The Legend of the Minotaur

One afternoon Theseus was in his room when a little note was slid under his door and it told him to go down to the courtyard the crack of dawn and so he did. It was princess Ariadne who was going to help him defeat the Minotaur, she gave him a magical string that would help find his way through the labryrinth, the giant maze made by Daedalus and a sword. The next morning they were going into the labryrinth. As soon as they were in, it was dark and wet with bones all around. Theseus told one of the Athenian children to hold one end of the string when he set off. Once Theseus was deep into the maze he heard a rumble and he knew that was Minotaur. He ran in to the Minotaur with sword at hand it gave out a big groan. Theseus cut through it a couple more times to make sure it was dead. With a sigh of relief he walked back. At the entrance Ariadne was waiting to open the door to let them out. When the Athenians got out and quickly got a ship to sail back, but Theseus forgot to fly white sails so once King Aegean of Athens through himself off a cliff because he thought his son had died. After his death they named the sea after him, the Aegean

The Palace of Knossos is important to history because the palace gives us a window into Minoan culture. We can deduce from the Palace of Knossos that the Minoan Civilization was both complex and prosperous. The beautiful murals of the Palace of

A maze of never ending passageways, a man, a monster, and a legend that has stood the test of time. The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, first told in the 8th century BC, has been passed down through generations of people fascinated by a story of greed, revenge, sacrifice, and courage (James 1999). But the true origins of this legend remain a mystery. Was Minos a real king that sacrificed children to a creature that was half man and half bull? Or is the story based on a lost civilization whose cultural practices and beliefs were misunderstood by foreigners? In this paper, the popular myth of Theseus and the Minotaur will be compared to physical evidence discovered by archaeologists. This archaeological evidence from the sites of Knossos located on Crete, Tell el-Dab’a, and Hawara located within Egypt will help shed light on the origin and evolution of this myth.

On an island called Crete there was a giant minotaur who would eat any human he came across. King Minos was asked by the people of his island to kill the minotaur but he decided to capture it so he could punish his enemies by letting them face the minotaur. He ordered Daedalus who was a skilled craftsman to build a labyrinth that would be impossible to escape. Daedalus completed the labyrinth and lured the minotaur inside with a giant piece of meat. The king figured he had no use for Daedalus after the labyrinth was complete so he threw Daedalus into the labyrinth with his son Icarus. He believed that Daedalus and Icarus would both be eaten by the minotaur. However, they escaped because Daedalus knew his way around the labyrinth since he built

Death by Theory, written by Adrian Praetzellis, is an engaging and informational book written in a novelistic way that engages the reader to think critically about archaeology. Compared to other forms of informational text about archaeology, Death by Theory teaches archaeological theory by telling a story that incorporates the different theories of archaeology in a realistic setting. While standard textbooks about the theory of archaeology can come off a bit dry, Death by Theory skips the standard definitions and applies this in a way that aids the reader in understanding how these theories and terms can be applied in an actual archaeological setting. This text illustrates the adventure of plucky archaeologist Dr. Hannah Green and her nephew Sean Doyle as they seek to explain an unusual archaeological site while dealing with real life archaeological struggles. The protagonists deal with an egotistical colleague of Dr. Green who sought her out as a consult on a particularly strange archaeological case. All the while dealing with cults, the media, and incompatible data.

The Minotaur, meaning Minos bull, was “a monster of dire appearance, having the body of a powerful man and the head of a bull” (Seltman 98). Against his newfound father’s request, Theseus leaves Athens in hopes of returning victorious against the bull-headed beast. In a heroic fashion, Theseus leaps over the next step in Campbell’s hero journey and never refuses his call to adventure. The next step to any hero’s journey is an encounter with a super natural aid, but Theseus’ story takes a moral mentor to gather resources needed for the rest of his journey (Robertson 269). Theseus encounters his unlikely mentor upon arriving to Crete; Minos daughter, Ariadne, instructs Theseus to take a ball of linen with him into the labyrinth in order to trace back his steps after defeating the Minotaur (Martin 129). Crossing the threshold, Theseus ties one end of his ball of linen to the front door and journeys into the unconquerable maze and towards the beast (129). Theseus passes through his first trial of navigating the labyrinth inwards with ease straight into danger. Walking

