The monster that haunts the dreams of virgins running through a maze is a half bull-half human monster that eats virgins. This monster's name is the Minotaur, and his story is a tragedy tale about what makes a monster and what makes a victim, much like the tale of Medusa. The Minotaur has a head and tail of a bull, like his father, and a body of a tall man, taking after his human mother. Here is the tale of the Minotaur.
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The tale begins with King Minos of Crete. Crete's patron god is Poseidon and the island viewed cattle as a great gift from the gods. So, Poseidon gives a beautiful bull to Minos as an honor. Years later, Poseidon demands the bull to be sacrificed. Naturally, King Minos views the bull's death more tragic than anything the gods can do. Poseidon, furious and insulted, takes his revenge.
He puts King Minos's wife Pasiphae under a spell to fall in love with the prized bull. Pasiphae turns into a female bull and has relations with the bull. (It'll help to know that Pasiphae is a minor goddess and a witch). Pasiphae becomes pregnant and gives birth to the Minotaur months later.
Minos is scared of his son-in-law. It is screaming with a bull's head and a baby's body. He hires the genius inventor Daedalus to build a trap for the beast. So, Daedalus builds an inescapable labyrinth beneath the whole island of Crete. The only way Daedalus escaped was by tying a long thread to the entrance. King Minos places the Minotaur in the labyrinth and leaves it alone in the darkness. King Minos now thinks of a way to feed the beast.
Crete has been harassing Athens for years, as both are growing powers in the Greek world. Minos forces the Athenians to provide 14 virgins to feed the Minotaur every seven years. The Minotaur would chase down these 14 people and feed on them. This was his meal for seven whole years. He was starving, knew the company of nobody and raised on human flesh. After 4 or 5 of these cycles, that is all the Minotaur knew what to do .
One time, the Minotaur was resting when a man with a sword named Theseus entered his room and battled the Minotaur. The Minotaur fought for survival, but Theseus was quicker and stronger and cut off the Minotaur's head. Theseus took the head and sailed back to Athens with the Minotaur's half-sisters Ariadne and Phaedra. The Minotaur's head served as a symbol of Athens's power until Theseus's death.
The Minotaur's tale is a tragedy tale barbecue of the cruelty of man to other beings. The Minotaur is born of the arrogance of man to the gods. Ever since his birth, the Minotaur is used as a symbol of power and a tool for death and torture. He never is shown love and kills to live since the sacrifices are his only food. He is killed and his severed head is used as a symbol. The poor beast was only born as a tool of power and died for the same purpose.
