THESEUS & THE MINOTAUR

     "In my mercy I have offered Theseus, the head tribute and son of Aegeus, the chance to revoke the treaty of Tribute now and forever." He looked at Theseus, who remained still, eyes unblinking. "He has only to enter the Labyrinth, kill that which dwells within and return alive. Many of you have named the creature the Minotaur, the Bull of Minos. So be it. If Theseus defeats the Minotaur, he and the others shall return to Athens free and the Tribute will be ended forever. If not it will continue in seven more years."  He stopped and let his gaze travel around, searching. "If any challenges this judgment, let him speak now."

~ Excerpt From Ariadne: A Tale of the Minotaur

circa. 500-450 b.c. British Museum,
London, United Kingdom

Theseus grasps the bull-headed Minotauros by the snout as he prepares to slit its throat with his sword. 

PASIPHAE: Mother of the Minotaur

PASIPHAE was an immortal daughter of the sun-god Helios. She was the mother of "starlike" Asterion, called by the Greeks the Minotaur, after a curse from Poseidon caused her to experience lust for and mate with a white bull sent by Poseidon.

Minotaur

The creature had the head and tail of a bull on the body of a man.

Before he ascended the throne of Crete, Minos struggled with his brothers for the right to rule. Minos prayed to Poseidon to send him a snow-white bull, as a sign of approval by the gods for his reign. He promised to sacrifice the bull as an offering, and as a symbol of subservience. A beautiful white bull rose from the sea, but when Minos saw it, he coveted it for himself. He assumed that Poseidon would not mind, so he kept it and sacrificed the best specimen from his herd instead.

Daedalus presents the artificial cow to Pasiphaë: Roman fresco in the House of the Vettii, Pompeii, 1st century CE.

 
When Poseidon learned about the deceit, he made Pasipha, Minos' wife, fall madly in love with the bull. She had Daedalus, the famous architect, make a wooden cow for her. Pasipha climbed into the decoy and fooled the white bull. The offspring of their lovemaking was a monster called the Minotaur.