Minotaur
The bull-headed monster imprisoned in the Labyrinth of Crete, whose myth gave English the concept of the labyrinth as a place of confusion and entrapment
The Meaning of Minotaur
The Minotaur was a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, born from the unnatural union of Queen Pasiphae of Crete with a magnificent white bull sent by Poseidon. King Minos, horrified and ashamed, commissioned the master craftsman Daedalus to build the Labyrinth — a vast, inescapable maze beneath the palace of Knossos — to contain the creature. The Minotaur fed on human flesh, and after the Athenians killed Minos's son Androgeos, Minos demanded a tribute of seven young men and seven young women from Athens every nine years. These youths were placed in the Labyrinth where the Minotaur hunted and devoured them. The tribute continued until Theseus volunteered as one of the victims, navigated the Labyrinth with the thread given to him by Ariadne, killed the Minotaur, and led his companions to safety. The myth gave the word "labyrinth" its enduring meaning of an inescapable maze or bewildering complexity. The archaeological discovery of the vast multi-level palace at Knossos by Arthur Evans in 1900 suggested a possible real-world inspiration for the labyrinth tradition.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
When Arthur Evans excavated the enormous palace at Knossos with its hundreds of interconnected rooms, many scholars believed he had found the inspiration for the Labyrinth
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Labyrinth
💭 conceptInescapable maze
The Labyrinth was the maze built by Daedalus beneath Knossos to contain the Minotaur — its name became the word for any complex, confusing structure.
Labyrinth of Knossos
🏛 placearchitecture, mystery
The legendary maze built by Daedalus to contain the Minotaur, possibly inspired by the elaborate palace at Knossos with its hundreds of interconnecting rooms.
Labyrinthine
💭 conceptLanguage and complexity
An English adjective meaning extremely complex, convoluted, or maze-like, derived from the Labyrinth built by Daedalus to imprison the Minotaur beneath the palace of Knossos
Theseus and the Minotaur
💭 conceptNarrative
The Athenian hero's descent into the Labyrinth to slay the bull-headed monster and liberate Athens from its blood tribute
Minotaur's Labyrinth
🐉 creatureBull-headed man of the Labyrinth
The Minotaur was a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull, born from Pasiphaë's unnatural union with the Cretan Bull, imprisoned in the Labyrinth.
Minotaur
🐉 creatureBull-headed monster of the Labyrinth
A monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, imprisoned in the Labyrinth beneath Crete. The Minotaur was fed Athenian youths until Theseus slew it.
Beasts & Monsters
💭 conceptMonstrosity, boundary, trial
The creatures of Greek myth — from the Hydra to the Sphinx, from Pegasus to the Minotaur — each a living boundary between the human world and something older and wilder.
Labyrinth
🏛 placeThe great maze built by Daedalus
An impossibly complex maze built beneath the palace of Knossos on Crete by the master craftsman Daedalus. The Labyrinth imprisoned the Minotaur at its center.
Creation of Man
💭 conceptNarrative
The mythological accounts of how humanity was fashioned from clay and endowed with life by the gods
Crete
🏛 placeIsland of the Minotaur and Minoan civilisation
Crete was the largest Greek island and the seat of the Minoan civilisation, home to King Minos, the labyrinth, and the bull-cult that produced some of mythology's most famous stories.
Knossos
🏛 placePalace of Minos and the Labyrinth
Knossos was the vast Bronze Age palace complex in Crete — seat of King Minos and the mythological site of the Labyrinth.
Oedipus Cycle
💭 conceptNarrative
The interconnected myths tracing the cursed lineage of Oedipus from prophecy to tragic fulfilment