Ariadne
heroDaughter of King Minos who fell in love with Theseus and gave him the thread that allowed him to escape the Labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur.
The Myth
Ariadne was a princess of Crete, daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae. When the Athenian hero Theseus arrived as one of fourteen youths to be fed to the Minotaur, Ariadne fell in love with him and offered her help.
She gave Theseus a ball of thread and instructed him to unwind it as he entered the Labyrinth, so he could retrace his path after killing the Minotaur. The plan worked — Theseus slew the beast and followed the thread to freedom.
Ariadne fled Crete with Theseus, but he abandoned her on the island of Naxos while she slept. In some versions, this was deliberate cruelty; in others, Dionysus commanded it. The god of wine found Ariadne on Naxos, fell in love with her, and made her his wife. He gave her a crown of stars, which became the constellation Corona Borealis.
Parents
Minos and Pasiphae
Symbols
Fun Fact
Ariadne's thread has become a metaphor for any solution that guides one through a complex problem — used in mathematics, logic, and computing.