Minotaur
The Minotaur
Poseidon gave a beautiful, white bull to King Minos in order to sacrifice it to her. King Minos could not bear to kill the bull, so to punish him Poseidon made Pasiphae, his wife fall in love with the bull. Pasiphae and the bull mated and their offspring was the Minotaur.
When the Minotaur was born, King Minos had Daedalus, the great architect and inventor, construct the Labyrinth. When the Minotaur was placed in this structure he could not find his way out. The only way out of this Labyrinth was with a magic spool. Athenian young men and maidens had to be sacrificed to the minotaur to appease him.
Theseus, the prince of Athens,offered to be one of the victims of the sacrifice. However, he was secretly plotting to kill the Minotaur. The victims of the Minotaur had to be paraded through crete where Ariadne, Minos's daughter, was a spectator. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus at first sight. She sent for daedalus and told he must show her a way out of the Labyrinth. Then, she sent for Theseus, telling him she would bring about his escape if he would promise to take her back to Athens and marry her. Of course, he had no problems wit this and she gave him the magic spool of thread that she got from Daedalus to get out of the Labyrinth. They were to fasten one end of the thread to the inside of the Labyrinth door and unwind is as they went on.
Theseus walked boldly into the maze looking for the Minotaur. When he came upon him, the Minotaur was sleeping, Theseus fell upon him, pinning him to the ground and beating the monster to death with his fists because he had no other weapon. Then, Theseus lifted himself from the struggle and picked up the ball of thread where he had dropped it. He summoned the others to follow him, then following the thread he immediatly fled from the Labyrinth.
Variation of Theseus Killing the Minotaur
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