Theseus and the Minotaur
Powerpoint By Philipp Gaissert
Minotaur: The Birth of a Monster
• King Minos tried to trick Poseidon into taking an alternate
sacrifice than his favorite bull.
• Poseidon cursed King Minos’ wife, Queen Pasiphae to
fall in love with the bull.
• Daedalus built wooden cow for Pasiphae to have her
needs satisfied
• Pasiphae gives birth to Minotaur, half bull, half man
The Sacrifice
• King Minos ordered for the monster to be
trapped in a labyrinth constructed by
Daedalus.
• Every year, 7 men and 7 women were
led into the labyrinth and fed to the
Minotaur
Theseus
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Son of Aegeus, King of Athens and Aethra, daughter of
the king of Troezen.
Defeated Periphetes, son of Hephaestus, and
Procrustes, the Stretcher
Sailed to Crete to stop the horrible sacrifice to the
Minotaur.
Promised his father to sail back with white sails if he
had succeeded and lived.
Athens
Crete
At Crete
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Theseus offered himself to the group of the sacrifice
Ariadne, daughter of Minos, gave Theseus a sword to slay
the Minotaur, and a ball of golden thread, with which to
find his way back
Theseus kills the Minotaur in the labyrinth, frees the
offered youths, and escapes the island.
On the way home, Theseus leaves Ariadne on Naxos,
lying that Athena had said to do so
When returning home, Theseus forgets to change the sail
to white.
Seeing the black sail, King Aegeus commits suicide,
thinking that his son Theseus had perished
Getting
Through the
Labyrinth
Biliography

Minotaur http://waltm.net/minotaur.htm 12/10/05

Mythography| The Greek Creature the Minotaur in Myth and
Art http://www.loggia.com/myth/minotaur.html 12/10/05

Mythography| The Greek Hero Theseus in Myth and Art
http://www.loggia.com/myth/theseus.html 12/10/05