Inspired by Crete

According to Cretan mythology, the Minotaur was a creature with a human’s body and a bull’s head and tail. It was born half man and half bull and was kept in a labyrinth designed by Daedalus for the King Minos of Crete.Athens had lost the war to Crete and as a form of tribute was forced to send seven young men and seven maidens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Theseus, son of the king of Athens, volunteered himself with the intention of killing the Minotaur and liberating Athens from Crete’s domination. King Minos’s daughter Ariadne provided him with a ball of thread to unwind as he ventured through the labyrinth, thus enabling him to retrace his steps after the deed was done and find his way back out. Theseus entered the labyrinth, slew the Minotaur and escaped from Crete taking Ariadne with him. The labyrinth remains a powerful symbol to Crete’s culture and its people. The Minotaur was appearing on Cretan coins up until the first century BC and then on mosaic images in Roman times.