Theseus and the Minotaur

According to Diodorus Siculus (Bibliotheca historica, Book IV) Medea married Aegeus (55.5).

After “Theseus returned to Athens from Troezen, a charge of poisoning was brought against her and she was exiled from the city” so she went to Phoenicia (55.6).

Theseus “emulated the Labours of Heracles”. He was the child of Poseidon and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus. Theseus was raised in Troezen, in the “home of Pittheus, his mother’s father”. After he found and took the “tokens” that Aegeus places under a rock, he went to Athens and on his way “he emulated the high achievements of Heracles” (59.1).

Theseus then killed six evil beings (59.2-5).

After that he wrestled the Marathonian bull that Heracles “brought from Crete to the Peloponnesus” for one of his labours and brought it to Aegeus in Athens who sacrificed it to Apollo (59.6).

Tectamus, son of Dorus, son of Hellen, son of Deucalion, “sailed to Crete with Aeolians and Pelasgians and became king of the island. Then he married the daughter of Cretheus and from her he had Asterius. During this time, some say, Zeus “carried Europê from Phoenicia” “across to Crete” on “the back of a bull”. Then he laid with her and produced three sons: Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon (60.2).

Asterius, king of Crete, married Europê and since he had no children by her “he adopted the sons of Zeus” and they succeeded him after he died. “Rhadamanthys gave the Cretans their laws” and Minos succeeded him to the throne and married Itonê, daughter of Lyctius, with whom he had Lycastus who in turn succeeded him and married Idê, daughter of Corybas, with whom he had the second Minos “who, as some writers record, was the son of Zeus” (60.3).

Minos married Pasiphaê, daughter of Helios (“Helius”) and Crete (“Cretê”), from her he had Catreus, Androgeos and Ariadnê in addition to other children. Later, “Androgeos came to Athens at the time of the Panathenaic festival, while Aegeus was king, and” defeated all the contestants in the games, then became a “close friend of the sons of Pallas” (60.4).

Daedalus was originally from Athens and he excelled in the art of building, making statues and working stones. He was also an inventor (76.1).

Daedalus was admired for his abilities but “he had been condemned” for the murder of Talos, a son of his sister and a pupil of Daedalus (76.4).

The kid was “more gifted than his teacher”, “invented the potter’s wheel" and “fashioned a saw out of iron” (76.5).

Daedalus became jealous, killed the kid and was caught “in the act of burying him” (76.6).

Daedalus was accused and judged “guilty of murder by the court of the Areopagites” and fled from Attica (76.7).

Daedalus escaped Attica and went to Crete where he was admired for his artistic abilities and “became a friend of Minos who was king there” (77.1).

Minos used to sacrifice the best bull from his herd to Poseidon every year. One time a “bull of extraordinary beauty” was born and sacrificed another that was inferior. Poseidon became angry at Minos and caused his wife Pasiphaê to fall in love with the bull (77.2).

With the help of Daedalus, “Pasiphaê had intercourse with the bull and gave birth to the Minotaur”. “This creature, they say, was of double form, the upper parts of the body as far as the shoulders being those of a bull and the remaining parts those of a man” (77.3).

Daedalus then built the labyrinth and that’s where the Minotaur was placed (77.4).

Aegeus became suspicious of the friendship Androgeos had formed and he feared Minos may help the sons of Pallas take his power away and “plotted against the life of Androgeos”. When Androgeos went to Thebes to attend a festival, Aegeus had him slained by “certain natives of the region in the neighbourhood of Oenoê in Attica” (60.5).

When Minos learned about what happened to his son he went to Athens demanding explanations. Nobody “paid any attention to him” so “he declared war against the Athenians”, cursed the city in the name of Zeus and called for “drought and famine throughout the state of the Athenians”. The drought came to Attica and Greece, the “crops were destroyed” and the leaders of the communities gathered to invoke the god (Zeus) to resolve the situation. The god answered “that they should go to Aeacus, the son of Zeus and Aeginê, the daughter of Asopus, and ask him to offer up prayers on their behalf” (61.1).

