Minotaur: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:10, 15 November 2025

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Template:Wikidata image Template:Compare image with Wikidata In Greek mythology, the MinotaurTemplate:Efn (Template:Langx, Mīnṓtauros), also known as Asterion or Asterius, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man^[1]Template:Rp or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "part man and part bull".Template:Efn He dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like constructionTemplate:Efn designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, upon command of King Minos of Crete. According to tradition, every nine years the people of Athens were compelled by King Minos to choose fourteen 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 son Androgeos. The Minotaur was eventually slain by the Athenian hero Theseus, who managed to navigate the labyrinth with the help of a thread offered to him by the King's daughter, Ariadne.

Etymology

The word "Minotaur" derives from the Ancient Greek Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "IPA". a compound of the name Script error: No such module "Lang". (Minos) and the noun Template:Wikt-lang tauros meaning Template:Gloss,^[2] thus it is translated as the Template:Gloss. In Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion (Script error: No such module "Lang".)^[3] or Asterios (Script error: No such module "Lang".),^[4] a name shared with Minos's foster-father.Template:Efn

"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.

The Minotaur was called Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "IPA". in Latin and Script error: No such module "Lang". in Etruscan.^[5] English pronunciation of the word "Minotaur" is varied; the following can be found in dictionaries: Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell,^[6] Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell,^[7] Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell.^[2]

Creation myth

File:Pasiphae Minotauros Cdm Paris DeRidder1066 detail.jpg

Pasiphaë and baby Minotaur, Attic red-figure kylix found at Etruscan Vulci. Italy. Currently at the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris

After ascending the throne of the island of Crete, Minos competed with his brothers as ruler. Minos prayed to the sea god Poseidon to send him a snow-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 the master 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 of Helios.^[8]^[9] 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Minos, following advice from the oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a gigantic Labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos's palace in Knossos.^[10]

Appearance

The Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. According to Sophocles's Script error: No such module "Lang"., when the river spirit Achelous seduced Deianira, one of the guises he assumed was a man with the head of a bull. From classical antiquity through the Renaissance, the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth.Template:Refn 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 a centaur.Template:Refn This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and is reflected in Dryden's elaborated translation of Virgil's description of the Minotaur in Book VI of the Aeneid: "The lower part a beast, a man above/The monument of their polluted love."^[11] It still figures in some modern depictions, such as Steele Savage's illustrations for Edith Hamilton's Mythology (1942). A mythical creature fitting this description was also known as a bucentaur, but it postdates Greek mythology.

Theseus myth

File:Kylix Theseus Aison MNA Inv11365 n1.jpg

Tondo showing the victory of Theseus over the Minotaur in the presence of Athena from Template:Circa BC

All the stories agree that prince Androgeus, son of King Minos, died and that the fault lay with the Athenians. The sacrifice of young Athenian men and women was a penalty for his death.

In some versions he was killed by the Athenians because of their jealousy of the victories he had won at the Panathenaic Games; in others he was killed at Marathon by the Cretan Bull, his mother's former taurine lover, because Aegeus, 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 of several 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.^[12] In his account of the Minotaur's birth, Catullus refers to yet another version^[13] in which Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of Androgeon". 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 required seven Athenian youths and seven maidens, chosen by lots, to be sent every seventh year (or ninth); some versions say every year.^[14]

File:Theseus Minotaur BM Vase E84.jpg

Theseus dragging the Minotaur out of the Labyrinth, red-figure kylix from Template:Circa BC

When the time for the third sacrifice approached, the Athenian prince Theseus 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.^[15] 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 daughter Ariadne 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.^[16] 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 of Naxos and continued to Athens. The returning group neglected to replace the black sail with the promised white sail, and from his lookout on Cape Sounion, King Aegeus saw the black-sailed ship approach. Presuming his son dead, he killed himself by leaping into the sea that is since named after him.^[17] His death secured the throne for Theseus.

Interpretations

File:Statue of the Minotaur (Roman copy after an original by Myron) at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on 3 April 2018.jpg

Statue of the Minotaur (Roman copy of an original by Myron), National Archaeological Museum, Athens

File:Plate painted by Lydos. Struggle between Theseus and the Minotaur presumably in the presence of Ariadne.jpg

Theseus wrestling with the Minotaur in the presence of Ariadne, Template:Circa BC

The contest between Theseus and the Minotaur was frequently represented in Greek art. A Knossian didrachm 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.^[4]

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,^[18] an idea that is now generally discredited.Template:Efn

Homer, describing the shield of Achilles, remarked that Daedalus had constructed a ceremonial dancing ground for Ariadne, but does not associate this with the term labyrinth.

Some 19th century mythologists proposed that the Minotaur was a personification of the sun and a Minoan adaptation of the Baal-Moloch of the Phoenicians. The slaying of the Minotaur by Theseus in that case could be interpreted as a memory of Athens breaking tributary relations with Minoan Crete.^[10]

According to A.B. Cook, Minos and Minotaur were different forms of the same personage, representing the sun-god of the Cretans, who depicted the sun as a bull. He and J. 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 the Tyrant in Athens was wedded to Dionysus. E. Pottier, who does not dispute the historical personality of Minos, in view of the story of Phalaris, considers it probable that in Crete (where a bull cult may have existed by the side of that of the labrys) victims were tortured by being shut up in the belly of a red-hot brazen bull. The story of Talos, the Cretan man of brass, who heated himself red-hot and clasped strangers in his embrace as soon as they landed on the island, is probably of similar origin.

