The Flight of Icarus
I find the most fascinating of ancient writings to be Greek mythology. Writings produced by the early Greeks, in my opinion, even rival modern day literature. Hard to believe considering everything the human race has experienced and endured up to this point. With so many Greek tragedies, my favorite has to be "The Flight of Icarus." Our story begins on the isle of Crete. The earliest known settlers were the Minoans. King Minos ruled this island nation. This Greek tragedy involves an inventor named Daedalus. His homeland was Athens. For a short time, his apprentice was his sister's son Perdix. When Daedalus feared that Perdix would surpass him in talent, he murdered the boy by tossing him from the
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Minos promised to sacrifice the bull as an offering, but he coveted it for himself. He assumed that Poseidon would not mind, so he kept it and sacrificed the best specimen from his herd instead. When Poseidon learned about the deceit, he made Minos' wife fall madly in love with the white bull. The offspring of their lovemaking was a monster called the Minotaur. The creature had the head and tail of a bull on the body of a man. It caused such terror and destruction on Crete that Minos himself summoned Daedalus. He ordered the architect to build a gigantic, intricate labyrinth from which escape would be impossible. The Minotaur was captured and locked in the labyrinth. Every year for nine years, seven youths and maidens came as a tribute from Athens. These young people were locked in the labyrinth for the Minotaur to feast upon. When the Greek hero Theseus reached Athens, he learned of the Minotaur and the sacrifices, and wanted to end this. He volunteered to go to Crete as one of the victims of the sacrifice. Upon his arrival in Crete, he met Ariadne, Minos's daughter, who fell in love with Theseus. She promised she would provide the means to escape from the maze if he agreed to marry her. Ariadne asked Daedalus to help her. Daedalus gave her a flaxen thread for Theseus to tie to the door of the labyrinth as he entered, and by which he could find his
King Minos had prayed to the god of the sea, Poseidon, for a magnificent gift and in return he received a pure white bull. But instead of sacrificing this beautiful creature back to Poseidon, Minos chose a different bull to die in its stead. Poseidon, who was angered by this, had Aphrodite, goddess of love, make Minos’ wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with the white bull. From this love came the Minotaur. This creature possessed the body of a man, the head of a bull, and a hunger for human flesh (Renault 1958). Minos trapped the Minotaur within a labyrinth where it survived on the flesh of those who entered the winding passageways of this
In the story between Theseus and the Minotaur, King Minos requested that seven boys and seven girls come to Crete from Athens every nine years so his son the Minotaur could feast (Gods, Heroes and Monsters, 4.11.). The Minotaur lived in the center of a very tricky maze called the labyrinth. Theseus didn’t like the idea of sending young children to Crete so he volunteered to go himself and defeat the Minotaur. Theseus says to his father “When it is time to send the next tribute, I will go as one of them and I vow that it is the last time the Minotaur will be fed with the flesh of any of our people (Myths and Legends, 2006)”. The bravery Theseus had to save his people is part of the reason why he is considered a mythological hero. He volunteered himself to defeat the creature not knowing if he was going to make it himself. He was confident and wise but the maze was confusing and anyone who goes in doesn’t necessary come back out. King Minos wasn’t worried because if he were to defeat his son, he wouldn’t find his way back out.
The Minotaur, half man half bull, lived in Crete. Trapped in a labyrinth, constructed by the great Daedalus, the king of Crete, King Minos, demanded a tribute of seven boys and seven girls from Athens to satisfy the Minotaur’s savage hunger. But one year, Minos was deceived, for a new hero arose, Theseus, son of Aegeus, Prince of Athens. He won over the heart of Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, and used her ball of string to venture into the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. After a hard-fought grapple within the lair of the minotaur, the beast fell to the sword of Aegeus, which Theseus had smuggled into the maze. Using the string, he found his way back out. The Labyrinth went underground, void of life, never to be seen again.
That ball of thread made the exit of Minotaur's confinement easy. Before leaving, Theseus heroically helps the fourteen youths escape by telling them to follow his
On Friday the 13th, 1370 B.C., the heroic Theseus went on a quest to find his father, Aegeus. Once Theseus found his father,he heard about this barbarous beast, the Minotaur, half man, half bull, who lived in Crete. Theseus bravely entered the Cretan Labyrinth and defeated the great Minotaur by using only his bare hands.
One day the Minotaur was out walking around the labyrinth. When he came across a room in a very far off passage that hasn’t been used. When the Minotaur went and checked it out he had found nothing but evidence that something was living in the room. So the minotaur decided he would come and check on the room every day to find out what was living in there. Each day he would come at a different time to try to catch it.
