The Minotaur

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Theseus kills the Minotaur
Athenian black-figure vase, ca. 550 BC

Once upon a time on the island of Crete, maybe about 1325 BC, Europa's son Minos became the king of Crete, and his wife was Queen Pasiphae (in the story; this is only a story). The gods were angry at Minos and Pasiphae (PAH-si-fay), and they made them have a monster for a baby, that was half man and half bull, and so it was called the Minotaur (tauros means bull in Greek).

The Minotaur, when it grew up, was wild and dangerous. It ate people, so Minos and Pasiphae kept it in a special part of their palace at Knossos, which was called the Labyrinth. The story says that the Labyrinth was designed by a very clever architect and inventor named Daedalus.

Knossos, built about 1700 BC (partly reconstructed)

Although Knossos was a real palace, which archaeologists have found and dug up, there wasn't really a labyrinth in it, and probably the Minotaur was a story more than something that really happened.

Here's a great video of the Minotaur story acted by a 7th grade Latin class:

To find out more about the Minotaur, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Monster in the Maze: The Story of the Minotaur (All Aboard Reading), by Stephanie Spinner and Susan Swan. A beginning reader book.

D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths, by Edgar and Ingri D'Aulaire (Look under Theseus).

At the Palaces of Knossos: A Novel, by Nikos Kazantzakis (1988). The story of Theseus retold, for kids.

The King Must Die : A Novel, by Mary Renault (1958). Not specifically for kids. There are some romantic scenes in the book, but not very explicit ones.