The Palace of Knossos located on the island of Crete, a few miles from the city of Herakleion covers many acres. Sir Arthur Evans is typically credited with the

The Minotaur, half man half bull, lived in Crete. Trapped in a labyrinth, constructed by the great Daedalus, the king of Crete, King Minos, demanded a tribute of seven boys and seven girls from Athens to satisfy the Minotaur’s savage hunger. But one year, Minos was deceived, for a new hero arose, Theseus, son of Aegeus, Prince of Athens. He won over the heart of Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, and used her ball of string to venture into the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. After a hard-fought grapple within the lair of the minotaur, the beast fell to the sword of Aegeus, which Theseus had smuggled into the maze. Using the string, he found his way back out. The Labyrinth went underground, void of life, never to be seen again.

island of Crete established in the mediterranean. The island of Crete is called the Minoan

The Palace at Knossos served as a landmark with mythological implications as it was said to be the home of King Minos and also gave rise to the important myth of Theseus. The maze like system of the palace was used to tell the story of Theseus who slew the Minotaur while being hunted by the creature in the Palace’s labyrinth. The Palace was also used for storing goods like wine, grain, oil, and honey which were kept in large jars in the magazine rooms. Furthermore, the palace complex served as a government building as it had administrative and workrooms on the north and south of the east-west corridor. Interestingly, the palace may have also had an entertainment room as there is a theateresque design with steps that may have been used as seating, although its purpose is not entirely known.

Minoan civilization was advanced for their time and they had many great achievements. As a result of being an island nation, they built a large sea empire based on trade. There were two versions of Minoan writing: An older script called Linear A, which has never been deciphered. Newer than Linear A, but much older than ancient Greek, which it is the earliest form of, was Linear B, which has been deciphered. The center of their empire was a huge palace located in a place called Knossos. Knossos had a working plumbing system. The palace was between 3 and 4 stories tall, which was large for the time. The minoans painted frescoes on walls of the palace and created art on

Serpent Mound is the largest prehistoric effigy mound documented, in the world. The human- made earthwork has fascinated people for years, especially archaeologists who wanted to know who built the earthwork and when. Frederick Putnam did some of the earliest archaeological excavations and reconstructions at Serpent Mound in the 1880s (Putnam 1890). Since the 1880s, several researchers have worked at the site trying to unravel Serpent Mound’s history. Researchers have proposed two primary hypotheses that the mound was either created by Adena culture (~2,300 years ago) or Fort Ancient culture (~900 years ago) (Herrmann 2014, p. 119). The most recent work done shows strong evidence for the mound being build ~2,300 years ago by Adena people (Romain

Asterius had the body of a man, but the head of a bull. As such, he was called the Minotaur. Minos did not like the Minotaur. As such, he asked Daedalus to build a giant maze, called a labyrinth, where he could imprison the bull.

Kathleen’s first archaeological experience was in the Great Zimbabwe in Southern Rhodesia as a photographer where she was joined by Gertrude Caton-Thomson. This expedition had been made possible by her father’s facilitation and connections along with Margaret Fry’s persuasion. As she would prove useful on this excavation, being both industrious and reliable, her duties would expand beyond taking pictures to overseeing the workers assisting at the site. After she returned to England, at the completion of the Zimbabwe expedition, Kathleen joined Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s staff at his excavation at Roman Verulamiun (St. Albans), north of London. While there she would study Wheeler’s method of stratigraphic excavation. Wheeler’s findings were based on the concept developed by geologist William Smith where materials accumulate on a site through a sequence of layers that explain the historical timeline

of Theseus and more specifically the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth. The