InGreek mythology, theMinotaur[b] (Ancient Greek:Μινώταυρος,Mīnṓtauros), also known asAsterion orAsterius, is a mythical creature portrayed duringclassical antiquity with the head and tail of abull and the body of a man[4](p 34) or, as described by Roman poetOvid, a being "part man and part bull".[c] He dwelt at the center of theLabyrinth, which was an elaboratemaze-like construction[d] designed by the architectDaedalus and his sonIcarus, upon command of KingMinos ofCrete. According to tradition, every nine years the people ofAthens were compelled by King Minos to choosefourteen young noble citizens (seven men and seven women) to be offered as sacrificial victims to the Minotaur in retribution for the death of Minos's sonAndrogeos. The Minotaur was eventually slain by the Athenian heroTheseus, who managed to navigate the labyrinth with the help of a thread offered to him by the King's daughter,Ariadne.
The word "Minotaur" derives from theAncient GreekΜινώταυρος[miːnɔ̌ːtau̯ros] acompound of the nameΜίνως (Minos) and the nounταῦροςtauros meaning'bull',[9] thus it is translated as the'Bull of Minos'. In Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion (Ἀστερίων)[10] or Asterios (Ἀστέριος),[11] a name shared with Minos's foster-father.[e]
"Minotaur" was originally a proper noun in reference to this mythical figure. That is, there was only the one Minotaur. In contrast, the use of "minotaur" as a common noun to refer to a whole "species" of bull-headed creatures developed much later, in 20th century fantasy genre fiction.
After ascending the throne of the island of Crete,Minos competed with his brothers as ruler. Minos prayed to the sea godPoseidon to send him asnow-white bull as a sign of the god's favor. Minos was to sacrifice the bull to honor Poseidon, but owing to the bull's beauty he decided instead to keep him. Minos believed that the god would accept a substitute sacrifice. To punish Minos, Poseidon arranged with Aphrodite for Minos's wife,Pasiphaë, to fall in love with the bull. Pasiphaë had themaster craftsman,Daedalus, fashion for her a hollow wooden cow, into which she climbed to let the bull mate with her. She then fell pregnant and bore Asterius, the Minotaur, making him a grandchild ofHelios.[14][15] Pasiphaë nursed the Minotaur but he grew in size and became ferocious. As the unnatural offspring of a woman and a beast, the Minotaur had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured humans for sustenance.[citation needed] Minos, following advice from the oracle atDelphi, had Daedalus construct a giganticLabyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos's palace inKnossos.[16]
The Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. According toSophocles'sTrachiniai, when the river spiritAchelous seducedDeianira, one of the guises he assumed was a man with the head of a bull. Fromclassical antiquity through theRenaissance, the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth.[17]Ovid's Latin account of the Minotaur, which did not describe which half was bull and which half man, was the most widely available during the Middle Ages, and several later versions show a man's head and torso on a bull's body - the reverse of the Classical configuration, reminiscent of acentaur.[18] This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and is reflected in Dryden's elaborated translation ofVirgil's description of the Minotaur in Book VI of theAeneid: "The lower part a beast, a man above/The monument of their polluted love."[19] It still figures in some modern depictions, such asSteele Savage's illustrations forEdith Hamilton'sMythology (1942). A mythical creature fitting this description was also known as abucentaur, but it postdates Greek mythology.
All the stories agree that princeAndrogeus, son of King Minos, died and that the fault lay with the Athenians. The sacrifice ofyoung Athenian men and women was a penalty for his death.