Aeacus prayed and the drought stopped but it continued among the Athenians so the Athenians consulted the god once again to find a solution and learned that they should have done whatever Minos demanded (61.2).

“The Athenians obeyed” and Minos demanded seven boys and seven girls to be sent to feed the Minotaur every nine years, as long as the monster lived. When the Athenians followed the request they got rid of the evils and Minos stopped the war against Athens. After nine years Minos went to Attica with a “great fleet and demanded and received the fourteen young people” (61.3). Theseus was about to sail to Crete and Aegeus agreed “with the captain of the vessel that if Theseus” would “overcome the Minotaur, they should sail back” and replace the black sails with white ones, in accordance to an established custom. When they arrived in Crete, Ariadnê, daughter of Minos, fell in love with Theseus who was “unusually handsome” and Theseus, after talking to her and “securing her assistance” slew the Minotaur and got safely away, since he had learned from her the way out of the labyrinth” (61.4).

On “his way back to his native land he carried off Ariadnê and sailed out unobserved during the night”, later stopping at an island that “at that time was called Dia, but now is called Naxos”. Dionysus appeared on the island and, because Ariadnê was beautiful, he took her away from Theseus, married her and loved her very much. After her death he even “considered her worthy of immortal honours because of the affection he had for her” and placed her “among the stars in the so-called “Crown of Ariadnê” (61.5).

Since Theseus was devastated by the loss of Ariadne who was “taken from him” he forgot what Aegeus requested and arrived in the “port in Attica with the black sails” (61.6).

”We are told” that Aegeus witnessed “the return of the ship and thinking that his son was dead” “ascended the acropolis and then”, in total despair, through himself down from it (61.7). According to Hyginus (Fabulae) “Europa was the daughter of Argiope and Agenor and she lived in Sidon. Jupiter (Zeus) turned himself into a bull” and “transported her from Sidon to Crete”. With her he fathered Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthus (178).

“Neptune (Poseidon) and Aegeus” (the son of Pandion) “both slept with Aethra” (Pittheus’ daughter) “in the temple of Minerva on the same night”. Neptune then let Augeus raise the child Aethra would eventually have. On his travel from Troezen to Athens, “he placed his sword under a stone”. He then instructed Aethra to send his son to look for him if he was able to lift the stone and take his father’s sword (which would have proved his son’s identity). “Aethra gave birth to Theseus”. When he grew up she showed him the stone, he took the sword and then she told him to go to Athens to Aegeus. Theseus followed the instructions and “killed all who plagued travelers along the road” (37).

Theseus killed five people, two animals (including a boar, the bull of Marathon that Hercules brought from Crete) and a monster (the Minotaur in Cnossus) (38).

Daedalus, son of Eupalamus, was a gifted “craftsman” and received his skills from Minerva (Athena). One day he threw “from the roof of his house” Perdix, his sister’s son. He did that because he was jealous of the talent of Perdix who “invented the saw”. For this reason Daedalus went into exile from Athens to Crete at the court of King Minos (39).

Pasiphae, the daughter of the Sun (Helios) and the wife of Minos, did not sacrifice to Venus (Aphrodite) for many years. As a punishment, Venus made Pasiphae fall in love with a bull. When Daedalus arrived in Crete Pasiphae asked for his help. He built a wooden cow and “covered it with the hide of a real cow”. “Pasiphae got inside”, “slept with the bull” and later gave birth to the Minotaur who had the head of a bull and the body of a human. After that Daedalus built the labyrinth, a place from which leaving was impossible, and the Minotaur was placed in it. “When Minos found out about the whole affair” he put Daedalus into prison but Pasiphae freed him. “He made wings for himself and his son Icarus, put them on, and flew away. Icarus flew too high”. The sun’s heat melted the wax (that was keeping the wings together) and he crashed into the sea that was then “named Icarian after him”. “Daedalus flew all the way” to the “island of Sicily” to King Cocalus. “Others say that when Theseus killed the Minotaur, he took Daedalus back to his homeland, Athens” (40).

