The Minotaur

Key facts and history

Athens was compelled to send select young men and unwed young women as a sacrificial meal for the Minotaur.^[2] The Athenian prince Theseus volunteered to slay the Minotaur, promising his father Aegeus he would change the ship's black sail to white if successful.^[3] Theseus killed the Minotaur with his sword, a club, or his bare hands, then led the Athenians out of the Labyrinth.^[4] On the return journey, the crew neglected to replace the black sail, and Aegeus, presuming his son dead, killed himself by leaping into the sea.^[5]

Pasiphaë, the spouse of Minos, conceived the Minotaur after she developed a passion for a bull sent by Poseidon and copulated with it inside a hollow wooden cow that Daedalus built for her.^[6] Pasiphaë gave birth to Asterius, the Minotaur; he became savage and, because he had no natural food source as the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast, he ate human beings to survive.^[6][7] Minos ordered Daedalus to build a huge Labyrinth near the royal palace at Knossos, and the Minotaur was confined inside it.^[7][8] Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, assisted Theseus in finding his way through the Labyrinth by providing him with a ball of thread.^[4]

What the cited sources add

Catullus's poem describes Athens as compelled by a cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon by giving the Minotaur select young men and unwed young women as a sacrificial meal.^[2] Catullus also notes that Theseus vowed to fight the Minotaur, seeking either death or the spoils of praise.^[2]