In some versions he was killed by theAthenians because of their jealousy of the victories he had won at thePanathenaic Games; in others he was killed atMarathon by the Cretan Bull, his mother's former taurine lover, becauseAegeus, king of Athens, had commanded Androgeus to slay it. The common tradition holds that Minos waged a war of revenge for the death of his son, and won. The consequence of Athens losing the war was the regular sacrifice ofseveral of their youths and maidens.Pausanias's account of the myth said that Minos had led a fleet against Athens and simply harassed the Athenians until they had agreed to send children as sacrifices.[20] In his account of the Minotaur's birth,Catullus refers to yet another version[21] in which Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing ofAndrogeon". To avert a plague caused by divine retribution for the Cretan prince's death, Aegeus had to send into the Labyrinth "young men at the same time as the best of unwed girls as a feast" for the Minotaur. Some accounts declare that Minos requiredseven Athenian youths and seven maidens, chosen by lots, to be sent every seventh year (or ninth); some versions say every year.[22]
Theseus dragging the Minotaur out of the Labyrinth, red-figure kylix fromc. 440-430 BC
When the time for the third sacrifice approached, the Athenian princeTheseus volunteered to slay the Minotaur. Isocrates orates that Theseus thought that he would rather die than rule a city that paid a tribute of children's lives to their enemy.[23] He promised his father Aegeus that he would change the somber black sail of the boat carrying the victims from Athens to Crete, and put up a white sail for his return journey if he was successful; the crew would leave up the black sail if he was killed.
In Crete, Minos's daughterAriadne fell madly in love with Theseus and helped him navigate the Labyrinth. In most accounts she gave him a ball of thread, allowing him to retrace his path. According to various classical sources and representations, Theseus killed the Minotaur with his sword, a club, or his bare hands.[24] He then led the Athenians out of the Labyrinth, and they sailed with Ariadne away from Crete. On the way home, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island ofNaxos and continued to Athens. The returning group neglected to replace the black sail with the promised white sail, and from his lookout on CapeSounion, King Aegeus saw the black-sailed ship approach. Presuming his son dead, he killed himself by leaping into thesea that is since named after him.[25] His death secured the throne for Theseus.
The contest between Theseus and the Minotaur was frequently represented inGreek art. A Knossiandidrachm exhibits on one side the Labyrinth, on the other the Minotaur surrounded by a semicircle of small balls, probably intended for stars; one of the monster's names was Asterion or Asterius ("star").
Pasiphaë gave birth to Asterius, who was called the Minotaur. He had the face of a bull, but the rest of him was human; and Minos, in compliance with certain oracles, shut him up and guarded him in the Labyrinth.[11]
While the ruins of Minos's palace at Knossos were discovered, the Labyrinth never was. The multiplicity of rooms, staircases and corridors in the palace has led some archaeologists to suggest that the palace itself was the source of the Labyrinth myth, with over 1300 maze-like compartments,[26] an idea that is now generally discredited.[f]
Homer, describing theshield of Achilles, remarked that Daedalus had constructed a ceremonial dancing ground forAriadne, but does not associate this with the termlabyrinth.
Some 19th century mythologists proposed that the Minotaur was a personification of the sun and a Minoan adaptation of theBaal-Moloch of thePhoenicians. The slaying of the Minotaur by Theseus in that case could be interpreted as a memory of Athens breaking tributary relations withMinoan Crete.[16]
According toA.B. Cook,Minos andMinotaur were different forms of the same personage, representing thesun-god of the Cretans, who depicted the sun as a bull. He andJ. G. Frazer both explain Pasiphaë's union with the bull as a sacred ceremony, at which the queen of Knossos was wedded to a bull-formed god, just as the wife of theTyrant in Athens was wedded toDionysus. E. Pottier, who does not dispute the historical personality of Minos, in view of the story ofPhalaris, considers it probable that in Crete (where abull cult may have existed by the side of that of thelabrys) victims were tortured by being shut up in the belly of a red-hotbrazen bull. The story ofTalos, the Cretan man ofbrass, who heated himself red-hot and clasped strangers in his embrace as soon as they landed on the island, is probably of similar origin.
