athens to pay its third tribute of fourteen young people to King Minos.
He swore to his father that he would put an end to the tribute forever. These things sensibly affected Theseus, who, thinking it but just not to disregard, but rather partake of, the sufferings of his fellow citizens, offered himself for one without any lot. All else were struck with admiration for the nobleness and with love for the goodness of the act.
Finally reunited with his son, Aegeus was afraid of sending him to almost certain death. Theseus assured his father that he would be able to defeat the terrible monster that was slaughtering Athenian youths just as he had killed the wild bull that created it. He told Aegeus to watch for the sails on the ship that returned from Crete.
The ships taking tributes to Crete had always flown black sails as a sign of mourning, but Theseus told his father that he would hoist white sails on his return if he was successful. When Theseus and the other young Athenians arrived at Knossos, one of the people who greeted him was Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos. The princess fell in love with the handsome young hero and swore she would not let him die. Ariadne consulted Daedalus, who was also unhappy with the cruel use the Labyrinth had been put to.
Together, she and the artificer devised a way for Theseus to escape the great maze. She escorted Theseus to the Labyrinth entrance late at night and handed him a spool of thread. He tied one end of the thread to a post near the door and unwound it as he entered the dark maze.
As Theseus crept through the underground tunnels he pulled out his sword, which he had managed to keep hidden from the Cretan guards. He followed the instructions Daedalus had given him to reach the heart of the maze. Some writers said that Theseus was able to slay the Minotaur with his sword. Other said that the hero was disarmed in the struggle and was forced to strangle the monster with his bare hands. Either way, Theseus emerged as the victor. Following the string Ariadne had given him, the hero was able to find his way out of the twisting Labyrinth.
He set sail for Athens with Ariadne, but abandoned her on the island of Naxos. Whether this was an accident or because he knew she was fated to marry Dionysus depends on the telling.
Seeing black sails approaching, King Aegeus threw himself into the sea in despair for the son he thought he had lost.
Theseus would go on to journey to the underworld, kill his own son due to the duplicity of the Amazonian queen, and, according to some accounts, sail with the Argonauts.
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