Theseus and the Minotaur

Story

In a labyrinth beneath the palace of King Minos, there lives a terrible monster called the Minotaur, who is half man and half bull, and who eats human flesh! King Minos orders that seven young men and seven young women are fed to this beast. Theseus is one of the men chosen and must face the fearsome Minotaur.

Why we chose it

This is one of the most famous of the Greek myths and legends.

Where it came from

This ancient myth was recorded by both the Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses and the Greek biographer Plutarch in “Life of Theseus” within his work Parallel Lives (secondary century AD).

Where it went next

The Minotaur appears in Dante’s Inferno, in Canto 12, but apparently, Dante reverses the myth and shows the beast with a man’s head with a bull’s body. Theseus is also referred to in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The slaying of the Minotaur is a theme in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief.

Associated stories

Although Theseus and the Minotaur is the most famous, there are many other stories about Theseus and his adventures. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur also appears in the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, as it was Daedalus who built the labyrinth.