Minos, son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Europa, “waged war against the Athenians because his son Androgeus was killed in a fight”. After Minos was victorious he ordered the Athenians to “send seven of their sons for the Minotaur to feast upon every year”. “When Theseus arrived from Troezen” and learned of the disasters of Athens, “he volunteered to be sent to the Minotaur”. Aegeus provided instructions: in case of victory, the sails should have been white (since the ships that left Athens had black sails) (41).

“When Theseus arrived in Crete”, Ariadne, daughter of Minos, fell madly in love with Theseus and betrayed her brother (presumably the Minotaur) and “saved the stranger by showing Theseus the way out of the labyrinth. “After Theseus went in and killed the Minotaur” he found his way out by “rewinding the thread”. He then carried Ariadne away with the intention to marry her as previously promised (42).

Theseus was stuck on the island of Dia because of a storm. In the meantime he thought and considered that returning to Athens with Ariadne “would be a disgrace”. Therefore, “he abandoned her on the island while she was asleep”. Liber (Dionysus) became attracted to her, “took her away and married her”. Theseus forgot to change the black sails. Aegeus assumed “Theseus had been killed by the Minotaur” and “threw himself from a cliff into the sea named the Aegean after him”. Theseus then took Ariadne’s sister Phaedra as his wife (43). According to Pseudo-Apollodorus (Bibliotheca) Zeus loved Europa, turned “himself into a tame bull” and crossed the sea with Europa on his back until he reached Crete. Zeus laid with Europa and she gave birth to Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamantys (although, “according to Homer, Sarpedon was a son of Zeus and Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon”) (3.1.1).

“Asterius, prince of the Cretans, married Europa” and raised her kids (3.1.2).

Asterius died childless and Minos wanted “to reign over Crete” but his claim was contended. In order to confirm his right to rule he prayed Poseidon to send him a bull as a sign. Poseidon sent Minos a “fine bull”, Minos became king but he sent the bull to his herds and substituted another for the sacrifice (3.1.3).

An enraged Poseidon made the animal savage and caused Pasiphae, wife of Minos, to fall in love with the bull. Daedalus, an architect banished from Athens for murder, built for Pasiphae a wooden cow and she hid inside it. The bull mated with the wooden cow and Pasiphae was impregnated by the bull, giving birth to Asterius, also called Minotaur. He had the face of a bull and the rest of him was human. After consulting an oracle, Minos had Daedalus build the labyrinth where the Minotaur was imprisoned (3.1.4).

“After the death of Pandion his sons marched against Athens, expelled the Metionids, and divided the government in four; but Aegeus had the whole power”. Aegeus married Meta, daughter of Hoples and then he married Chalciope, daughter of Rhexenor. However, he had no children and he was afraid of his brothers so he went to Pythia (the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi) and consulted an oracle (Oracle of Delphi). The god answered to him:

“The bulging mouth of the wineskin, o best of men, loose not until thou hast reached the height of Athens“.

Not knowing what to make of the oracle, he set out on his return to Athens” (3.15.6).

On his way back to Athens, traveling through Troezen, Aegeus “lodged with Pittheus, son of Pelops” who understood the oracle, “made him drunk and caused him to lie with his daughter Aethra”. However, in the same night, Poseidon also laid with Aethra. Aegeus then told Aethra that, “if she gave birth to a male child”, she would have to raise him “without telling whose it was”. Then he left a sword and a pair of sandals under a rock, saying that when the boy would be able to roll the rock and take them, she should then send him away with them. When Minos' son Androgeos had won the games of the Panathenian festival the king of Athens, Aegeus, sent him to fight the bull of Marathon, resulting in the death of Androgeos. However, some say that when Androgeos went to Thebes to take part in the games in honor of Laius, he was “murdered by the jealous competitors” (3.15.7).

