Source Verification: Theseus and the Minotaur
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Why did Athens have to send tribute to Crete in the first place?
Plutarch and other sources trace it to an earlier war: Minos's son had been killed while visiting Athens, and Minos forced the defeated Athenians to send seven young men and seven young women every nine years as payment in blood, feeding them to the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. The tribute is presented as a punishment imposed by a stronger power rather than a voluntary custom.
Source: Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15–22
How did Theseus find his way out of the Labyrinth?
Ariadne, Minos's daughter, gave him a ball of thread before he entered. Theseus tied one end near the entrance and unwound it as he went deeper, so that after killing the Minotaur he could follow the thread back the way he came rather than search a maze built specifically to prevent escape.
Source: Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.15.8, Epitome 1.7–1.9
Why did Theseus abandon Ariadne on Naxos?
The sources do not agree, which is itself the point of interest: some say Theseus simply tired of her and left deliberately; others, followed by later poets, say the god Dionysus wanted Ariadne for himself and either compelled Theseus to leave or appeared to her in a dream demanding he do so. Ovid and other Roman poets lean toward the version that removes the blame from Theseus.
Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.152–182
Why did Aegeus die when Theseus returned?
Before leaving for Crete, Theseus had agreed with his father Aegeus to swap the ship's black sails for white ones if he survived, so Aegeus could see the outcome from a distance. Theseus forgot, whether from grief over Ariadne or simple carelessness, and Aegeus, watching from a cliff and seeing black sails, believed his son was dead and threw himself into the sea, which was afterward called the Aegean in his memory.
Source: Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15–22
Is there a version of the myth without a monster at all?
Yes. Plutarch records a rationalizing tradition in which the Labyrinth was simply a prison and the Minotaur an athletic captain of Minos named Taurus, whom the Athenian captives were made to fight or compete against in games rather than be devoured by; Ariadne's help is recast as court intrigue rather than magic. Plutarch reports this alongside the traditional monster version without settling which is true.
Source: Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15–22
Where Accounts Differ
- why Ariadne was left on Naxos
- Sources disagree on whether Ariadne was abandoned deliberately or taken by Dionysus.
Sources
- Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15–22
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.15.8, Epitome 1.7–1.9
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.152–182
- Henry J. Walker, Theseus and Athens (1995)
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)