1. By: Gwyneth, Cathryn, Sam, Jini, Alexandra
The Minotaur
By: Gwyneth, Cathryn, Sam, Jini, Alexandra

2. Summary
King Aegeus kills Androgeos, the son of King Minos after he dominated the games in Athens.
King Minos gets enraged and declares war on him. Eventually, Aegeus concedes and agrees to the price of a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur.
Theseus empathized with the Athenians and volunteers to be a tribute.
He tells his father that he will return with a white sail in victory.

3. Summary
King Minos’ daughter, Ariadne chooses to help Theseus and gifts him a sword to kill the Minotaur and a ball of thread to assist in escaping Daedalus’ labyrinth.
Theseus defeats the Minotaur, escapes the maze, gathers the other tributes, and returns.
However, in his elation Theseus forgets to switch his flags resulting in the suicide of King Aegeus.

4. Theseus
Strong - managed to slay the Minotaur even though it was a monster and presumed impossible to defeat
Persistent - did not give up on defeating the Minotaur
Intelligent - had skills and a strong plan to kill the Minotaur without dying and escape the labyrinth
Sympathetic - saw the strife of the Athenians and wanted to help or make up for the wrong doings
Tenacious - despite warnings and pleading from his father still decided to become a tribute
Selfless - decided to be a tribute despite not being chosen out of compassion
Lesson: To do all that you can to help those in need and to choose your own path as well as follow it until the end.

5. Ariadne
Selfless - she committed treason for a stranger out of sympathy
Good morals - chooses to do what is right
Independent - determines her own path despite other’s opinions
Loving - fell in love with Theseus and acted on it
Lesson: To make your own decisions and to always help or save those that you love.

6. Aegeus
Emotional - Crying when Theseus leaves Athens and killed himself when he thinks that Theseus hasn’t returned.
Family Oriented - was exceptionally sad when Theseus had to go to Crete and become a tribute more than others. Also seemed mainly concerned with only Theseus’ safety than his citizens.
Jealous - kills Minos’ son as he was dominating the games for no just reason.
Lesson: We can learn not to be too attached to things in life because if we do, we may go down the same path as Aegeus. We should learn to not be jealous of others and act on that jealousy as Aegeus did.
Emotional
Aegeus becomes very overcome by his emotions.
Killed himself when he sees a black sail instead of a white one when Theseus returns without even seeing if Theseus was on the ship.
This happened even though Aegeus only accepted Theseus as his son a short time ago.
Family
He values his family more than his people.
He also only accepted Theseus as his son later in Theseus’ life maybe because he was protective of his family heir.
What we can learn
Let our bodies learn to accept sadness so that bad things seem not as bad.

7. Minor characters Minos:
Vengeful - Decides to attack Athens and threaten Aegeus after he kills his son
Unforgiving - Decides to punish Aegeus and his people rather than grant them amnesty
Minotaur:
Strong - Was able to kill people, was undefeated and was also half bull
Intimidating - Was seen as a monster and had a labyrinth built to contain him

8. Symbols Used In The Myth
String - The string was used to help guide Theseus through the Labyrinth. Once the Theseus killed the Minotaur then he could follow the string until he made it out of the maze. Represents the intertwining fate of people.
Sword - The sword was given to Theseus so that when he approached the Minotaur, he could kill it. Represents a person’s strength.
Sails (Black and White)- The sails symbolize either hero has won or not. Black sails represent death and loss whereas white sails represent life and victory.
Bull - Is the beast that lives in the Labyrinth. Represents the obstacles that one must face.

9. Themes and Motifs
Theme: “All actions have reciprocating consequences” - Aegeus decides to slay Minos’ son and as a result Athens is put under war and is forced to send tributes to be killed by the Minotaur. Aegeus also ends up committing suicide in the end. Ariadne also helps Theseus and because of this good action ends up together.
“Do not let jealousy determine your actions” - Aegeus acts on his jealousy of Minos’ son and slays him ending up in his own death at the end showing that the path of jealousy will lead to your own downfall.
Motif: The sail - because it represents victory in the defeat of the minotaur. ( if the sail was black it meant that Theseus lost, and if it was white it meant that he won ) It was also constantly referenced to by Theseus and Aegeus.
The labyrinth or maze - was a motif as it like the sail was mentioned frequently and represents Theseus’ upcoming trials of both his intelligence and physical abilities.

10. Ancient Greek Values Respect for the people around you
Vengeance and revenge leads to your own loss
If someone breaks a rule, they must be punished
Follow your beliefs

11. Similarities to Other Stories
Similar stories to the Minotaur include:
The Hunger Games - every year tributes are chosen
Daedalus and Icarus - Daedalus and Minos appears and/ or is mentioned in both stories
Sejong - Decides to help his people even if it sacrifices himself
Hercules and the Hydra - A hero must fight a monster and defeats it with the help of others
Eros and Psyche - Eros falls in love with Psyche at first glance, like Ariadne, and decides to spare her

12. Modern Society
Values are similar, compassion, sympathy, empathy, responsibility
This story relates and applies to modern society by teaching - those who read it values that are applicable to both Ancient Greek society and modern society. Values such as compassion, sympathy, empathy, and responsibility were talked about and shown in the myth and are also values that are exhibited and taught to the people living in today's world.

13. Big Question
What might the Minotaur symbolize in Ancient Greek society? What might it affect in your life?

14. Thank you!

15. Sources cited
“The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.” Greek Myths Greek Mythology, greekmythology.com/myth-of-theseus-and-minotaur/#lightbox/0/.