Just4Fun: The Minotaur of Crete

“If I wear a chain anytime I smoke

Does that make me a chainsmoker?” 

THE MINOTAUR OF CRETE


A famous Greek legend of the island of Crete which tells of how the King of Athens, the greatest of the cities of ancient Greece, slew the son of Minos, King of Crete.

In revenge, Minos conquered Athens & forced its King to send him seven youths & seven maidens every year as a tribute. These victims were driven into a huge maze, or labyrinth, on the island where they were devoured by a monster, half-bull & half-human, known as the Minotaur.

Then one year Theseus, son of the Athenian King, bravely volunteered to form part of the doomed company. When he arrived in Crete, the daughter of Minos, named Ariadne, fell in love with him & gave him a sword & a piece of thread before he entered the maze.

With the sword Theseus slew the Minotaur, & with the thread, which he had dropped behind him, he found his way back. The doomed company was saved & the brave prince set sail for home.

Now Theseus had told his father, whose name was Aegeus, that if he slew the Minotaur & found his way out of the labyrinth he would hoist white sails as he came into port. But Theseus was so eager to arrive home that he forgot to do this, & when Aegeus saw the black sails of the returning ships he thought his son was dead.

In his grief the old king threw himself into the sea, which has ever since been called the Aegean Sea in memory of him. The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea which lies between Greece & Turkey.