THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR

Theseus wrestles the bull-headed Minotauros, surrounded by the fearful, sacrificial Athenian youths and maids. The ground is littered with the bones of the victims of the beast.

Mosaic, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy

"[Theseus] shed the blood of the halfbull man [the Minotauros] whose den was the earthdug labyrinth . . . But you know your thread was his saviour: for the man of Athens with his club would never have found victory in that contest without a rosy-red girl to help him."

 Niccolò Bambini