Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 29b

 Theseus and the Minotaur

Today we look at the most famous myth about Theseus.  At the time of the myth, the powerful Minoan Empire, to the south of Greece, was ruled by King Minos from his palace in Knossos, Crete.  The Minoan Empire actually existed, and you can visit the remains of the palace in Knossos.

According to legend, King Minos' wife mated with a bull, the result being the monstrous man-eating Minotaur, who was half-man, half-bull (above).

King Minos' architect was Daedalus, whom we previously saw in the myth of Icarus.  The king made Daedalus construct a huge maze called the Labyrinth to contain the Minotaur.  Above is a mosaic floor representing the Labyrinth that was found in a 3rd or 4th century Roman villa near Salzburg, Austria.

According to legend, Athens had to send a yearly tribute to King Minos consisting of seven youths and seven maidens, who were put into the Labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur.  Theseus volunteered to be one of the youths sent to King Minos.  When he got there, Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus.  She gave him a ball of thread to trail behind him so that he could find his way out of the maze, as shown in this fresco from Pompeii, above.

Theseus went into the Labyrinth and killed the Minotaur.  Then, following the thread, he escaped the Labyrinth.

The theme of Theseus and the Minotaur has been a favorite one for artists since ancient Greek times.  Here is a version from 520-510 BC, now in the Louvre.  Note that even though Theseus is wearing clothes, his dick and balls are exposed.  The ancient Greeks had very different ideas about modesty than we do.

Here's a version from c. 460 BC, now in the British Museum.

This fresco from Pompeii shows Theseus after he slew the Minotaur and followed the thread out of the Labyrinth.  According to legend, he then sailed away with the other Athenian youths and maidens, and Princess Ariadne went with them.  However, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on an island along the way.  Don't feel too sorry for her.  According to legend, she later married the god Dionysus.

The ship carrying Theseus and the Athenian youths and maidens had black sails, but it was supposed to exchange them for white sails if the youths and maidens were alive when the ship returned to Athens.  They were in such a hurry that nobody thought to change the sails.  King Aegeus, seeing the ship coming back with black sails, thought that Theseus was dead, and he threw himself off a cliff into the sea and died.  To this day, that sea is still named after him, the Aegean Sea.

Artists in more recent times have also been fond of the theme of Theseus and the Minotaur.  This 1832 statue by Etienne Jules Ramey is in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris.

This 1846 statue by Antoine-Louis Barye is in the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin.

We end with this 1932 statue by François-Léon Sicard called the Archibald Fountain in Sydney, Australia.

Here's a rear view with the fountain turned on.  The Archibald Fountain is one of the most homoerotic pieces of public art in Australia.  In the 1940s and 1950s it became a favorite place for gay men to pick up other men.  No doubt some of them were hoping to find someone who was part bull.  I think you know which part.