File:Perfume jar (Aryballos) in the shape of a minotaur Greek made in Ionia 580-560 BCE Terracotta (1).jpg

Ionian Perfume Jar in the shape of a minotaur

File:Minotaurus.gif

The Minotaur in the Labyrinth, engraving of a 16th-century AD gem in the Medici Collection in the Palazzo Strozzi, FlorenceTemplate:Refn

Kerényi Károly viewed the Minotaur, or Asterios, as a god associated with stars, comparable to Dionysus.^[19] Coins minted at Knossos from the fifth century showed labyrinth patterns encircling a goddess's head crowned with a wreath of grain,^[20] 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.^[21]

A geological interpretation also exists. Citing early descriptions of the minotaur by Callimachus as being entirely focused on the "cruel bellowing"^[22]Template:Efn 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. Template:Efn

Image gallery

Theseus and the Minotaur. Detail from an Attic black-figure amphora, Template:Circa.

Theseus and the Minotaur. Detail from an Attic black-figure amphora, Template:Circa.
Theseus and the Minotaur. Side A from a black-figure Attic amphora, Template:Circa.

Theseus and the Minotaur. Side A from a black-figure Attic amphora, Template:Circa.
Theseus and the Minotaur. Attic red-figured plate, 520–510 BC.

Theseus and the Minotaur. Attic red-figured plate, 520–510 BC.
Theseus and the Minotaur. Attic black-figure lekythos, 500–475 BC. From Crimea.

Theseus and the Minotaur. Attic black-figure lekythos, 500–475 BC. From Crimea.
Theseus and the Minotaur, black-figure amphora Template:Circa BC

Theseus and the Minotaur, black-figure amphora Template:Circa BC
Theseus fighting the Minotaur, red-figure amphora, Template:Circa BC

Theseus fighting the Minotaur, red-figure amphora, Template:Circa BC
Theseus and the Minotaur. Side A from an Attic red-figure stamnos, Template:Circa.

Theseus and the Minotaur. Side A from an Attic red-figure stamnos, Template:Circa.
Theseus and the Minotaur, Attic black-figure kylix tondo, Template:Circa.

Theseus and the Minotaur, Attic black-figure kylix tondo, Template:Circa.

References in media

Template:In popular culture

Dante's Inferno

File:DVinfernoMinotaurOnCliff m.jpg

Dante and Virgil meet the Minotaur, illustration by Gustave Doré

The Minotaur (Script error: No such module "Lang"., Italian for 'infamy of Crete'), appears briefly in Dante's Inferno, in Canto 12 (l. 12–13, 16–21), where Dante and his guide Virgil find themselves picking their way among boulders dislodged on the slope and preparing to enter into the seventh circle of hell.^[23] 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,^[24] though this representation had already appeared in the Middle Ages.^[1]Template:Rp

Template:Verse translation

File:Blake Dante Hell XII.jpg

William Blake's image of the Minotaur to illustrate Inferno XII

In these lines, Virgil taunts the Minotaur to distract him, and reminds the Minotaur that he was killed by Theseus the Duke of Athens with the help of the monster's half-sister Ariadne. The Minotaur is the first infernal guardian whom Virgil and Dante encounter within the walls of Dis.Template:Efn The Minotaur seems to represent the entire zone of Violence, much as Geryon represents Fraud in Canto XVI, and serves a similar role as gatekeeper for the entire seventh Circle.^[25]

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".^[26] Dante Gabriel Rossetti, in his own commentary,^[27]^[28] 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 the centaurs (Nessus, Chiron and Pholus) who guard the Flegetonte ("river of blood"), to continue through the seventh Circle.^[29]

Surrealist art

File:Edward Burne-Jones - Tile Design - Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth - Google Art Project.jpg

Edward Burne-Jones's illustration of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, 1861

Pablo Picasso made a series of etchings in the Vollard Suite showing the Minotaur being tormented, possibly inspired also by Spanish bullfighting.^[30]

Television, literature and plays

The Minotaur is a recurring character in Rick Riordan's Camp Half-Blood Chronicles (2005-present):
- The Minotaur first appears in The Lightning Thief (2005), the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book, as the very first monster Percy Jackson battles.
- In the fifth Percy Jackson book, The Last Olympian (2009), the Minotaur returns as a general in Kronos's army. He engages in a rematch with Percy at the Williamsburg Bridge, but loses once again.
- The Minotaur, reclaiming his birth name of Asterion, reappears in The Court of the Dead (2025).
Argentine author Julio Cortázar published the play Script error: No such module "Lang". (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.^[31]
The short story "The House of Asterion" by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges gives the Minotaur's story from the monster's perspective.^[32]
- The 2000 novel House of Leaves, by American writer Mark 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.^[33]
Asterion is the chief antagonist of The King Must Die, Mary Renault's 1958 reinterpretation of the Theseus myth in the light of the excavation of Knossos.^[34]
In his short story "The Minotaur",^[35] author Robert 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 writer Mark Haddon published a short story in his collection Dogs 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.^[36]
Harrison Birtwistle and David Harsent's opera, The Minotaur

