Minotaur - Monster; Half Man Half Bull
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The Minotaur: mythical half man half bull son of Pasiphae and a bull.
A man-eating monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man.
The offspring of Pasiphae, queen of Crete, and a snow-white bull

King Minos of Crete sacrifed an other bull in place of his favorite
snow white bull, to fool Poseidon. This made Poseidon angry.
He cast a spell have the kings wife (Pasiphae, queen of Crete) fall
in love with that bull. She got Daedalus to help her consummate this
passion. By building an ingenious hollow wooden cow, covered with
hide and with a door on top through which Pasiphane could lower
herself inside. They wheeled it into the pasture where the bull was
kept; Daedalus helped her get in, and then discreetly withdrew.
Pasiphane was completely satisfied, but to everyone's horror, she
then bore the Minotaur, a creature with a man's body but a bull's
head.

To hide the hideous bullman, the king ordered Daedalus to build the Labyrinth with so many passages that if you took one step you were lost. The Minotaur lived in the Labyrinth and ate the young Athenians sacrificed to him every year.

Theseus killing the Minotaur (32,930 byte)
THESEUS was the son of
AEgeus,king of Athens,
and AEthra, daughter of
the king of Troezen.
He had several heroic
adventures against impossible
odds already

The Athenians were dismayed
because of the tribute which
they were forced to pay to
Minos, king of Crete. This
tribute consisted of seven
youths and 7 maidens, who
were sent every year to be
devoured by the Minotaur.

Theseus resolved stop this tribute or die trying.

When the time came, youths and maidens (drawn by lot) to be
sent as tribute, he offered himself, in spite of his
fathers wishes.

The ship left under black sails. Theseus promised his
father to change for white, when he was victorious.

Arriveing in Crete, the youths and maidens were shown to
Minos; and Ariadne, the daughter of the king, being
present, became deeply enamoured of Theseus, by whom her
love was readily returned.

She furnished him with a sword, with which to encounter the
Minotaur, and with a spool of thread by which he might find
his way out of the labyrinth.

He slew the Minotaur, escaped from the labyrinth, and took
Ariadne as they sailed for Athens. On their way they
stopped at the island of Naxos, where Theseus abandoned
Ariadne, leaving her asleep.* His excuse for this
ungrateful treatment of his benefactress was that Minerva
appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to do so.

On approaching the coast of Attica, Theseus forgot the
signal appointed by his father, and neglected to raise the
white sails, and the old king, thinking his son had
perished, put an end to his own life. Theseus thus became
king of Athens.


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