Minos “attacked Athens with a fleet and captured Megara” which, at the time, was ruled by king Nisus, son of Pandion. He also “slew Megareus, son of Hippomenes, who had come from Onchestus to the help of Nisus”. Nisus “had a purple hair in the middle of his forehead” and an oracle said that if the hair would be removed he would die. Nisus’ daughter Scylla “fell in love with Minos and pulled the hair” therefore killing her father and making Minos the “master of Megara”. At that point, Minos tied the “damsel” (young woman) by her feet to a boat and dragged her until she drowned. Minos could not take Athens so he prayed to Zeus to send famine and pestilence to the city. Therefore, “in obedience to an ancient oracle”, the Athenians sacrificed the daughters of Hyacinth who was originally from Lacedaemon (Sparta): Antheis, Aegleis, Lytaea and Orthaea (on the grave of Geraestus, the Cyclops). The sacrifice did not help so another oracle said that Minos should be given whatever he wanted and he ordered that seven boys and seven girls, all unarmed, should be sent to feed the Minotaur every year. The Minotaur was “confined in a labyrinth” that nobody that entered could leave. “The labyrinth was constructed by Daedalus, “whose father was Eupalamus, son of Metion, and whose mother was Alcippe”. He was an “excellent architect”. He fled from Athens because he threw Talos, the son of his sister, down from the acropolis (Daedalus feared that with Talos with his talent would surpass him). The body of Talos “was discovered; Daedalus was tried in the Areopagus, and being condemned fled to Minos” (3.15.8).

Aethra gave birth to a son called Theseus and when he grew up he pushed the rock and recovered “the sandals and the sword”. On the way to Athens he killed six “evildoers”. Finally, he reached Athens (3.16.1-2 to E.1.1-4).

Medea was wedded to Aegeus but “plotted against him” and warned Aegeus to be careful with Theseus. Aegeus, “not knowing his own son”, suspicious, “sent him against the Marathonian bull” (E.1.5).

Theseus killed the animal and Aegeus gave him a poison that Medea gave him. Theseus was about to drink it and gave his sword to his father who recognized him and stopped him. At that point Medea was expelled (E.1.6).

Theseus was among “those who were to be sent as the third tribute to the Minotaur” or, as some say, he volunteered. The ship he sailed away on had a black sail and Aegeus told his son that if he returned alive to change the sail to white (E.1.7).

When Theseus arrived in Crete, “Ariadne, daughter of Minos”, showed him affection and offered to help him if he agreed to take her away to Athens and marry her. Theseus agreed and made an oath. Ariadne asked Daedalus to disclose how to get out of the labyrinth (E.1.8). Ariadne provided a clue to Theseus (a ball of thread). He tied one end to the door post and walked deep into the labyrinth until he found the Minotaur, killed him by hitting with his fists and followed his clue to get out. “By night he arrived with Ariadne and the children at Naxos. There Dionysus fell in love with Ariadne and carried her off”, took her to Lemnos and from her had Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion and Peparethus (E.1.9).

As a result of grieving for Ariadne, “Theseus forgot to spread white sails on his ship” when he arrived in Athens “and Aegeus, seeing from the acropolis” that “the ship” had “a black sail” thought Theseus died so he threw “himself down and died” (E.1.10). According to Plutarch (Life of Theseus) Aegeus, king of Athens, wanted to have children. He received an oracle from a Pythian priestess in which she forbade him from having intercourse with any woman until he came to Athens. Aegeus could not quite understand the cryptic words. He turned to Pittheus, king of Troezen, and communicated to him the oracle “which ran as follows:”

“Loose not the wine-skin's jutting neck, great chief of the people, Until thou shalt have come once more to the city of Athens.” (III [3])

Pittheus was apparently able to understand the oracle “and persuaded him, or beguiled him, to have intercourse with his daughter Aethra. Aegeus did so, and then learning that it was the daughter of Pittheus with whom he had consorted, and suspecting that she was” pregnant “he left a sword and a pair of sandals hidden under a great rock” (III [4]). Aegeus told the princess that if she would give birth to a boy and if he grew up and were able to lift the rock to recover the sword and the sandals to send him his way “with the tokens”, in secrecy and avoiding to publicize “his journey as much as possible from everybody” because he was afraid of the sons of Pallas (Aegeus’ brother) “who were plotting against him” and “despised him on account of his childlessness”. The sons of Pallas were “fifty in number” (III [5]).

