ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Murder of the Minotaur

Updated on September 13, 2014

This is a tragic tale, telling of blood and betrayal, of broken trust and cowardly abandonment and it started on the glittering island of Crete, Land of the Labyrinth.

The story of the Minotaur is the story of Ariadne, of her strange and dysfunctional family, of her monstrous brother, and of her suffering mother.

To speak of Ariadne is also to speak of the duplicitous Theseus, and of his obsession to murder the Minotaur.

John William Waterhouse 1849-1917
John William Waterhouse 1849-1917

Ariadne's dysfunctional family

It all started with the infamous philandering ways of Zeus

When the willful and lusty old god spotted the beautiful Europa, he assumed the form of a bull and carried her off from the shores of Carthage, over the seas to Crete.

As a result of this abduction, Europa gave birth to a son, destined to be Minos, King of Crete.

Ariadne was the daughter of Pasiphae, wife to Minos.

Poor Pasiphae, wife to Minos

Poor Pasiphae was cruelly treated in a petty standoff about male vanity between her husband and Poseidon, Lord of the Sea

The sea-god had given Minos a beautiful white bull on the condition that it be sacrificed right back to him, but the king, overcome with greed, kept the animal.

Poseidon took revenge by causing Pasiphae to fall in love with the disputed bull and as a result she bore the Minotaur, a half-human, half-bull creature.

To hide this unfortunate outcome, Daedalus, the gifted engineer of the Bronze Age, built a huge maze of winding passages to house the child.

The white bull

Pasipahe and the white bull
Pasipahe and the white bull | Source
The Minotaur
The Minotaur

Half-man, Half-bull

What was the matter with the son of Pasiphae?

Surely he wasn't a half-man, half-bull, but obviously physically disabled in some way

In any case, he was banished to live in a tunnel complex underground, some type of maze to hide him from the world. Poor little boy!

It's no wonder he grew angry down there, abandoned, confused and alone.

Death in the Bull Run and Ritual Sacrifice

A tragic accident took the life of the youthful Androgeus, only son of Minos. The boy was killed while drunk, by a runaway bull in Athens. It was a sort of precursor to the ‘bull runs’ in Pamplona held today. There have always been foolish young men who indulge themselves with drunkenness and extreme high risk behaviour.

The wrathful king demanded tribute for his loss, tribute in suffering on the same scale, tribute in the form of seven young men and seven young women to be ritually sacrificed to the Minotaur each year.

The same scale? Ah, but the grief of a king is deeper than that of merchant or goatherd, and royal wrath requires great tribute to be appeased.

The Modern Bull Run

The modern bull run
The modern bull run | Source
Ariadne shows Theseus the Labyrinth
Ariadne shows Theseus the Labyrinth

Theseus

Theseus was a king of ancient Athens who made his name by 'heroic' deeds in his youth.

He volunteered to be one of the youths sacrificed to appease the whim of Minos. Was he mad to volunteer? No, he had very good reasons and all of them were to do with his own ambition.

He set out to charm the sheltered Ariadne, and she fell in love with him. Turning her back on her family and the land that had nourished her, she resolved to help the pretty youth.

Down, down into the labyrinth

Down in the labyrinth, the long, winding corridors and half-hidden passages twisted into themselves back into the beginning, looped in and around to the lair of the Minotaur and turned back and around again.

The way out could never be found.

So Ariadne gave Theseus a long strand of thick thread from her weaving loom to unwind on his way in, and then to follow his path back out.

Down he went.

Murder of a Minotaur

Theseus kills the Minotaur
Theseus kills the Minotaur | Source

Theseus the 'Hero'

Theseus killed the creature, this poor pathetic monstrous brother of Ariadne, and returned, in triumph, to the surface.

Ancient Greek Ship
Ancient Greek Ship | Source

Theseus and Ariadne sail away

Theseus had promised to marry Ariadne in exchange for her help, and together they sailed away to Athens.

Along the way, the ship stopped for fresh water on the island of Naxos and Theseus persuaded the very heavily pregnant Ariadne to rest beneath some shade trees.

When she awoke he was gone.

The ship had set sail without her, leaving her alone on the island – broken hearted and far from home.

Theseus returns to Athens

After cruelly abandoning Ariadne, Theseus continued on his way to Athens.

His desertion of the pregnant girl was just one calculated deed, he had bigger things on his mind, another piece of business to settle.

His father, KIng Aegeus, was desperately awaiting news of his beloved son. He had told Theseus that if the Minotaur had been killed, he was to raise a white sail on his ship upon returning to Athens. However if the Minotaur had triumphed, the ship's crew were to raise a black sail.

Theseus craftily flew a black sail as he returned.

Aegeus, in his grief, threw himself from the cliff at Cape Sounion into the Aegean, making Theseus the new king of Athens and giving the sea its name.

What do you think?

Was Theseus a Hero?

See results

Theseus comes out triumphant

Heroes are not always heroic but, in the Bronze Age, it was the outcome that mattered, not the deeds that would lead to it.

Theseus achieved his ambition. He slaughtered the Minotaur and became King of Athens.

But what happened to Ariadne?

Sometimes it is said that the god Dionysus heard Ariadne weeping and, taking pity on her youth and beauty, swept her up into the heavens, where the constellation of Corona is her crown.

But others say she died there, alone on the Island of Naxos, fruitlessly calling on her family for forgiveness

A sorrowful story indeed.

A Story from Mythology

The story of the Minotaur and the devious machinations of Theseus are myths. Of course they are.

But myths are not just stories, myths are metaphors. If you read a myth literally you will miss the point. You will miss its higher truth.

Mythological narratives may or may not be based in fact. But that's not really important. Tales of gods and monsters may seem as fairy tale to us, but they shaped the world of our ancestors and they shape the world we live in today.

By looking at these ancient myths and legends, we can walk in the shoes (sandals?) of people long gone, for the stories set out rules for the customs and ideals of ancient societies.

Our Greek Legacy

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (The Hinges of History)
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter (The Hinges of History)
Double-dealing was a quality admired by the Ancient Greeks, but they left us a lot more than this. Philosophically, artistically, scientifically and politically, the Greeks reached an astonishing level of sophistication. The legacy of their rich mythology endures to the present day.
 

© 2014 Susanna Duffy

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)