Film

Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete, a 1960 Italian film directed by Silvio Amadio and starring Bob Mathias^[37]
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) has a magical bronze automaton in minotaur form called Minoton.
Minotaur, a horror adaptation of the legend starring Tom Hardy as Theo (Theseus), was released on DVD by Lions Gate in 2006.^[38]

Video and role-playing games

The Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game features Minotaurs as opponents and playable characters, but translates them from a singular creature into a species.^[39]^[40]^[41]
In the 2018 action-adventure game Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the Minotaur is a legendary creature to be defeated in a boss fight.^[42]^[43] In a series of missions various references are made to the mythical history of the Minotaur,^[44]^[45] like Theseus and the thread of Ariadne.
Appears as a summonable character in the mobile game in Fate/Grand Order, with their real name being Asterios. He is voiced by Kohsuke Toriumi.
The Minotaur appears as an enemy in the 2020 roguelike game Hades. Referred to in-game as Asterius, he is now brother-in-arms with Theseus and battles the game protagonist Zagreus in a colosseum as champions of Elysium.

Footnotes

Template:Notelist

References

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External links

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Minotaur in Greek Myth source Greek texts and art.
The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of the Minotaur)

Template:Greek religion Template:Authority control

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[11] The Aeneid of Virgil, as translated by John Dryden, found at http://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.

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[23] The traverse of this circle is a long one, filling Cantos 12 to 17.

