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

THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR

THE MINOTAUROS (or Minotaur) was a bull-headed monster born to Queen Pasiphae of Krete after she had coupled with a bull.

The creature resided in the twisting maze of the labyrinth, where he was offfered a regular sacrifice of youths and maids to satisfy his cannibalistic hunger. He was eventually destroyed by the hero Theseus.

The Minotauros' proper name Asterion, "the starry one," suggests he was associated with the constellation Tauros.

Museum Collection: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Theseus grasps the Minotauros by the head as he prepares to slay it with its sword. The bull-headed man is armed with a pair of rocks.

Adjacent images depict Heracles and the Nemean lion (see other image), and Theseus fighting Prokrustes.  Heracles  wrestles the Nemean lion, grasping it by the neck and strangling the beast.