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World Themes 113 Mr. Belanger Name: Adapted from Plutarch’s Life of Theseus Theseus and the Minotaur Now that he had secured his position, Theseus did not choose to live lazily at home. He went to Marathon, where a large bull was terrorizing the inhabitants. Theseus captured this bull and brought him back alive to show the Athenians, then took the bull to Delphi, where he sacrificed him to Apollo. Soon afterwards, the collectors from Crete arrived for the tribute that Athens was required to send every nine years: seven boys and seven girls. This tribute had to be paid because of the murder of Androgeus, the eldest son of King Minos of Crete, while he had been a guest of Aegeus in Attica. Minos avenged the death of his son with war, and in addition to the damage done to the Athenians by Minos' army, the gods also punished the land with drought, famine, and plague. The oracle at Delphi told the Athenians that their troubles would not end until they appeased Minos, so the Athenians immediately asked for terms of peace. Minos required that every nine years, seven boys and seven girls would be sent to Crete as tribute. From the example of Minos we may learn how dangerous it is to make an enemy of a city that has great writers. Although Hesiod called him "most royal Minos," and Homer called him "Jupiter's good friend," playwrights of Athens always represented Minos as a cruel and violent man, and rained down abuse and slander from the stage. Some say that the Minotaur, a strange combination of man and bull, ate these Athenian children as they wandered in the Labyrinth. Others say that the Labyrinth was only an ordinary prison, and that the Athenians were kept in the Labyrinth as slaves to be a prize for the victor in the games of King Minos. This was the third time that the Cretans had come for the tribute, and the Athenians were all very unhappy. Every man with a teenaged son or daughter had to participate in a lottery to determine who would have to go. The Athenians grumbled that Aegeus, who was the cause of their trouble, would not participate in the lottery, and that true Athenians sacrificed their children so a foreign bastard might inherit the kingdom. Theseus was aware of this discontent, so he offered himself as one of the victims, not just as a participant in the lottery. Everyone admired the nobility and loved the goodness of this act, and all of Aegeus' tears could not turn Theseus away from his noble resolution. Black sails were on the ship taking the victims to Crete. This time, however, Aegeus put white sails aboard and ordered the crew to use white sails instead of the black ones on the return voyage if Theseus managed to do what he had confidently promised -- kill the Minotaur. When the ship arrived at Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, fell in love as soon as she saw Theseus. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of string to mark his trail through the Labyrinth, and Theseus managed to kill the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and lead out all of the Athenian hostages. Then Theseus and the hostages escaped from Crete on the ship that had brought them, and they steered home to Athens. Ariadne went with Theseus… Questions: Life of Theseus 1) Why would you call Theseus a hero? 2) According to Campbell, what type of hero is Theseus? 3) How does his story fit into the “hero cycle?” 4) Why do you think this story might be important to an Ancient Greek? 5) How might it bind Ancient Greeks together? 6) Are there any stories about heroes that bind Americans together?