[24] Inferno XII, verse translation by R. Hollander, p. 228 commentary

[25] Boccaccio, Comedia delle ninfe fiorentine commentary

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 }}
-In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Minotaur'''{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aɪ|n|ə|t|ɔːr|,_|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|ə|t|ɔːr|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Minotaur.wav}} {{respell|MY|nə|tor|,_|MIN|ə|tor}},<ref name= "collins_english">{{cite web |url= http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/minotaur |title= English Dictionary: Definition of Minotaur |publisher=Collins |access-date= 20 July 2013}}</ref> {{IPAc-en |US|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|ə|t|ɑːr|,_|-|oʊ|-}} {{respell|MIN|ə|tar|,_-|oh|-}};<ref name= "books.google.com">{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6Lc9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA79 | title = Pronunciation: Designed for Use in Schools and Colleges and Adapted to the Wants of All Persons who Wish to Pronounce According to the Highest Standards | first = John Hendricks | last = Bechtel | publisher = Penn Publishing Co | year = 1908}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = The Book of Literature: A Comprehensive Anthology of the Best Literature, Ancient, Mediæval and Modern, with Biographical and Explanatory Notes | volume = 33 | first1 = Richard | last1 = Garnett | first2 = Léon | last2 = Vallée | first3 = Alois | last3 = Brandl | publisher = Grolier society | year = 1923 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-mMUAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA645}}.</ref>}} ({{langx|grc|Μινώταυρος}}, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as '''Asterion''', is a mythical creature portrayed during [[classical antiquity]] with the head and tail of a [[bull]] and the body of a man<ref name=Kern-2000>{{cite book |last=Kern |first=Hermann |date=2000 |title=Through the Labyrinth |location=Munich, London, New York |publisher=Prestel |isbn=379132144-7}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 34}} or, as described by Roman poet [[Ovid]], a being "part man and part bull".{{efn|
+In [[Greek mythology]], the '''Minotaur'''{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aɪ|n|ə|t|ɔːr|,_|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|ə|t|ɔːr}} {{respell|MY|nə|tor|,_|MIN|ə|tor}},<ref name= "collins_english">{{cite web |url= http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/minotaur |title= English Dictionary: Definition of Minotaur |publisher=Collins |access-date= 20 July 2013}}</ref> {{IPAc-en |US|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|ə|t|ɑːr|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Minotaur.wav|,_|-|oʊ|-}} {{respell|MIN|ə|tar|,_-|oh|-}};<ref name= "books.google.com">{{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6Lc9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA79 | title = Pronunciation: Designed for Use in Schools and Colleges and Adapted to the Wants of All Persons who Wish to Pronounce According to the Highest Standards | first = John Hendricks | last = Bechtel | publisher = Penn Publishing Co | year = 1908}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = The Book of Literature: A Comprehensive Anthology of the Best Literature, Ancient, Mediæval and Modern, with Biographical and Explanatory Notes | volume = 33 | first1 = Richard | last1 = Garnett | first2 = Léon | last2 = Vallée | first3 = Alois | last3 = Brandl | publisher = Grolier society | year = 1923 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-mMUAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA645}}.</ref>}} ({{langx|grc|Μινώταυρος}}, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as '''Asterion''' or '''Asterius''', is a mythical creature portrayed during [[classical antiquity]] with the head and tail of a [[bull]] and the body of a man<ref name=Kern-2000>{{cite book |last=Kern |first=Hermann |date=2000 |title=Through the Labyrinth |location=Munich, London, New York |publisher=Prestel |isbn=379132144-7}}</ref>{{rp|style=ama|p= 34}} or, as described by Roman poet [[Ovid]], a being "part man and part bull".{{efn|
 According to [[Ovid]]:
 : {{lang|la|semibovemque virum semivirumque bovem}},<ref>
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ==Etymology==
-The word "Minotaur" derives from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|Μινώταυρος}} {{IPA|el|miːnɔ̌ːtau̯ros|}} a [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] of the name {{lang|grc|Μίνως}} ([[Minos]]) and the noun {{wikt-lang|grc|ταῦρος}} ''tauros'' meaning {{gloss|bull}},<ref name="collins_american" /> thus it is translated as the {{gloss|Bull of Minos}}. In Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion ({{lang|grc|Ἀστερίων}}) or Asterius ({{lang|grc|Ἀστέριος}}),<ref>{{cite book |author=Pausanias |author-link=Pausanias (geographer) |title=Description of Greece |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.31.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.31.1]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Apollodorus |title=Library |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.31.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 3.1.4]}}</ref> a name shared with Minos's foster-father.{{efn|Hesiod says of Zeus's establishment of Europa in Crete:
+The word "Minotaur" derives from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|Μινώταυρος}} {{IPA|el|miːnɔ̌ːtau̯ros|}} a [[compound (linguistics)|compound]] of the name {{lang|grc|Μίνως}} ([[Minos]]) and the noun {{wikt-lang|grc|ταῦρος}} ''tauros'' meaning {{gloss|bull}},<ref name="collins_american" /> thus it is translated as the {{gloss|Bull of Minos}}. In Crete, the Minotaur was known by the name Asterion ({{lang|grc|Ἀστερίων}})<ref>{{cite book |author=Pausanias |author-link=Pausanias (geographer) |title=Description of Greece |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.31.1 Corinth, Chapter 31, Section 1] |publication-place=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> or Asterios ({{lang|grc|Ἀστέριος}}),<ref name="Apollod.3.1.4">{{cite book |author=Apollodorus |title=Library |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.1.4&highlight=Asterius Book 3, Chapter 1, Section 4] |publication-place=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> a name shared with Minos's foster-father.{{efn|Hesiod says of Zeus's establishment of Europa in Crete:
 : "...&nbsp;he made her live with [[Asterion (king of Crete)|Asterion]] the king of the Cretans. There she conceived and bore three sons, [[Minos]], [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]], and [[Rhadamanthys]]."<ref name=Hesiod-fr140>{{cite book |author=[[Hesiod]] |title=[[Catalogue of Women]] |at=fr. 140}}</ref>}}
