The Minotaur is a hybrid mythical creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull that was so wild that it had to be confined to a labyrinth, a one-way labyrinth designed by the skilled craftsman, Daedalus. You can visit the palace of Knossos and learn more about the Minotaur when you visit Greece. The myth of the Minotaur and some information about this creature will be a good base for your travels, especially to the island of Crete.
The story of the minotaur
Pasiphae and Minos were the queen and king of Crete in times of early Greek mythology. Minos, feeling the need to assert his ruling legitimacy over that of his brothers Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, asked the gods to send him a sign that he was the rightful ruler. An incredibly beautiful bull from the sea appeared, a sign of Zeus or Poseidon, the myths are not clear. The idea was that Minos would use the bull as a kind of public relations campaign, and then send it back to the gods by sacrificing it in their honor.
But Minos liked the beautiful bull so much that he kept it to fertilize his own herds and sacrificed a lesser bull instead. That turned out to be a bad idea. Zeus asked Aphrodite to make Queen Pasiphae fall madly in love with the bull and mate with him. This was achieved with the help of a fake cow suit designed by Daedalus. Pasiphae then gave birth to the Minotaur, who was so wild that he had to be contained in the labyrinth.
Later, Minos demanded homage from Athens in the form of young men and maidens whose fate was to be fed to the Minotaur. Some say this is a metaphor for the dangerous bull jumping games the Cretans were famous for. Theseus, son of the King of Athens, arranged to be among the tribute group and, with the help of Princess Ariadne, a daughter of the King and Queen, he made his way to the labyrinth guided by a thread and was able to kill the Minotaur.
Main temple sites related to the Minotaur
In later ancient and modern times, the history of the Minotaur is associated with Knossos. But early versions of the story located the site of the labyrinth near the other great Minoan palace of Phaistos, on the southern coast of Crete. Phaistos was known for his herds of solar sacred cattle and was also close to Gortyn, the place where Zeus, in the form of a bull, brought Europe.
The so-called ‘labyrinth’ can still be visited, but it’s not for the faint-hearted and don’t expect your cell phone to work in its miles of underground tunnels. It is believed that it was an old quarry; some of it exploded during the Nazi occupation of Greece when it was used as a weapons depot, and again when the leftover ordinance exploded.
Minotaur facts and curiosities
Mentions of the Minotaur in Greek mythology are woven into a complex story involving symbolism, some contradictory. Information about the Minotaur that is fairly consistent includes:
- The Minotaur’s strengths were that he was incredibly strong with sharp horns, a fierce fighter, hungry for meat.
- The Minotaur’s weaknesses were that he was not incredibly bright and quite emotional, constantly hungry and angry.
- The Minotaur’s mother was Pasiphae, Queen of Crete and wife of King Minos. She is also believed to have been a lunar goddess from Crete, and the Minotaur’s horns may also represent the moon. His father was a sacred white bull temporarily given to King Minos to be sacrificed back to the gods.
- The Minotaur was not known to have a spouse. It apparently ate its male and female victims, making reproduction a bit unlikely. And that’s why he didn’t have any offspring either.
- Frequent misspellings and alternate spellings of the Minotaur’s name include Minataur, Minatour, and Minitore. The Minotaur was also said to be called Asterion, the name of Europa’s husband and a name that connects him to the starry celestial form of Zeus.
- While everyone talks about the Labyrinth, which is an ancient Cretan word that possibly means “House of the Double Ax” (which may refer to the horns of a bull), it seems that it is actually a labyrinth. A maze has only one path to and from the center of the layout, whereas a maze has many dead ends and dead ends and can be designed to deliberately mislead and confuse a victim. Ariadne’s thread would not have been necessary for Theseus to use it to enter and exit a true labyrinth: there would only be one way to enter or exit.
- The Minotaur appears in the 2011 film “The Immortals,” which takes some liberties with the ancient myths.
