preview

Theseus And Minotaur Research Paper

Decent Essays

Religion, Death and Burial
Myths and Legends
Theseus and the Minotaur
According to Greek legend, Zeus seduced a Phoenician Princess named Europa. He then took her to the island of Crete and they had a son named Minos. Minos went on to become the king of Crete. He also married Pasiphae who was the daughter of Helios. According to Bacchylides, a Greek playwright, Minos controlled all of the seas that surrounded Crete.
Every year, Minos sacrificed the finest bull in his flock to the Greek gods. However, one year a magnificent bull appeared in his flock. However, Minos decided not to sacrifice this bull; instead, Minos sacrificed a lesser bull. The Gods became angry and Poseidon put a curse on Pasiphae. According to Apollodorus, Pasiphae asked Daedalus (an engineer) to build a wooden cow for her that was hollow on the inside. After Daedalus had built the cow, Pasiphae put some animal skin on it and hid inside it. After a short period of time, the magnificent bull appeared and made love to the “wooden cow”, i.e. Pasiphae! …show more content…

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.
Not long afterwards, Androgeos (the son of Minos and Pasiphae) went to Athens. However, Androgeos was killed by the Athenian King, Aegeus. According to Pausanias (a Greek historian), Minos sailed to Athens.He threatened to attack them unless they agreed to given him a tribute in return for the death of his son. The Athenians agreed to give Minos seven boys and seven girls every year as punishment for the death of Androgeos. Minos decided to feed these to the

Get Access