Theseus and the Minotaur

A Historical Analysis

The story of Theseus and the Minotaur is the compelling tale of a young man leaping into adulthood accepting his full responsibilities and honors. It’s the tale of how a man discovers his true identity, and heroically defeats and overcomes great obstacles, and vicious monsters. The boy becomes a man, and he does so in a courageous way.

Theseus spent his early years with his mother, Princess Aethra and her father, the King of Troizen. Throughout his childhood he was under the impression that his father was a god. Grew up to become a strong young man, and at the age of 16, Theseus’ learned his father’s identity from his mother. His father had left him several tokens under a large rock. When Theseus was strong, enough to lift up the rock, he could take the special tokens and go to meet his father.

We are told that Theseus was able to lift the rock with ease, yet there is some question as to how he could have done so. Mary Renault, in "The King Must Die" presents the idea that Theseus invents the art of scientific wrestling, in which a lighter weight opponent may win using fancy footwork. Therefore he was able to lift the rock with ease.

Theseus’ father was the powerful King Aegeus of Athens. And now Theseus was determined to journey to his father’s Kingdome by land, rather then a safer route by sea, which was his mothers wish. During his heroic journey, Theseus faced a number of brutal villains and thugs whom he defeated. Soon the word was spread that he was marching to Athens.

Upon his arrival in Athens, Theseus concealed his identity. The Athenians hailed him for ridding their highway of terror. He was invited to a banquet in his honor by the King, who lived with his new queen, Medea.

Medea is an interesting character throughout Greek Mythology. She appears in numerous myths such as “Jason and the Golden Fleece,” where she plays an important role as Jason’s wife. She is a feisty sorceress who shows to have a violent rage when angry or jealous.

Medea felt that Theseus threatened her own son’s ascension to the throne after King Aegeus would die. She played on Aegeus’ insecurities in order to try to eliminate Theseus. Theseus had already won the will of the people she argued, why wouldn’t he just seize the throne for himself? She convinced the king to serve him poisoned wine. But as Theseus lifted the goblet close to his lips, Aegeus could see that the pattern on the hilt of his sword was the same as his own that he had left under a rock so long ago. He stopped Theseus from drinking the poisoned wine as Medea ran out of the palace furiously to escape in her chariot pulled by dragons, as she had fled from Jason not too long ago. Theseus was now the rightful heir to the throne of Athens.

Shortly after that very eventful banquet, Crete was ready to collect its tribute of young Athenians, nine young men and nine maidens. They were to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. The King of Crete, Minos, had used the power of the Cretan navy to enforce this tribute after his son had died in Athens.

The Minotaur was a half-man, half-bull monster who fed on human flesh. The story of the Minotaur’s creation goes as follows:

Poseidon long ago had sent a beautiful bull from the sea to Athens. He had expected it to be sacrificed to him. Minos’ wife (a descendant of Helios, the sun god), however, refused to have it killed. Minos gave in and of course, Poseidon was infuriated. He made the queen give birth to the Minotaur. Minos had a labyrinth built for him under his great palace, which was like a great labyrinth itself. Minos had to feed the Minotaur human flesh periodically.

Theseus felt it his duty to end this horrible tribute, to destroy the Minoutar, and honor his new home. He eventually embarked on an amazing and death defying adventure, which would become the heart of his legacy.

The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur’s myth very well might have not taken place. But we do know that it is based on some very historically accurate facts. At the time the myth is most likely describing, Crete dominated the Mediterranean with its powerful navy and very advanced culture. Mycenaean powers like that of Athens were very small and weak compared to the might of the Minoan Empire.

We do know that Minoans had a special connection with the sea, (they greatly relied on it for trade) which explains their association with Poseidon. Cretans also worshiped the bull. Countless examples are found in the excavation of Knossos, The Gem of the Minoan empire and home to its famed palace. Therefore the bull was a very important figure to them, which explains the Minotaur’s appearance.

In Crete, one of the important customs that took place was a sport called bull-leaping. Bull-leaping used three people (usually young and strong) doing flips using the bull’s horns. It was very dangerous, but was the Minoans’ form of Rome’s Gladiatorial games. In the palace at Knossos the courtyard is speculated to have been used for this kind of athletic performance.

Also at this time there was a great fear of earthquakes, which experts believe to have happened often in this part of the world. Many believe the famed palace at Knossos had been destroyed in an earthquake. Greece, in fact, is actually right inside a very active volcanic and tectonic zone. It’s exactly in between the European and African tectonic plates, which cause there to have been several volcanoes and many earthquakes making the Greek environment very unstable, and in a wider area, there are still many active volcanoes today. Since Ancient Greeks felt that a horrible natural disaster could come at any moment, it promoted their reliance on oracles.

The palace at Knossos was extremely advanced for its time. It was also huge. It itself was like a labyrinth with many different ways to get to one place. It had four levels and a center courtyard. Surrounding it were smaller palaces and various buildings. Today, the site at Knossos is still being excavated and is a very popular tourist site.

Interestingly enough, the root of the word Labyrinth comes from the Greek word laburinthos, possibly akin to the word labrus or labyrs, which means double-headed axe. The double-headed axe was an emblem of the Palace of Knossos. The word had Lydian (a small civilization in present day turkey) roots. Possibly when peole who visited the palace and saw its amazing complexity they associated it with the name labyrs because of the many pictures of double-headed axes and because of its maze like appearance. These people brought wondrous stories back to their homeland.

The labyrinth described in the Theseus myth is much more like a maze than a labyrinth. A labyrinth usually has one path leading someone to the center. It may be interpreted to represent a death and rebirth or a journey into one world and then a return, much like the journey of Orpheus into the Underworld to retrieve his loved one Euridice. A maze however is more of a challenge with dead ends and false pathways, set up to challenge someone.

Another word with an interesting interpretation is Minos. King Minos in Greek mythology is known as the King of Crete. He was also a judge in the underworld. Some experts believe that Minos may have been a generic name for King in Crete at that time. Therefore all of the Minoan Kings would be known as Minos much like the character pharaoh, in the story of the Exodus.

The myth really represents a change of power in the Aegean world. In the myth, the Minotaur is slain by Theseus. He steals the princess and returns to Athens, having done away with their horrible tribute. The victory over the Minoan Empire represents the shift to Mycenaean power at this time. Crete eventually crumbles, along with its palace, and Mycenaean city-states become more powerful. Eventually such powers, as Homeric Troy and Mycenae will emerge to help create another great myth. Eventually Athens will become a thriving metropolis, rich and powerful in classical Greece. But it will also be challenged and forced to crumble, like so many empires have in history.

Harrison Monsky