Minotaur-King

Benjamin King THE MINOTAUR Origin of the Minotaur When it was time for a new King of Crete, Minos had to compete with his brothers for the throne. Minos prayed to Poseidon for a snow white bull as a sign of support, and in return, Minos promised to sacrifice the bull as an offering. Poseidon sent the bull to King Minos, but instead of sacrificing it, Minos decided that he would just keep it and Poseidon wouldn't mind. However, Poseidon did mind, and for his revenge he had Aphrodite convince Minos' wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with the snow white bull. The bull and the woman copulated, and the result was a hideous half-man, half-bull offspring known as the Minotaur. The minotaur is originally from Greek mythology. He was described by the Roman poet Ovid as, "part man and part bull". He was said to have lived the the Cretan Labyrinth that was designed and built by Daedalus and his song Icarus for King minos of Crete. The word Minotaur stems from ancient greek Minos and and taupos, meaning the Bull of Minos. The people of Crete called the Bull Asterion. The Snow White Bull of the Sea The Story of the Theseus versus the Minotaur Minos was the king of an island called Crete. King Minos was a very powerful ruler, he had a large navy, and was known for his exceptionally beautiful daughter. One of King Minos' hobbys was to attack the city of Athens with his navy. One day, the King of Athens made an offer to King Minos. If King Minos would agree to stop attacking Athens, then the Athenians would send seven boys and seven girls every nine years as tribute to the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a monster that had a mans body, and a bulls head. The Minotaur lived at the center of a massive labyrinth, and had to be fed children to be kept at bay. This is what led King Minos to agree to the Athenians deal. He would rather sacrifice their children than those of his people. Nine years after this deal was made it was time for Athens to send off fourteen of their children to Crete to be eaten by the minotaur, but Theseus had a trick up his sleeve. Theseus was the son of the King, and decided that he was going to go as the seventh young boy from Athens, and he planned to kill the Minotaur instead of allowing the other children to be eaten. Upon arriving to the island, the children were met by King Minos and princess Ariadne. King Minos told the children that they were not to be fed to the Minotaur until the next day, and that they were to enjoy themselves the night before. Ariadne wrote a letter to Theseus that night offering him a deal. In exchange for the tools and advice necessary to defeat the Minotaur Ariadne wanted to leave the Island of Crete with Theseus and the other Athenian children. Later that night Theseus met Ariadne by the gate and gave him a ball of string and a sword. The string was to be tied to the gate so that they could find their way back to the front entrance, and the sword was for decapitating the Minotaur. The next day Theseus entered the labyrinth with the other children. He left them at the gate to ensure that his string stayed tied to the gate. When he reached the center of the maze, Theseus fought and killed the Minotaur. He then returned to the entrance to the maze and exited with the children and Ariadne. They slipped off to the docks and sailed away, dropping off Princess Ariadne on the island of Naxos while she was sleeping. Theseus versus the Minotaur

Modern Appearances The Minotaur is a character that is rarely used in movies or films that are not along the originall story lind. However there are a few. In C.S. Lewis' //The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe// the Minotaur is used in the army ranks of Aslan.

The minotaur is more commonly used in modern remakes of the story of Theseus. In movies such as //Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, Immortals, and clash of the Titans//, the Minotaur is used as a demon beast that is controlled by the evil King Hyperion. In //Immortals,// the minotaur is just an extremely big man with the iron spiked head of a bull attached to his head. Instead of being a beast that lives in a labyrinth, he is a monster that will obey King Hyperions every command.

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