Greek Mythology #4 Theseus and The Minotaur

Theseus was the son of Queen Aethra. Theseus was also 1/3 the son of Poseidon, the God of the sea, and 1/3 the son of King Aegeus. Theseus was the prince of Athens. In Ancient Greece, Athens was super powerful in the sailing industry but not as strong as most civilizations in brutality. So when King Minos of Crete challenged Aegeus to war, King Aegeus had always protected his people, so King Aegeus said he would pay King Minos whatever he wanted if he didn't go to war.

King Minos and his brothers all wanted the throne. They wouldn't stop fighting. Until one day when Minos got so power-hungry, he told everyone in the whole city of Crete, "If I can make a WHITE BULL appear from the ocean floor, I will become King! If not, you may banish me." Obviously, the townspeople were stunned to hear King Minos say this. His brothers quickly agreed thinking there was no possible way that this would happen. But King Minos prayed to God, Poseidon. Even though Poseidon was the God of the sea but he still made land animals, he even invented the horse. So Poseidon told Minos, "I will do it, but what will you do for me." King Minos quickly responded by telling Poseidon as soon as he became King of Crete he would sacrifice the bull in his honor. This sounded good enough for Poseidon. So the next day in front of the whole town, where they had gathered up in the agora, King Minos said, "The bull will come any minute now." After a few minutes his brothers chimed in, "Well, I wonder who's getting banished!" The town laughed. But less than a second later, a magnificent white bull sprang from the ocean floor, and walked to Crete. Minos raised his voice so everyone could hear him, "They are the ones who are banished." He pointed at his brothers. The brothers had made a deal and had to leave the city. But they were the only ones who finished the deal. King Minos became arrogant very quickly. He didn't sacrifice the bull to Poseidon. Instead he kept it in his own stables. Poseidon was understandably outraged. He cursed King Minos wife Queen Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull in the stables. And that is when the Minotaur was born. (That seems to be a theme in Greek Mythology, the people who don't do anything end up being the ones who get in trouble anyways.) King Minos was concerned with the baby, so he had the inventor Daedalus (We will get to his story soon) build a maze called a labyrinth. But King Minos couldn't just leave the Minotaur there to starve. He figured that would get him cursed even more. So he declared war on Athens. When they said they would pay him anything because they did not want to go to war, he got an evil grin. He demanded they give him 14 children each year to feed the Minotaur, 7 boys and 7 girls.

Yes, I know what you are wondering, 'Who is Ariadne'. Well you'll find out soon.

One year, Theseus offered to be one of the sacrifices to King Minos. King Aegeus said no, but after a lot of begging from Theseus, King Aegeus finally agreed. He was very worried for his son, but Theseus was very confident in himself. King Aegeus made Theseus promise if he lived, when he came home he would change the colors of the sails on his boat from white to gray. So then Theseus went to Crete to take on the Minotaur. When the boat arrived King Minos and his guards greeted everyone with an abrupt "Hello, the prison is over here." There the Athenians stayed the night knowing they will be taking on the labyrinth the next day. But Ariadne kind of got a little crush on Theseus. In the middle of the night he went down to Theseus's jail cell and told him, "I will help you through the maze. I will bring swords to you and help you so you don't get lost, but you must promise one thing in return." Theseus said, "I'm grateful for your help, what would you like?" Ariadne told him "I would like you to bring me to Athens and let me live there with you away from my cruel father." Theseus swore on the river Styx. So the next day when the guards put the 14 Athenians in the labyrinth with no armor or weapons, they didn't think any of them would stand a chance against the Minotaur. After a few minutes the door opened, Ariadne gave Theseus a sword, and a piece of string. "Keep hold of the string, it will guide you back through the maze." With that she closed the door and Theseus was left alone in the darkness, with 13 other Athenians counting on him. He told them all to wait by the door and that he'd be back soon. Eventually, he came close to a sound, he picked up a pebble by his feet and chucked it where the sound was. A huge roar followed. Theseus predicted that this was the Minotaur. Then an angry beaver stepped out. No, not a beaver a Minotaur. He was half-human half-bull. He was huge, and he breath smelled awful. Theseus let go of the string and started a fight. The Minotaur lunged at Theseus but Theseus got away. Theseus then sneaked  behind the Minotaur on his tip-toes making no noise. He jumped, let out a cry, and sliced the Minotaur's head off. But in the whole thing he had lost the string, how was he going to get back? Theseus fell on the floor, searching and feeling everywhere to feel for a small piece of yarn. And then he found it, he retraced all of his steps and finally got to the door, he opened it and smiled. He had done it! He quickly freed all of the Athenians and he and Ariadne ran for the ships, it was the dead of night and no one could catch them. So Ariadne and Theseus sailed back home to Athens.

On the way back to Athens, Theseus told his crew to stop at the island of Naxos for a rest. Everyone got off the boat and fell asleep on the beach. When Ariadne fell asleep, one of Theseus guards woke him. "She fell asleep, sir." Theseus had everyone quickly get on the boat and leave for Athens. Ariadne heard talking so she woke up, and what she saw in the distance was the ship of Theseus, heading to Athens without her.

When you swear on the river Styx and break that oath, usually even more bad things will happen to you. That is one of the rules in Greek Mythology. Theseus had just left Ariadne stranded on the beach of Naxos on purpose. But it just gets worse. Theseus was really tired, he had slept for 10 minutes in the last 24 hours. He could just see land up ahead. He was so excited to get home and tell his family about how he absolutely dominated that stupid creature called the Minotaur. King Aegeus woke up after his guard told him a ship was in the distance. He quickly peered over the patio but the color of the sails was white. King Aegeus was so heart-broken, he threw himself off the cliff and into the sea, where he drowned. That sea became known as the Aegean Sea, in his honor. Theseus was docking to shore when he saw a man jump off the cliff into the sea, he looked behind him and realized his mistake. He was so tired he forget to change the color of the sails.

Well, that is the end of our happy story today. See you next time when we talk about; More about our nice friend King Minos, The Inventor, Challenges you cannot resist, and really hot water.