“When Aethra gave birth to a son” he was named Theseus. Afterwards, in Athens, Aegeus “’acknowledged’ him as his son”. Theseus was raised by Pittheus and “he had an overseer and tutor named Connidas” [IV].

Aethra kept the truth about Theseus’ birth and “a report was spread abroad by Pittheus that he was” a child of Poseidon since Poseidon was “highly honored by the people of Troezen” and “he is the patron god of their city”. The trident is “an emblem on their” coins (VI). When young Theseus displayed strength, skill as well as spirit of intelligence and judgement, “Aethra brought him to the rock”. She told him about his true birth, told him to take his fathers’ tokens and go to Athens by sea (VI [2]). Theseus pushed the rock with his shoulder easily “but he refused to make his journey by sea” despite the fact it was safer and the begging of his mother and grandfather. The way to Athens by land was dangerous and filled with “robbers and miscreants” (VI [3]).

Theseus slayed six violent and dangerous individuals (VIII-XI).

Eventually, he reached Athens where he realized the public affairs of the city were in a state of confusion and the private affairs of Aegeus in a “distressing condition” (XII). Medea fled Corinth and was living with Aegeus. She knew about Theseus but Aegeus did not. Medea persuaded Aegeus to “entertain Theseus” and to poison him. Theseus arrived but did not tell who he was. However, he wanted to “give his father a clue” so “when the meats were served, he drew his sword” (XII [2]). His father recognized him and “dashed down the proffered cup of poison” that Theseus was about to drink, questioned his son, “embraced him, and formally recognized him before an assembly of citizens” (XII [3]). The sons of Pallas plotted to take over the kingdom of Aegeus since he was childless. However, “when Theseus was declared successor to the throne” “they went to war” (XIII). They “divided themselves into two bands” and planned an ambush. A man from Agnus named Leos reported to Theseus the plans of the Pallantidae (XIII [2]). Theseus ambushed them and killed them all (XIII [3]).

Theseus wrestled the Marathonian bull that was a danger to the inhabitans of Tetrapolis (an early name for a district of Attica comprising Marathon and three other adjacent townships). After mastering the wild beast he took it “through the city” and then he “sacrificed it to the Delphinian Apollo” (XIV).

After that Theseus went to Crete for the third tribute (to the Minotaur). “Most writers agree that because Androgeos (son of Minos) was thought to have been treacherously killed” in Attica, Minos harassed the local people by going to war against them. Pestilence and droughts hit Athens so, to appease Minos, an agreement was made and every nine years seven boys and seven girls were sent to him (XV). “The most dramatic version of the story declares that the young men and women”, once arrived in Crete, were killed by the Minotaur in the Labyrinth “or else wandered about at their own will and, being unable to find an exit, perished there”. Euripides related that the Minotaur was a “mingled form and hybrid birth of monstruous shape” made of “man and bull” (XV [2]).

“Philochorus, however, says that the Cretans do not admit this, but declare that the Labyrinth was a dungeon, with no other inconvenience than that its prisoners could not escape” and “that Minos instituted funeral games in honor of Androgeos” (XVI). Aristotle did not think the youths “were put to death by Minos, but that they spent the rest of their lives as slaves in Crete” (XVI [2]).

When it was time for the third group of youths to be sent to Crete, Aegeus was blamed for the troubles of Athens (XVII). The situation troubled Theseus who volunteered to be part of the group of youths and this was appreciated by the people of Athens (XVII [2]).

Hellanicus related that the Athenian youths were not sent but Minos would rather come to pick them in person and that he selected “Theseus first of all”. The Athenians would provide the ship, the youths would need to be unarmed and if the Minotaur were killed, the expeditions would end (XVII [3]).

