Minotaur means “Minos bull” the brutish creature came into existence after a conflict between Poseidon and Minos. Poseidon sent Minos a pure white bull to sacrifice in honor of Poseidon. But when Minos saw the stunning beauty of the animal he refused to kill the majestic creature. In essence this thoroughly enraged Poseidon. Fuming, Poseidon returned the favor by causing Minos’s wife too fall in love with the brute and in a sense have an affair.

Minos saw his wife and thinking she was pregnant with his child gave no mind too the matter. When the spawn was born he almost instantly saw that it was not his offspring. Infuriated by how Poseidon had despicably got revenge as well as the point that his wife was no more faithful Minos had the Minotaur locked up in a massive labyrinth.

Years after his disagreement with Poseidon, one of his sons was killed by the people of Athens. In his anguish Minos cursed the city of Athens. The only way the population could avoid the enchantment was to each year send Minos 7 young men and 7 young women to Minos’s island where they would be left in the Cretan king’s labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur.

Theseus of Athens was determined to end the violent slaughter of youth. He volunteered to be one of the sacrificial victims. He was begged to do otherwise by many but in his firm decision he pressed forward. On the ship to Crete, Theseus vowed to slay the beast to stop the flow of Athenian blood. On the island during the few days the teens were given to live their last bits of life Theseus fell in love with Ariadne, daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of string and a map she had taken from her father. Theseus was to take the string and roll it out while journeying through the labyrinth so he would know the way back.

Theseus entered the minotaur’s labyrinth and began to search for the hybrid. Deep within the maze he found the raging brute. With one punch he killed the tormenter and ended the vicious killings. He with Ariadne and the other atenians fled to crete. They decided that they had outstayed their welcome so they packed bags, set sail, and went home.