In ancient myth, the Minotaur was a flesh-eating monster, half man and half bull. It was rumoured to be the offspring of a liaison between the wife of Minos, king of Knossos in Crete, and a bull. The Minotaur lived in a huge labyrinth under the palace of Knossos, so huge that nobody knew the way out, and every year a fixed number of youths and maidens were collected as tribute from other kingdoms and sent to the lair of the Minotaur. Theseus, heir to the Athenian throne, agreed to go with other captives to Crete in the hope of managing to defeat the monster. He did this with the help of Ariadne, daughter of king Minos, who helped him to reach the Minotaur, kill it and find his way out of the labyrinth by unwinding a skein of wool to mark the way. Theseus later left Crete with Ariadne, but abandoned her on the island of Naxos.
When he returned home, he forgot that he had promised his father to change the black sails on his ship to white ones, as a sign of his survival. His father, watching from the cliffs, saw the black sails and, believing his son to be dead, jumped to his death. The story of the labyrinth is brilliantly recreated in Mary Renault's novel "The King Must Die."
When he returned home, he forgot that he had promised his father to change the black sails on his ship to white ones, as a sign of his survival. His father, watching from the cliffs, saw the black sails and, believing his son to be dead, jumped to his death. The story of the labyrinth is brilliantly recreated in Mary Renault's novel "The King Must Die."
