Most people know the classical version of the myth of the Minotaur involving the bull of Crete, Theseus and Diadalos’s labyrinth. There are, however, other versions of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. In these, the Minotaur is not a mythical beast but a man.

The Legend of the Minotaur

The most familiar version of the myth tells how King Minos of Crete, son of Zeus, was sent a white bull by his uncle, Poseidon. Poseidon intended that Minos should sacrifice the bull to him. But the bull was too beautiful and so the King saved it for himself. In vengeance, Poseidon caused the King’s wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. She bribed the inventor Daidalos to construct a wooden model of a cow for her to hide inside and entice the animal. Her ruse worked, and the result was the birth of the Minotaur, a monstrous half-man, half-bull.

The Minotaur, who was named Asterius or Asterion, was such a source of shame to his family that Minos had him shut up in a subterranean maze designed by Diadalos, situated under his palace of Knossos. Here, he lived off the blood of the King’s enemies.

Amongst those enemies were the people of Athens. Minos held the Athenians responsible for the death of another of his sons, Androgeus, killed near the city by the same bull of Poseidon who had sired his half brother. In retribution for the death, Athens had to send a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to Crete every nine years for sacrifice in the labyrinth.

To stop the blood tribute, Theseus, son of Aegeus, King of Athens, chose to join the third shipment to Crete. On his arrival at the island, Ariadne, one of Mino’s daughters, fell in love with him and agreed to help him kill the Minotaur if he would marry her and take her back to Athens. She gave Theseus the key to the labyrinth, a magic ball of thread. When the end of the thread was tied to the lintel of the labyrinth door, it would unwind and guide the bearer to the centre of the maze, where the Minotaur lurked. Theseus was to kill the creature with a sword as a sacrifice to Poseidon.

Theseus was victorious, and he, Ariadne and the youths and maidens escaped Crete and set off back to Greece.

The Minotaur and Taurus

However, an alternative version of the myth suggests that the father of the Minotaur was no god but one of Mino’s general’s, a man named Tauros or Taurus. Taurus had an affair with Pasiphae and the resulting child was named Asterios but nicknamed Minatauros because of his resemblance to Minos. This child took to the mountains and became a wild man, living off wild animals and criminals until Theseus, with Mino’s blessing, took to the hills and killed him.

In another version, the labyrinth was a prison for youths and maidens due to be sacrificed as part of Androgeus’s funeral games. In this version, Tauros is the Minotaur by nature of his dominance of the games of the labyrinth. He remains the King’s general and Queen’s lover — and the undefeated champion of the games. With Minos’s blessing, Theseus challenges Tauros and defeats him, ridding the King of a rival. In return, the tribute from Athens is cancelled and Ariadne is bestowed upon Theseus with her father’s blessing.

These various myths could have underlying religious and historical inspiration.

Resources

Vasilakis, Andonis, (2001) Minoan Crete: From Myth to History. Adam Editions: Athens

Graves, Robert, (1996) The Greek Myths Volume I. The Folio Society: London.

Price, Simon and Kearns, Emily (eds) (2003) The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion. Oxford University Press: Oxford