Because Minos was ungrateful to the gods, Poseidon, the god of the sea, punished the king by making his wife fall in love with a bull. “At the request of the queen, Daedalus built a lifelike model of a cow in which she could conceal herself and spend time with her beloved bull” ("Daedalus." UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology.). As a result, the queen gave birth to the Minotaur, a monstrous creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. King Minos ordered Daedalus to design a prison for the Minotaur, so Daedalus built one of the most famous structures of Greek mythology, the Labyrinth. “The labyrinth was so skillfully designed that no one could escape from the maze” ("Daedalus." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2014)). King Minos forced the city of Athens to annually send 7 boys and 7 girls as tributes to Crete, so they could be given to the Minotaur as food. The king’s daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with one of these doomed tributes, named Theseus. In order to help them, Daedalus gave Theseus a ball of string so that he could tie the string to the entrance of the maze, kill the Minotaur, and follow the string back out. King Minos knew that Daedalus was behind the scheme, so he imprisoned both Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in the Labyrinth. Daedalus was too clever for the king, however, and he fashioned two pairs of wings out of feathers and wax for him and his son to fly out of
Asterius had the body of a man, but the head of a bull. As such, he was called the Minotaur. Minos did not like the Minotaur. As such, he asked Daedalus to build a giant maze, called a labyrinth, where he could imprison the bull.
Theseus & Joseph: Hero Cycle Both Theseus and Joseph are archetyp classic heroes, whose lives and adventures become a template of the mythical hero cycle. The Hero cycle is a basic pattern used in many narratives. It includes the birth, gcall, crossing the threshold, a mentor, struggles and trials, the goal and the return. Joseph and Theseus, both fit in the hero cycle if you look at their stories.
The myth of the Minotaur comes from the Island of Crete. King Minos of Crete was the son of Europa and Zeus, but King Asterion still raised Minos as his own along with his two brothers. To become king after Asterion had passed, Minos prayed to the God Poseidon to provide him with a spectacular white bull to sacrifice to the god. Poseidon granted Mino’s wish, showing the people, he was the rightful ruler over his two brothers. Minos however, did not sacrifice the bull and chosen a lesser one in its place. Poseidon became angry over Mino’s disobedience. Mino’s wife, Pasiphae, was installed with lusting desire for the white bull by Poseidon as revenge. With the help of Daedalus and Icarus, Pasiphae became pregnant by the animal. The name of Minotaur
the Minotaur came to be when Minos refused to sacrifice the cretan bull to the gods. So, zeus got revenge on minos by making his wife fall madly in love with the bull. Then itl and Minos had a child which was the Minotaur. The Minotaur had the head and hair of a bull but the body of a man. The horrible creature lived in a labyrinth and was being fed 7 of the citizens of Athens by King Minos every year.
Once upon time ago there was a boy named Theseus.Theseus had two dads.Theseus didn’t knew who his second dad is.His dads were Aegeus the king of Athens and Poseidon the god of the sea.One day Theseus picked up a large boulder and there was a sword and sandals under the boulder
These labors were designated to him through King Eurystheus because of the unspeakable acts he committed. Hercules sought out many prophets, only in the end to return to King Eurystheus to complete his 12 suicidal labors. One of the last 6 labors completed was to capture the Cretan Bull. Minos promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent to him. Poseidon sent a great bull, but Minos thought it was too beautiful to kill. So he killed another bull, and Poseidon grew angry so he made it rampage through the city of Crete. Hercules wrestled the bull to the ground. He carried the bull back to Eurystheus, but it could not be tamed so Eurystheus set it free. The 8th labor Hercules had to complete was stealing the Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes’ Mares are 4 men eating horses with terrible tempers. Diomedes kept the horses chained to a golden post to keep them from escaping. Hercules snuck behind the golden post taming the horses, and right before he could release them Diomedes soldiers began attacking Hercules. From hearing all the commotion Diomedes awakens. He is informed that Hercules is trying to steal the mares from a random foot soldier. Diomedes is irate and attacks Hercules.
The island of Crete had a palace full of twists and turns that belonged to King Minos. His palace was dark, which made it harder for you to see where you were going. The palace would make you feel as if something was crawling on your skin because of its creepiness. As you sniff, the smell of the dead arises into your nose. Walking by each room, you can hear a banging sound. Everywhere you go, you can taste the saltiness of the ocean. The sounds of whimpering and cries of other people are easily heard. Every year, fourteen youth would enter the palace and try to find a secret way out. King Minos would always choose seven boys and seven girls to even things out. But there was one condition; bulls were in some of the hundreds of rooms as a trap. When a youth encountered a bull, they would have to perform an acrobatic trick on the bull. If they failed, the bull would kill them. Only a few have ever survived and found a way out. But King Minos wouldn’t care about those who died. In fact, he enjoyed it a lot.
“Gather your materials and build my palace! Your freedom shall not be granted until!” King Minos forced against his servant, Daedalus. Desperate for his freedom, Daedalus strut his way towards his workshop where he collected his supplies and laborers. The construction began as all were urged to live life free and to the fullest, not knowing what trickery Minos has set upon them. “Freedom is ours, let us celebrate what we have accomplished,” all the workers shouted in happiness, suddenly being greeted by Minos and his guards. “You all have been caught in my trap” Minos snickered, as the guards ambushed the workers. They put all of them to their deaths, leaving Daedalus to negotiate with Minos or suffer imprisonment inside of the palace.