Minotaurs: Punishment from Poseidon
The origin story of the Minotaur is one of punishment given by the god Poseidon to the disobedient King Minos of Crete. King Minos sacrificed his most prized bull each year to Poseidon, but one year a calf was born that was so exquisite he chose to sacrifice a lesser bull in order to save the prized one for himself. Poseidon was not fooled by the immolated calf, and punished King Minos by his wife, the queen gave birth to a half human half bull child.
Since King Minos we have seen Minotaur in movies and books. In the 1st Percy Jackson book titled, “The Lightening Thief” Percy had to fight off a Minotaur as he was rushing to enter the boarder of Camp Half-blood.
*Watch the battle below
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante and Virgil meet the Minotaur as they are looking for the gate to the Seventh Circle of Hell. The Minotaur is among those damned for the violent natures.
I guess this is a hint to all of us to keep our temper in check and maybe take a Yoga class.
There are also modern stories of the Minotaur. This epic re-telling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is told by Asterion, the Minotaur himself, when visited by Ovid the playwright and poet.
Asterion tells Ovid about his childhood, living in the palace with his evil step father King Minos, his mother and his many brothers and sisters. You get to find out all about his adventures before and during the labyrinth.
Even on the battlefield of Narnia we see Minotaur. Minotaur were not among the creatures that Aslan brought forth from the ground at the birth of Narnia, so were not sure where they came from. However Puddleglum, Eustace and Jill noticed carved images of Minotaurs on a giant-made bridge as they searched for Prince Rilian. During The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the Minotaur worked for the White Witch and were even at the sacrifice of Aslan on the Stone Table. There is no doubt in my mind that they are fierce unyielding opponents ready for war.
Lets go back in time again and check on King Minos and his family. . .
Living with a Minotaur child proved challenging. He had no natural source of nourishment and began to devour humans for sustenance. King Minos soon commissioned Daedalus to construct a labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Some myths say that seven youths and seven maiden, drawn by lots, were to be sent seventh year to be devoured by the Minotaur. As the third sacrifice approached, Theseus volunteer to enter the labyrinth and slay the monster. Here is a children’s poem that tell the fate of Theseus.
The Myth of the Minotaur
by Paul Perro
Thousands of years ago
Before history had really begun,
There was a king called Minos.
He wasn’t a very nice one.
King Minos had a pet monster,
A giant with the head of a bull.
This monster liked to eat people
Its hunger was insatiable.
This scary creature had a name
It was called the minotaur.
It had sharp teeth that could bite
And pointy horns that could gore.
The minotaur lived in the labyrinth,
A maze of long corridors.
The king kept it locked up there
Behind big strong oak doors.
Every now and then
He’d give the monster a treat.
He’d throw some people into the maze
For the monster to eat.
One day, a hero called Theseus,
A very brave young man
Decided to put a stop to this,
And came up with a plan.
He volunteered to be sacrificed
To the giant with the bull’s head
But he did not plan to be eaten,
He planned to kill it instead.
Minos’s daughter, the princess,
Thought Theseus was cool.
She decided to help him in his quest
And gave him a ball of wool.
Theseus let out the wool
Behind him, as he explored,
So he knew he could find his way out again.
He also carried a sword.
When Theseus found the minotaur
It gave a terrible bellow.
But our hero was not afraid
He was a courageous fellow.
The minotaur lowered its horns and charged
Theseus jumped aside.
He stabbed the monster with his sword
The monster fell down, and died.
Then Theseus followed the trail of wool
And found the way out once more.
And nobody ever was again
Eaten by a minotaur.
So it sounds like the only good Minotaur is one stuck in a Labyrinth.
-Shara
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