Ionian Perfume Jar in the shape of a minotaurThe Minotaur in theLabyrinth, engraving of a 16th-century AD gem in the Medici Collection in thePalazzo Strozzi, Florence[28]
Kerényi Károly viewed the Minotaur, or Asterios, as a god associated with stars, comparable toDionysus.[29] Coins minted atKnossos from the fifth century showed labyrinth patterns encircling a goddess's head crowned with a wreath of grain,[30] a bull's head, or a star. Kerényi argued that the star in the Labyrinth was in fact Asterios, making the Minotaur a "luminous" deity in Crete, associated with a goddess known as the Mistress of the Labyrinth.[31]
A geological interpretation also exists. Citing early descriptions of the minotaur byCallimachus as being entirely focused on the "cruel bellowing"[32][g]it made from its underground labyrinth, and the extensive tectonic activity in the region, science journalist Matt Kaplan has theorised that the myth may well stem from geology.[h]
The Minotaur (infamia di Creti, Italian for 'infamy of Crete'), appears briefly inDante'sInferno, in Canto 12 (l. 12–13, 16–21), where Dante and his guideVirgil find themselves picking their way among boulders dislodged on the slope and preparing to enter into theseventh circle of hell.[35] Dante and Virgil encounter the beast first among the "men of blood": those damned for their violent natures. Some commentators believe that Dante, in a reversal of classical tradition, bestowed the beast with a man's head upon a bull's body,[36] though this representation had already appeared in the Middle Ages.[4](pp 116–117)
Lo savio mio inver' lui gridò: "Forse tu credi che qui sia 'l duca d'Atene, che sú nel mondo la morte ti porse? Pártiti, bestia, ché questi non vene ammaestrato da la tua sorella, ma vassi per veder la vostre pene."
My sage cried out to him: "You think, perhaps, this is the Duke of Athens, who in the world put you to death. Get away, you beast, for this man does not come tutored by your sister; he comes to view your punishments."
William Blake's image of the Minotaur to illustrateInferno XII
In these lines, Virgil taunts the Minotaur to distract him, and reminds the Minotaur that he was killed byTheseus the Duke of Athens with the help of the monster's half-sisterAriadne. The Minotaur is the first infernal guardian whom Virgil and Dante encounter within the walls ofDis.[i]The Minotaur seems to represent the entire zone ofViolence, much asGeryon represents Fraud in Canto XVI, and serves a similar role as gatekeeper for the entire seventh Circle.[38]
Giovanni Boccaccio writes of the Minotaur in his literary commentary of the Commedia: "When he had grown up and become a most ferocious animal, and of incredible strength, they tell that Minos had him shut up in a prison called the labyrinth, and that he had sent to him there all those whom he wanted to die a cruel death".[39]Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in his own commentary,[40][41] compares the Minotaur with all three sins of violence within the seventh circle: "The Minotaur, who is situated at the rim of the tripartite circle, fed, according to the poem was biting himself (violence against one's body) and was conceived in the 'false cow' (violence against nature, daughter of God)."
Virgil and Dante then pass quickly by to thecentaurs (Nessus, Chiron and Pholus) who guard theFlegetonte ("river of blood"), to continue through the seventh Circle.[42]
In the fifthPercy Jackson book,The Last Olympian (2009), the Minotaur returns as a general inKronos's army. He engages in a rematch with Percy at theWilliamsburg Bridge, but loses once again.
The Minotaur, reclaiming his birth name of Asterion, reappears inThe Court of the Dead (2025).
Argentine authorJulio Cortázar published the playLos reyes (The Kings) in 1949, which reinterprets the Minotaur's story. In the book, Ariadne is not in love with Theseus, but with her brother the Minotaur.[44]
The 2000 novelHouse of Leaves, by American writerMark Z. Danielewski, contains numerous references to Borges and "The House of Asterion", including a chapter, titled "The Minotaur", that opens with a quote from Borges and presents a sympathetic interpretation of the Minotaur.[46]
Asterion is the chief antagonist ofThe King Must Die,Mary Renault's 1958 reinterpretation of the Theseus myth in the light of the excavation of Knossos.[47]
In his short story "The Minotaur",[48] authorRobert Thomas proposes that one of the sacrificial maidens tames the minotaur and convinces Theseus to spare him. But Ariadne suddenly appears, slays the Minotaur herself, and orders a reluctant Theseus to slay the maiden. This might explain Theseus' subsequent abandonment of Ariadne on the island of Naxos.