On the first two expeditions there was no hope the youths would come back alive so they sent a ship with a black sail, knowing the youngsters would be certainly doomed. However, “Theseus encouraged his father and loudly boasted that he would master the Minotaur” so the captain of the ship was provided a white sail and he was told to use it if Theseus returned safely but otherwise use the black sail to indicate Theseus was dead (XVII [4]). When Theseus reached Crete Ariadne fell in love with him and “most historians and poets tell us” that he got the “famous thread”. Upon being instructed how to “make his way through the intricacies of the Labyrinth”, “he slew the Minotaur and sailed off with Ariadne and the youths”. Pherecydes says that “Theseus also staved” “the Cretan ships” so that he would not be pursued (XIX). Demon instead related “that Taurus, the general of Minos, was killed in a naval battle in the harbor as Theseus was sailing out”. Philochorus, on the other hand, said that “Minos was holding the funeral games” and Taurus was expected to win all competitions. Then Taurus “was accused of too great intimacy with Pasiphae”. Theseus asked to participate in the competitions and his wish was granted (XIX [2]). It was customary for Cretan women to assist to games and Ariadne was present. She was strongly attracted by the “appearance of Theseus” and she admired “his athletic prowess” as he beat all his opponents. Minos himself was “delighted with him, especially because he conquered Taurus in wrestling and disgraced him” (XIX [3]).

There are multiple stories as well about Ariadne but none of them agree. “Some say that she hung herself because she was abandoned by Theseus”. “Others” say “that she was conveyed to Naxos by sailors and” she lived there with Oeanarus, a priest of Dionysus, “and that she was abandoned by Theseus because he loved another woman” (XX).

“Some say that Ariadne actually had sons by Theseus” (XX [2]).

“It is said” that as Theseus came near the coast of Attica, in the midst of “joy and exultation”, he and the captain of his ship forgot to switch sails and Aegeus, in a rant of desperation, “threw himself down the rock and was dashed in pieces” (XXII). According to Pausanias (Description of Greece) “when Heracles visited Pittheus at Troezen, he laid aside his lion’s skin to eat dinner” (the lion skin was the skin of the Nemean Lion, Heracle’s first labor). Some kids from Troezen visited and Theseus, at the time seven, was with them. When the kids saw the lion skin they ran away in terror but Theseus “seized an axe from the servants and straightaway attacked the skin in earnest” because he thought it was an actual live lion (1.27.7).

“Aegeus placed boots and a sword under a rock as tokens” for Theseus and then “sailed away to Athens”. When Theseus was sixteen years old he pushed the rock away and departed with the tokens Aegeus left for him (1.27.8).

Crete was ravaged by a bull that, presumably, “had been let loose to punish mankind”. It was believed that the “bull was sent by Poseidon to their land” because “Minos was lord of the Greek Sea” but he did not worship Poseidon above all other gods (1.27.9).

The bull that crossed from Crete to the Peloponnesus, one of the “Twelve Labours of Heracles” was released and ran all the way to Marathon in Attica, killing Androgeous on its way. Minos as a result fought Athens with a fleet because he did not believe the Athenians were innocent for the death of Androgeos. Minos “harassed them until it was agreed that” seven girls and seven boys would be sent to the Minotaur who lived in the Labyrinth of Cnossus. It is said that Theseus sacrificed the bull of Marathon to the goddess (no name provided) (1.27.10).

Pausanias appears to hint that Ariadne fell asleep, Theseus sailed away and Dionysus carried off Ariadne (1.20.3).

The ships that carried the youngsters to Crete left with black sails. Theseus, who was sailing to face the bull of Minos, told his father Aegeus that he would use white sails if he overcame the beast. However, due to the loss of Ariadne, he forgot to switch sails so when Aegeus saw the ship returning home with black sails, thinking Theseus was dead, “threw himself down to destruction” (1.22.5).

The “Bull of Minos” was either a man or a beast (1.24.1).