-"Minotaur" was originally a proper noun in reference to this mythic figure. That is, there was only the one Minotaur. In contrast, the use of "minotaur" as a common noun to refer to members of a generic "species" of bull-headed creatures developed much later, in 20th&nbsp;century fantasy genre fiction.
+"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&nbsp;century fantasy genre fiction.
 The Minotaur was called ''{{lang|la|{{linktext|Minotaurus}}}}'' {{IPA|la|miːnoːˈtau̯rʊs|}} in [[Latin]] and {{lang|ett|Θevrumineš}} in [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=de&nbsp;Simone |first=C. |title=Zu einem Beitrag über etruskisch ''θevru mines'' |journal=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung |volume=84 |year=1970 |pages=221–223}}</ref> English pronunciation of the word "Minotaur" is varied; the following can be found in dictionaries: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aɪ|n|ə|t|ɔːr|,_|-|n|oʊ|-}} {{respell|MY|nə|tor|,_-|noh|-}},<ref name="collins_english" /> {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|ə|t|ɑːr|,_|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|oʊ|-}} {{respell|MIN|ə|tar|,_|MIN|oh|-}},<ref name="books.google.com" /> {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|ə|t|ɔːr|,_|ˈ|m|ɪ|n|oʊ|-}} {{respell|MIN|ə|tor|,_|MIN|oh|-}}.<ref name="collins_american">{{cite dictionary  |title=Minotaur |dictionary=American English Dictionary |publisher=Collins |url= http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/american/minotaur |access-date=20 July 2013}}</ref>
@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 ==Creation myth==
 [[File:Pasiphae Minotauros Cdm Paris DeRidder1066 detail.jpg|thumb|[[Pasiphaë]] and baby Minotaur, [[Attica|Attic]] red-figure [[kylix (drinking cup)|kylix]] found at Etruscan [[Vulci]]. Italy. Currently at the [[Cabinet des Médailles]], Paris]]
-After ascending the throne of the island of Crete, [[Minos]] competed with his brothers as ruler. Minos prayed to the sea god [[Poseidon]] to send him a [[Cretan Bull|snow-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 the [[master 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 of [[Helios]].<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Apollodorus, Library, book 3, chapter 1 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=3:chapter=1&highlight=minotaur |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chicago |first=Judy |title=The Dinner Party (Heritage Floor): Pasiphae |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/pasiphae |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241012160225/https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/pasiphae |archive-date=12 October 2024 |website=BrooklynMuseum.org}}</ref> 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|date=October 2023}} Minos, following advice from the oracle at [[Delphi]], had Daedalus construct a gigantic [[Labyrinth]] to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos's palace in [[Knossos]].<ref name="EB19112">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Minotaur|volume=18|page=555}}</ref>
+After ascending the throne of the island of Crete, [[Minos]] competed with his brothers as ruler. Minos prayed to the sea god [[Poseidon]] to send him a [[Cretan Bull|snow-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 the [[master 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 of [[Helios]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Apollodorus |title=Library |at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.1&highlight=Minotaur Book 3, Chapter 1] |publication-place=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Chicago |first=Judy |title=The Dinner Party (Heritage Floor): Pasiphae |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/pasiphae |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241012160225/https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/pasiphae |archive-date=12 October 2024 |website=BrooklynMuseum.org}}</ref> 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|date=October 2023}} Minos, following advice from the oracle at [[Delphi]], had Daedalus construct a gigantic [[Labyrinth]] to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minos's palace in [[Knossos]].<ref name="EB19112">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Minotaur|volume=18|page=555}}</ref>
 ==Appearance==
-The Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. According to [[Sophocles]]'s {{lang|grc-Latn|[[Women of Trachis|Trachiniai]]}}, when the river spirit [[Achelous]] seduced [[Deianira]], one of the guises he assumed was a man with the head of a bull. From [[classical antiquity]] through the [[Renaissance]], the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth.{{refn|Several examples are shown in Kern (2000).<ref name=Kern-2000/>}} [[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 a [[centaur]].{{refn|Examples include illustrations&nbsp;204, 237, 238, and 371 in Kern.<ref name=Kern-2000/>}} This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and is reflected in Dryden's elaborated translation of [[Virgil]]'s description of the Minotaur in Book VI of the ''[[Aeneid]]'': "The lower part a beast, a man above/The monument of their polluted love."<ref>The Aeneid of Virgil, as translated by John Dryden, found at http://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.</ref> It still figures in some modern depictions, such as [[Steele Savage]]'s illustrations for [[Edith Hamilton]]'s ''[[Mythology (book)|Mythology]]'' (1942).
+The Minotaur is commonly represented in Classical art with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. According to [[Sophocles]]'s {{lang|grc-Latn|[[Women of Trachis|Trachiniai]]}}, when the river spirit [[Achelous]] seduced [[Deianira]], one of the guises he assumed was a man with the head of a bull. From [[classical antiquity]] through the [[Renaissance]], the Minotaur appears at the center of many depictions of the Labyrinth.{{refn|Several examples are shown in Kern (2000).<ref name=Kern-2000/>}} [[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 a [[centaur]].{{refn|Examples include illustrations&nbsp;204, 237, 238, and 371 in Kern.<ref name=Kern-2000/>}} This alternative tradition survived into the Renaissance, and is reflected in Dryden's elaborated translation of [[Virgil]]'s description of the Minotaur in Book VI of the ''[[Aeneid]]'': "The lower part a beast, a man above/The monument of their polluted love."<ref>The Aeneid of Virgil, as translated by John Dryden, found at http://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.</ref> It still figures in some modern depictions, such as [[Steele Savage]]'s illustrations for [[Edith Hamilton]]'s ''[[Mythology (book)|Mythology]]'' (1942). A mythical creature fitting this description was also known as a [[bucentaur]], but it postdates Greek mythology.