English writerMark Haddon published a short story in his collectionDogs and Monsters titled "The Mother’s Story," where Haddon turns the myth into a parable of maternal love for a damaged child, and the monstrosities of patriarchy.[49]
TheDungeons & Dragons role-playing game features Minotaurs as opponents and playable characters, but translates them from a singular creature into a species.[52][53][54]
In the 2018 action-adventure gameAssassin's Creed Odyssey, the Minotaur is a legendary creature to be defeated in a boss fight.[55][56] In a series of missions various references are made to the mythical history of the Minotaur,[57][58] like Theseus and the thread of Ariadne.
Appears as a summonable character in the mobile game inFate/Grand Order, with their real name being Asterios. He is voiced byKohsuke Toriumi.
The Minotaur appears as an enemy in the 2020roguelike gameHades. Referred to in-game as Asterius, he is now brother-in-arms with Theseus and battles the game protagonistZagreus in a colosseum as champions ofElysium.
The Minotaur appears as a boss inUltrakill in the debuts of the Violence layer, in the Garden of Forking Paths where he stayed for centuries due to its gross appearance found horrible to Minos, who sent him there.
semibovemque virum semivirumque bovem,[5] one of the three lines that his friends would have deleted from his work, and one of the three that he, selecting independently, would preserve at all cost, in the apocryphal anecdote told byAlbinovanus Pedo.[6]
^In a counter-intuitive cultural development going back at least to Cretan coins of the 4th century BCE, many visual patterns representing theLabyrinth do not have dead ends like a maze; instead, a single path winds to the center.[8]
^Hesiod says of Zeus's establishment of Europa in Crete:
^SirArthur Evans, the first of many archaeologists who have worked at Knossos, is often given credit for this idea, but he did not believe it;[27] modern scholarship generally discounts the idea.[4](pp 42–43)[7](p 25)
^Callimachus first refers to the minotaur with the phrase
"Having escaped the cruel bellowing and the wild son ofPasiphaë and the coiled habitation of the crooked labyrinth" ...[32]
^Kaplan argues that the minotaur is the result of ancient people trying to explain earthquakes;[33] he points out that carbon dating of marine fossils attached to boulders that were ejected from the ocean by ancienttsunamis indicates the region wastectonically very active during the years when the minotaur myth first appeared.[34] Given this, he argues that the Minoans used the monster to help explain the terrifying earthquakes that were "bellowing" beneath their feet.
^A. Pedo cited byRusten, J.S. (Autumn 1982). "Ovid, Empedocles, and the Minotaur".The American Journal of Philology.103 (3):332–333, esp. 332.doi:10.2307/294479.JSTOR294479.
^abDoob, Penelope Reed (April 1990).The Idea of the Labyrinth: From Classical antiquity through the Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.ISBN978-080142393-2.
^Examples include illustrations 204, 237, 238, and 371 in Kern.[4]
^The Aeneid of Virgil, as translated by John Dryden, found athttp://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.6.vi.html . Virgil's text calls the Minotaur "biformis"; like Ovid, he does not describe which part is bull, which part man.
^Servius.On theAeneid. 6.14.singulis quibusque annis 'every one year'.
The annual period is given byZimmerman, J.E. (1964). "Androgeus".Dictionary of Classical Mythology.Harper & Row; andRose, H.J. (1959).A Handbook of Greek Mythology. Dutton. p. 265. Zimmerman citesVirgil,Apollodorus, andPausanias.
^Beck, Christopher, "Justice among the Centaurs", Forum Italcium 18 (1984): 217–229
^Tidworth, Simon, "Theseus in the Modern World", essay inThe Quest for Theseus London 1970 pp. 244–249ISBN0269026576
^De Laurentiis, Antonella (2009). "Los reyes: El laberinto entre mito e historia" [Los reyes: The Labyrinth Between Myth and History].Amaltea. Revista de mitocrítica (in Spanish).1.Universidad Complutense de Madrid:145–155.ISSN1989-1709.
^Jonathan English (director).Minotaur (2005). Retrieved2 March 2018 – via AllMovie.
^Forest, Richard W. (2014). "Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters in". In Weinstock, Jeffrey (ed.).The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters.Ashgate Publishing.
^Kulczyński, W. (1903). "Aranearum et Opilionum species in insula Creta a comite Dre Carolo Attems collectae".Bulletin International de l'Académie des Sciences de Cracovie.1903:32–58.
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