The Minotaur is a beast from Greek myth, a mutant that was part bull and part man. Minotaurs are descendants of Asterion, the bastard son of King Minos who was imprisoned within the Labyrinth created by the Greek engineer, Daedalus.
History[]
Origins[]
Before the birth of Minotaurus, King Minos and his wife Queen Pasiphae led a good life ruling over the island of Crete. Minos held power over multiple islands of Greece and was recognized for his success and power by many. In an attempt to prove his rightful claim as King of Crete, Minos swore to locate the best bull he could find among his cattle and sacrifice to the god Poseidon each year to secure his right to the throne.
One year in particular, among King Minos’ herd, there birthed a magnificent bull, one that possessed a unique kind of beauty that King Minos had never seen before. Minos truly was in awe of this magnificent bull, so much so that he found himself captivated by its beauty, and he realized that this bull was something he did not want to give up to the promised Poseidon. Minos purposefully chose to overlook the magnificent bull when making his decision, and settled on a less attractive bull to sacrifice to Poseidon.
Selfishness of Poseidon[]
Watching his deceitful actions very closely, Poseidon became enraged towards King Minos and decided to punish him severely. Poseidon cast a curse upon Queen Pasiphae, who became overwhelmed with a burning love. Her love was not for her husband; but instead she felt love for his magnificent bull. She was so utterly infatuated with the bull that she constructed a plan to lure the bull towards her, and hopefully lay with her romantically.
Queen Pasiphae instructed a craftsman of the island, Daedalus, and his son, Icarus, to build her a wooden structure that represented a near-perfect body form of a female bull. She insisted that the piece be built as realistically as possible and large enough for herself to comfortably fit inside without revealing that she was human. In spite of her odd orders, Daedalus and Icarus did what the Queen asked of them. As a finishing touch, Queen Pasiphae placed a large cowhide over the structure so that the bull would notice the structure and took it as a female looking to mate. The queen rolled the structure out to the field where she would often see the bull grazing day after day. She strategically placed herself in the view of the magnificent bull, stepped inside the structure, and waited patiently for the bull’s approach.
Birth of Asterion[]
The queen eventually succeeded in enticing the bull to engage in sexual relations with her, eventually becoming pregnant with the bull's offspring. What was birthed months afterwards was an unusual creature, a half-bull, half-human monster that came to be known as the Minotaur. The bull child was named Asterion, and raised in secret by his mother Pasiphae until Minos discovered the existence of the bastard child and had him imprisoned within an elaborate Labyrinth built by Daedalus.
In later years, when the people of Athens killed one of Minos' sons, the Cretan king called down a plague on their city. Soon after, the center of the Labyrinth became the Minotaur’s dark dwelling place. There, the monster was regularly fed human flesh, specifically that of fourteen young Athenian noble men and women. These were a sacrifice by the city of Athens to Minos on a yearly basis (or every nine years, according to some) in recompense for the death of his son, Androgeus, whom the Athenians had once killed out of jealousy for beating them at the Panathenaic Games. Only by agreeing to send these seven young men and seven young women to Crete every year could the Athenians obtain relief
Theseus Slays Asterion[]
This tradition of ritualistic sacrifice to Minotaurus continued until Theseus announced to King Minos that he was going to kill the Monster. However, Minos knew that even if he did manage to kill the Minotaur, Theseus would never be able to exit the Labyrinth.
Theseus met Princess Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, who fell madly in love with him and decided to help Theseus. She gave him a thread and told him to unravel it as he would penetrate deeper and deeper into the Labyrinth, so that he knows the way out when he kills the monster.
Theseus followed her suggestion and entered the labyrinth with the thread. Theseus managed to kill the Minotaur and save the Athenians, and with Ariadne’s thread he managed to retrace his way out.
Minotaur Religion[]
The demons Moloch and Morax have presumably morphed their appearance after this creature, inspired by it brutal savagery. As a result, the Minotaur society is divided between the tame, intelligent variety and the savage and brutish Minotaur's who fall to servitude of demonic forces.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Minotaur from Wikipedia
- Theseus and Minotaur from Greek Myths
- Minotaur from Greek Mythology