 == Theseus myth ==
@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 All the stories agree that prince [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeus]], son of King Minos, died and that the fault lay with the Athenians. The sacrifice of [[Sacrificial victims of Minotaur|young Athenian men and women]] was a penalty for his death.
-In some versions he was killed by the [[Athens|Athenians]] because of their jealousy of the victories he had won at the [[Panathenaic Games]]; in others he was killed at [[Marathon, Greece|Marathon]] by the Cretan Bull, his mother's former taurine lover, because [[Aegeus]], 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 of [[Sacrificial victims of Minotaur|several of their youths and maidens]]. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]' 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 27 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=1:chapter=27&highlight=minotaur |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> In his account of the Minotaur's birth, [[Catullus]] refers to yet another version<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Catullus]] |url=http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e64.htm |title=Carmen&nbsp;64}}</ref> in which Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeon]]". 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 required [[Sacrificial victims of Minotaur|seven Athenian youths and seven maidens]], chosen by lots, to be sent every seventh year (or ninth); some versions say every year.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] |title=On the [[Aeneid]] |at=6.14 |quote={{lang|la|singulis quibusque annis}} 'every one year'.}}
+In some versions he was killed by the [[Athens|Athenians]] because of their jealousy of the victories he had won at the [[Panathenaic Games]]; in others he was killed at [[Marathon, Greece|Marathon]] by the Cretan Bull, his mother's former taurine lover, because [[Aegeus]], 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 of [[Sacrificial victims of Minotaur|several of their youths and maidens]]. [[Pausanias (geographer)|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Attica, chapter 27 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=1:chapter=27&highlight=minotaur |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> In his account of the Minotaur's birth, [[Catullus]] refers to yet another version<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Catullus]] |url=http://rudy.negenborn.net/catullus/text2/e64.htm |title=Carmen&nbsp;64}}</ref> in which Athens was "compelled by the cruel plague to pay penalties for the killing of [[Androgeus (son of Minos)|Androgeon]]". 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 required [[Sacrificial victims of Minotaur|seven Athenian youths and seven maidens]], chosen by lots, to be sent every seventh year (or ninth); some versions say every year.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] |title=On the [[Aeneid]] |at=6.14 |quote={{lang|la|singulis quibusque annis}} 'every one year'.}}
 : The annual period is given by {{cite dictionary |year=1964 |title=Androgeus |dictionary=Dictionary of Classical Mythology |publisher=[[Harper & Row]] |last=Zimmerman |first=J.E. |postscript=;}} and {{cite book |last=Rose |first=H.J. |title=A Handbook of Greek Mythology |publisher=Dutton |year=1959 |page=265}} Zimmerman cites [[Virgil]], [[Apollodorus]], and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]].
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 When the time for the third sacrifice approached, the Athenian prince [[Theseus]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Isocrates, Helen, section 27 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0144:speech=10:section=27&highlight=minotaur |access-date=18 May 2023 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> 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 daughter [[Ariadne]] 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 bare hands, sometimes with a club or a sword.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} 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 of [[Naxos (island)|Naxos]] and continued to Athens. The returning group neglected to replace the black sail with the promised white sail, and from his lookout on Cape [[Sounion]], King Aegeus saw the black-sailed ship approach. Presuming his son dead, he killed himself by leaping into the [[Aegean Sea|sea that is since named after him]].<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Theseus |at=15–19}}{{cite book |author=[[Diodorus Siculus]] |title=[[Bibliotheca historica]] |at=i.16, iv.61}}{{cite book |author=[[Apollodorus]] |title=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]] |at=iii.1, 15}}</ref> His death secured the throne for Theseus.
+In Crete, Minos's daughter [[Ariadne]] 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graves |first=Robert |author-link1=Robert Graves |date=1955 |title=The Greek Myths: 1 |url= |location= |publisher=Penguin |page=339 |isbn= |access-date=}}</ref> 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 of [[Naxos (island)|Naxos]] and continued to Athens. The returning group neglected to replace the black sail with the promised white sail, and from his lookout on Cape [[Sounion]], King Aegeus saw the black-sailed ship approach. Presuming his son dead, he killed himself by leaping into the [[Aegean Sea|sea that is since named after him]].<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Plutarch]] |title=Theseus |at=15–19}}{{cite book |author=[[Diodorus Siculus]] |title=[[Bibliotheca historica]] |at=i.16, iv.61}}{{cite book |author=[[Apollodorus]] |title=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]] |at=iii.1, 15}}</ref> His death secured the throne for Theseus.
 ==Interpretations==
@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 [[File:Plate painted by Lydos. Struggle between Theseus and the Minotaur presumably in the presence of Ariadne.jpg|thumb|195x195px|Theseus wrestling with the Minotaur in the presence of [[Ariadne]], {{Circa|550-540}} BC]]
