Greek Mythology Made Easy: Theseus and the Minotaur

King Minos of Crete was very powerful. Every year, the small town of Athens had to send him 7 young men and 7 young women--as food for the Minotaur. The Minotaur was half-man, half-bull--a monster who lived in the labyrinth under Minos's palace. 

Theseus was the son of the king of Athens, Aegeus. He told his father he would go to Crete as one of the prisoners and kill the Minotaur. Aegeus made Theseus promise him that on his way back from Crete he would change the color of his black sails to white. That way, Aegeus would know that Theseus was alive. Theseus promised he would do that, and sailed away.

In Crete, Theseus met Minos's daughter Ariadne, and she fell in love with him. She gave him a sword and a ball of string. She told Theseus to tie the string to the entrance of the maze--only that way would he make it back out.

Theseus took her advice, killed the Minotaur with her sword, and came out alive. Ariadne begged Theseus to take her back to Athens before her father king Minos found out that she had helped Theseus. She was in love with Theseus and wanted to marry him. 

Theseus agreed and they sailed back to Athens, but had to stop to get food and water on a little island on the way. When Ariadne fell asleep on the beach, Theseus sailed away, leaving the young princess alone.

The gods did not like what he did to Ariadne. They made him forget to change his sails to white. When his father, king Aegeus, saw the black sails on the horizon, he thought Theseus was dead--and he threw himself into the sea, where he drowned.

Theseus became Athens' greatest king, and in time, Athens became the greatest city in Greece.

As for Aegeus, the sea was named in his memory, and is known to this day as the Aegean.

The image above (fragment of an Ancient Greek vase painting of Theseus and the Minotaur) was found on a website called theoi.com (in Greek, "theoi" means gods).

It's a great site where you can read about Greek mythology and check out Ancient Greek art.

Click below to read more about Theseus at theoi.com:

https://www.theoi.com/articles/greek-mythology-who-is-theseus/

Watch "Theseus and the Minotaur. Ancient Greek Mythology Stories."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQuAUBX5xBw

Watch "What Did Ancient Greece Look Like? Cinematic Animation." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YrJxz6xsAk

And here's my favorite: "Daily Life in Ancient Greece." ANCIENT ATHENS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFU-rJXQlxI