Before he ascended the throne of Crete, Minos struggled with his brothers for the right to rule. Minos prayed to Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of approval. He was to sacrifice the bull in Poseidon's name, but decided to keep it instead because of its beauty. As punishment, Poseidon caused Pasiphaë, Minos' wife, to fall madly in love with the bull from the sea, the "Cretan Bull". She had Daedalus, the famous architect, make a hollow wooden cow for her as a decoy in order to fool the bull. Pasiphaë climbed into the wooden cow and the decoy proved successful. The offspring of their unnatural lovemaking was a monster called the Minotaur.
The Minotaur, as the Greeks imagined him, had the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. Pasiphaë nursed him in his infancy, but he grew and became ferocious. King Minos, after getting advice from the Oracle at Delphi, ordered Daedalus to construct something to hold the Minotaur underneath Minos' palace (possibly the one in the city of Knossos). Daedalus then built the labyrinth.
It is said that because the king of Athens, Aegeus, had murdered Minos' son Androgeos in jealousy, Minos made Athens send a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to Crete to feed the Minotaur every nine years.
When Theseus, son of King Aegeus, reached Athens and found out about these sacrifices, he wanted to put a stop to it and volunteered himself to be one of the youths. It was there that he met Minos' daughter Ariadne, who fell in love with the young hero. She promised to provide a way through the labyrinth if he agreed to marry her. When he did, she gave him a ball of thread and told him to fasten it to the entrance and carry it with him - then, once he needs to find his way out, he can just follow the path the thread made. Doing so, Theseus made his way into the labyrinth and found the Minotaur sleeping. He killed the beast with his bare hands and rescued the other youths, following the trail of thread out of the labyrinth.
Real life references
The Minotaur is often described by writers as the ancient Greeks' way of describing and representing the man's constant fight against his inner beast, and his struggle to control it.
The Minotaur is featured on the eponymous fourth episode of the documental mythology television series Clash of the Gods.[1]
A Minotaur is depicted as an alien prisoner which feeds on people's faith in 'The God Complex', an episode of science fiction series Doctor Who
Comics
The Minotaur appears in the second issue of the comic book series Wrath of the Titans: Revenge of Medusa.
Immortal's version of the Minotaur appears on the 100-pages graphic novel titled Immortals: Gods and Heroes. In the book, the past and origin of the Minotaur is revealed. Before been known as the Minotaur, he was known as the Beast, a butcher who was never appreciated by his fellow villagers. When Hyperion arrives to attack the Beast's village, he protects his village by slaughtering every single one of Hyperion's men. When confronting Hyperion, king Hyperion convinces the Beast that all those villagers do not appreciate his deeds as they fear him and hate him. The beast is convinced and recruited by Hyperion and starts slaughtering the villagers. After the slaughter, Hyperion names the Beast with the pseudonym Minotaur.[2]
The Minotaur appears on the 2011 film Immortals. In the film he is depicted as been a human being wearing a spiked mask which resembles the head of a bull. Hyperion sends him to kill Theseus at the labyrinth, however Theseus gains the upper hand in the battle and decapitates the Minotaur.[3]
The Minotaur as depicted in the Wrath of the Titans film.
A Minotaur appears on the 2012 film Wrath of the Titans, in the film he is the last gatekeeper at the end of the labyrinth which is located at the entrance/exit of Tartarus (Tartaros). The Minotaur confronts Perseus, and Perseus brakes one of the Minotaur's horns. Altough Perseus has a hard time dealing with the Minotaur, Perseus manages to defeat the Minotaur by stabbing it with it's own broken horn.[4]
A Minotaur has a minor role in the opening of the 2013 film Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue-Falcon.
Video games
The Minotaur and various variations of it, appear in God of War II.[5]
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 8 - 11 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.):"Minos aspired to the throne [of Krete], but was rebuffed. He claimed, however, that he had received the sovereignty from the gods, and to prove it he said that whatever he prayed for would come about. So while sacrificing to Poseidon, he prayed for a bull to appear from the depths of the sea, and promised to sacrifice it upon its appearance. And Poseidon did send up to him a splendid bull. Thus Minos received the rule, but he sent the bull to his herds and sacrificed another . . . Poseidon was angry that the bull was not sacrificed, and turned it wild. He also devised that Pasiphae should develop a lust for it. In her passion for the bull she took on as her accomplice an architect named Daidalos . . . He built a woden cow on wheels, . . . skinned a real cow, and sewed the contraption into the skin, and then, after placing Pasiphae inside, set it in a meadow where the bull normally grazed. The bull came up and had intercourse with it, as if with a real cow. Pasiphae gave birth to Asterios, who was called Minotauros. He had the face of a bull, but was otherwise human. Minos, following certain oracular instructions, kept him confined and under guard in the labyrinth. This labyrinth, which Daidalos built, was a “cage with convoluted flextions that disorders debouchment."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 213 :"The god [Delphoi oracle] told them [the Athenians] to give Minos whatever retribution he should chose . . . He ordered them to send seven young men and seven girls, unarmed, to be served as food to the Minotauros. The Minotauros was kept in a labyrinth, from which there was no escape after one entered, for it closed off its imperceivable exit with convoluted flexions. It had been constructed by Daidalos."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E1. 7 - 1. 9:"Theseus was on the list of the third tribute to the Minotauros (some day he volunteered) . . . [Ariadne] pleaded with Daidalos to tell her the way out of the labyrinth. Following his instructions, she gave Theseus a ball of thread as he entered. He fastened this to the door and let it trail behind him as he went in. He came across the Minotauros in the furthest section of the labyrinth, killed him with jabs of his fist, and then made his way out again by pulling himself along the thread."