-The contest between Theseus and the Minotaur was frequently represented in [[Greek art]]. A Knossian [[Ancient drachma|didrachm]] 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"). <blockquote>[[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.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Apollodorus]] |title=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]] |at=3.1.4}}</ref></blockquote>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&nbsp;maze-like compartments,<ref>{{cite web |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |year=2007 |title=Knossos fieldnotes |website=The Modern Antiquarian |editor=Cope, Julian |url=http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes}}</ref> an idea that is now generally discredited.{{efn|
+The contest between Theseus and the Minotaur was frequently represented in [[Greek art]]. A Knossian [[Ancient drachma|didrachm]] 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"). <blockquote>[[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.<ref name="Apollod.3.1.4" /></blockquote>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&nbsp;maze-like compartments,<ref>{{cite web |first=C. Michael |last=Hogan |year=2007 |title=Knossos fieldnotes |website=The Modern Antiquarian |editor=Cope, Julian |url=http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes}}</ref> an idea that is now generally discredited.{{efn|
 Sir [[Arthur Evans]], the first of many archaeologists who have worked at Knossos, is often given credit for this idea, but he did not believe it;<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=McCullough |title=The Unending Mystery |publisher=Pantheon |date=2004 |pages=34–36}}</ref> modern scholarship generally discounts the idea.<ref name=Kern-2000/>{{rp|style=ama|pp= 42–43}}<ref name=Doob-1990/>{{rp|style=ama|p= 25}}
 }}
@@ Line 135: / Line 135: @@
 ===Television, literature and plays===
+* The Minotaur is a recurring character in [[Rick Riordan]]'s ''[[Camp Half-Blood Chronicles]]'' (2005-present):
+** The Minotaur first appears in ''[[The Lightning Thief]]'' (2005), the first ''[[Percy Jackson and the Olympians]]'' book, as the very first monster [[Percy Jackson]] battles.
+** In the fifth ''Percy Jackson'' book, ''[[The Last Olympian]]'' (2009), the Minotaur returns as a general in [[Cronus|Kronos]]'s army. He engages in a rematch with Percy at the [[Williamsburg Bridge]], but loses once again.
+** The Minotaur, reclaiming his birth name of Asterion, reappears in ''[[The Court of the Dead]]'' (2025).
 * Argentine author [[Julio Cortázar]] published the play {{lang|es|Los 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.<ref>{{cite journal |trans-title=Los reyes: The Labyrinth Between Myth and History |language=es |title=Los reyes: El laberinto entre mito e historia |first=Antonella |last=De Laurentiis |issn=1989-1709 |pages=145–155 |volume=1 |year=2009 |journal=Amaltea. Revista de mitocrítica |publisher=[[Universidad Complutense de Madrid]] }}</ref>
 * The short story "[[The House of Asterion]]" by the Argentine writer [[Jorge Luis Borges]] gives the Minotaur's story from the monster's perspective.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00144940.1992.9937945 |last=Bennett |first=Maurice J |title=Borges's The House of Asterion |journal=The Explicator |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=166–170 |year=1992 |doi=10.1080/00144940.1992.9937945|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
+** The 2000 novel ''[[House of Leaves]]'', by American writer [[Mark 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hagood |first=Caroline |date=2012 |title=Exploring the Architecture of Narrative in House of Leaves |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/80fa1013be593d89dab4e42335d466d0/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241228034057/https://www.proquest.com/openview/80fa1013be593d89dab4e42335d466d0/ |archive-date=2024-12-28 |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=www.proquest.com |language=en}}</ref>
 * Asterion is the chief antagonist of ''[[The King Must Die]]'', [[Mary Renault]]'s 1958 reinterpretation of the Theseus myth in the light of the excavation of Knossos.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1958 |title=Fiction and Drama |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/809856 |journal=The English Journal |volume=47 |issue=9 |pages=587–89|jstor=809856 }}</ref>
+* In his short story "The Minotaur",<ref>"The Minotaur", ''Mythic Circle'', [https://www.mythsoc.org/mythic-circle/mythic-circle-46.htm #46], p. 48.</ref> author [https://robertthomasauthor.com/ Robert 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 writer [[Mark Haddon]] published a short story in his collection ''Dogs 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haddon |first=Mark |title=Dogs and monsters: stories |date=2024 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-55086-4 |edition=First |location=New York}}</ref>
+* [[Harrison Birtwistle]] and [[David Harsent]]'s opera, ''[[The Minotaur (opera)|The Minotaur]]''
 ===Film===
 *''[[Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete]]'', a 1960 Italian film directed by [[Silvio Amadio]] and starring [[Bob Mathias]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://letterboxd.com/film/the-minotaur-the-wild-beast-of-crete/|title=The Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete |work=Letter Box|access-date=2 May 2019}}</ref>
+*''[[Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger]]'' (1977) has a magical bronze automaton in minotaur form called Minoton.
 *''[[Minotaur (film)|Minotaur]]'', a horror adaptation of the legend starring [[Tom Hardy]] as Theo (Theseus), was released on DVD by [[Lionsgate Films|Lions Gate]] in 2006.<ref name="allmoviedvd">{{cite AV media |title=Minotaur (2005) |people=Jonathan English (director)|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/minotaur-v342810/releases|via=AllMovie|access-date=2 March 2018}}</ref>
 === Video and role-playing games ===
-*The ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' role-playing game features minotaurs as opponents and playable characters, but translates them from a singular creature into a species.<ref>{{cite book|author-first=Richard W.|author-last=Forest|editor-first=Jeffrey|editor-last=Weinstock|date=2014|title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]]|chapter=Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters in}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Liz|last=Gloyn|author-link=Liz Gloyn |date=2019|title=Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|pages=36–37|isbn=978-1-7845-3934-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hickman |first1=Tracy |authorlink=Tracy Hickman |first2=Margaret |last2=Weis |authorlink2=Margaret Weis |year=1987 |title=[[Dragonlance Adventures]] |publisher=[[TSR, Inc]] |isbn=0-88038-452-2}}</ref>
