Theseus was a prince whose fathers are King Aegeus of Athen and Poseidon. Aegeus told Theseus’s mother, Aethra, that he had buried a sword under a rock and once Theseus was old enough to move the rock and obtain the sword, he should bring the sword to see Aegeus.
When Theseus was finally old enough to move the rock and acquired the sword left by his father, he was acknowledged by his father. Theseus offered himself to be a sacrifice to the Minotaur, in order to kill the monster.
The Minotaur was a monster created by Poseidon to punish the King of Crete, Minos. Minos was supposed to offer a bull to Poseidon every year. One year, King Minos sacrificed a lesser bull instead of the beautiful white bull that he had. However, Poseidon saw this and in order to punish Minos, he made King Minos’s wife to lust for the bull. The beastiality gave birth to the Minotaur, a monster with a bull head and human body. The Minotaur was a victim of his fate.
King Minos used the Minotaur was a weapon to anyone who challenged his power. He consulted with Daedalus, the famous engineer, to build a labyrinth to restrict the Minotaur. The labyrinth was constructed as a maze where no one could escape once they were inside of it. When his son, who was attending the early Olympic games in Athen, he was killed by the Athens because he won most of the matches. King Minos was furious, and he ordered the Athenians to sacrifice seven virgin boys and girls every night years to feed the Minotaur.
It was on the third sacrifice that Theseus appeared. He went to Crete along with virgin boys and girls, and by the time he arrived the island. King Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with him, and she did not want Theseus to die. She went to ask Daedalus for a clue to surviving, and Daedalus gave her a ball of thread. Ariadne met Theseus before he entered the labyrinth and gave him the ball of thread. She also had Theseus to marry her if he survived the battle.
Theseus put one end of the thread on the closed door once he entered the labyrinth, and held on the ball of thread. As soon as he entered the center of the labyrinth, he found the monster and eventually killed the monster with his sword. Using the thread, he was able to track back to the entrance of the labyrinth. He sailed the ship back to Athen, along with Ariadne and the other Athenians who were saved by Theseus.
However, Theseus forgot one of the most important things his father, King Aegeus, had told him. King Aegeus told him if he could successfully kill the monster and sail back, Theseus should raise a white flag. Otherwise, his people should raise a black flag. Being careless, Theseus raised a black flag. Just as Theseus’s ship was approaching Athen, King Aegeus jumped into the sea, in the thought of that his dear son had died in the battle versus the Minotaur. The sea was now named after King Aegeus, Aegean.
Theseus now became the new king of Athen.
Theseus’s story was told among the Athen to illustrate the barbaric behavior of the Crete. It is also an example of man versus monster in the sense that the civilization will eventually triumph against unreasonableness. The punishment of Minotaur’s birth is also a demonstration that no one can outwit the god.
Benc Tan 