+*The ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' role-playing game features Minotaurs as opponents and playable characters, but translates them from a singular creature into a species.<ref>{{cite book|author-first=Richard W.|author-last=Forest|editor-first=Jeffrey|editor-last=Weinstock|date=2014|title=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters|publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]]|chapter=Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters in}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Liz|last=Gloyn|author-link=Liz Gloyn |date=2019|title=Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|pages=36–37|isbn=978-1-7845-3934-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hickman |first1=Tracy |authorlink=Tracy Hickman |first2=Margaret |last2=Weis |authorlink2=Margaret Weis |year=1987 |title=[[Dragonlance Adventures]] |publisher=[[TSR, Inc]] |isbn=0-88038-452-2}}</ref>
-*In the 2018 action-adventure game ''[[Assassin's Creed Odyssey]]'', the minotaur is a legendary creature to be defeated in a boss fight.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-minotaur/ |title=How to find and beat the Assassin's Creed Odyssey Minotaur |first=Sam |last=Loveridge |date=1 May 2020 |access-date=12 December 2024 |magazine=[[Games Radar]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thegamer.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-how-to-find-and-defeat-the-minotaur/ |title=Assassin's Creed Odyssey: How To Find And Defeat The Minotaur |first=Jesse |last=Lennox |date=2 October 2020 |access-date=12 December 2024 |work=[[TheGamer]]}}</ref> In a series of missions various references are made to the mythical history of the minotaur,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://screenrant.com/find-beat-minotaur-assassins-creed-odyssey/ |title=How to Find (& Beat) The Minotaur in Assassin's Creed Odyssey |first=Cody |last=Peterson |date=11 September 2020 |access-date=12 December 2024 |work=[[Screen Rant]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsweek.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-gates-atlantis-guide-minotaur-medusa-sphinx-cyclops-1158456 |title='Assassin's Creed Odyssey' Gates of Atlantis Guide: Where is the Minotaur, Medusa, Sphinx and Cyclops? |first=Bob |last=Fekete |date=8 October 2018 |access-date=12 December 2024 |magazine=[[Newsweek]]}}</ref> like Theseus and the thread of Ariadne.
+*In the 2018 action-adventure game ''[[Assassin's Creed Odyssey]]'', the Minotaur is a legendary creature to be defeated in a boss fight.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-minotaur/ |title=How to find and beat the Assassin's Creed Odyssey Minotaur |first=Sam |last=Loveridge |date=1 May 2020 |access-date=12 December 2024 |magazine=[[Games Radar]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thegamer.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-how-to-find-and-defeat-the-minotaur/ |title=Assassin's Creed Odyssey: How To Find And Defeat The Minotaur |first=Jesse |last=Lennox |date=2 October 2020 |access-date=12 December 2024 |work=[[TheGamer]]}}</ref> In a series of missions various references are made to the mythical history of the Minotaur,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://screenrant.com/find-beat-minotaur-assassins-creed-odyssey/ |title=How to Find (& Beat) The Minotaur in Assassin's Creed Odyssey |first=Cody |last=Peterson |date=11 September 2020 |access-date=12 December 2024 |work=[[Screen Rant]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newsweek.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-gates-atlantis-guide-minotaur-medusa-sphinx-cyclops-1158456 |title='Assassin's Creed Odyssey' Gates of Atlantis Guide: Where is the Minotaur, Medusa, Sphinx and Cyclops? |first=Bob |last=Fekete |date=8 October 2018 |access-date=12 December 2024 |magazine=[[Newsweek]]}}</ref> like Theseus and the thread of Ariadne.
-*In the 2019 virtual novel game ''Minotaur Hotel'', Asterion the minotaur is a romanceable non-playable character; "Minotaur Hotel is an award-winning gay romance story where you'll meet and grow close with Asterion, the Minotaur of Greek legend, and manage a magical hotel staffed by a cast of mythological beings."<ref>{{cite web |last1=MinoAnon |last2=Nanoff |title=Minotaur Hotel |url=https://minoh.itch.io/minotaur-hotel |website=[[Itch.io]] |access-date=9 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Steve |title=Melbourne Queer Game Festival 2021 winners announced |url=https://stevivor.com/news/melbourne-queer-game-festival-2021-winners-announced/ |website=Stevivor |date=6 October 2021 |access-date=9 August 2024}}</ref>
+* Appears as a summonable character in the mobile game in ''[[Fate/Grand Order]]'', with their real name being Asterios. He is voiced by [[Kohsuke Toriumi]].
-* In the 2024 video game ''[[Sovereign Syndicate]]'', one of the playable main characters is a minotaur.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Macgregor |first1=Jody |title=Sovereign Syndicate review |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/sovereign-syndicate-review/ |website=[[PC Gamer]] |publisher=[[Future plc]] |access-date=23 January 2024 |date=11 January 2024}}</ref>
+* The Minotaur appears as an enemy in the 2020 [[roguelike]] game [[Hades (video game)|Hades]]. Referred to in-game as Asterius, he is now brother-in-arms with Theseus and battles the game protagonist [[Zagreus (Hades)|Zagreus]] in a colosseum as champions of [[Elysium]].
 ==See also==
-*[[Theseus and the Minotaur]] – a logic game that is inspired by the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.
+*[[Theseus and the Minotaur (maze puzzle)|Theseus and the Minotaur]] – a logic game that is inspired by the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.
 *[[Kao (bull)]] – a legendary chaotic bull in Meitei mythology, similar to Minotaur in character
 *[[Ox-Head and Horse-Face]] – two guardians or types of guardians of the underworld in Chinese mythology

Minotaur: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:10, 15 November 2025

Contents

Etymology

Creation myth

Appearance

Theseus myth

Interpretations

Image gallery

References in media

Dante's Inferno

Surrealist art

Television, literature and plays

Film

Video and role-playing games

See also

Footnotes

References

External links

Navigation menu

Minotaur: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:10, 15 November 2025

Etymology

Creation myth

Appearance

Theseus myth

Interpretations

Image gallery

References in media

Dante's Inferno

Surrealist art

Television, literature and plays

Film

Video and role-playing games

See also

Footnotes

References

External links

Navigation menu

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