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Ariadne's Homepage

I am Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. Poseidon, the God of the Ocean, gave my father a beautiful white bull, on the condition that he sacrifice it back to Poseidon. After my father refused to sacrifice the bull, Poseidon took revenge by causing my mother, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. As a result of Poseidon's curse, my mother bore the Minotaur (a half-man, half-bull creature). My father had Daedalus, a brilliant architect, build a Labyrinth, a huge maze of winding passages to house the Minotaur. As a result of a tragic incident in which my only brother, Androgeus, was killed by a bull while in Athens, Father required tribute from Athens in the form of 7 young men and 7 women to be ritually sacrificed to the Minotaur.

Theseus, a handsome Athenian youth, volunteered to accompany one of these groups of victims, to defeat the Minotaur and deliver his country from the sacrificial tribute. Upon his arrival to Crete, I fell in love with the young hero and didn't want him to be killed by the Minotaur. I consulted with Daedelus who gave me a ball of thread and told me to instruct Theseus to unwind the thread as he navigated the labrynth so that he could follow the trail back out.

Theseus did indeed defeat the minotaur and found his way back out of the labrynth. My father was very angry with me for having aided an Athenian, so when Theseus asked if I wanted to return with him to Athens and marry him, I readily agreed. My sister Phaedra came along also.

However, I wasn't on the ship for very long before I began to grow seasick. Theseus decided to leave me on the island of Naxos to recover, and promised to return for me. For whatever reason, Theseus never returned. I heard later that he married my sister Phaedra.

It is here that my story grows fuzzy. Some believe that I killed myself; some believe that Artemis killed me as a result of my brief, intimate relationship with Theseus; the happy ending to the story is that the god Dionysus came and rescued me and made me his wife. Upon my death, he took the crown he gave me on our wedding day, threw it into the sky, upon which it was transformed into the contstellation, Corona Borealis.

Modern Interpretations of my Myth

My myth can be interpreted as a psychological myth from a feminist point of view. I am depicted as a Helper-Maider to Theseus, just as Athene was the helper of all heroes and model for helper maidens. In all versions of my story, Theseus used and then abandoned me. Thus from a feminist point of view, this shows the opression of a woman by a male.

Some critics interpret my story as an etiological myth to explain the origin of the constellation, Corona Borealis.

Ancient Sources

And golden-haired Dionysus made brown-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, his buxom wife: and the son of Cronus made her deathless and unaging for him. -Hesiod, Theogony, 947
"Then I saw Phaedra, and Procris, and fair Ariadne daughter of the magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but he did not enjoy her, for before he could do so Artemis killed her in the island of Dia on account of what Dionysus had said against her." -Homer, Odyssey, 11.321
"In days past the maiden Ariadne, daughter of Minos, with kindly intent rescued Theseus from grim contests -- the maiden whom Pasiphae daughter of Helius bore. But she, when Minos had lulled his wrath to rest, went aboard the ship with him and left her fatherland; and her even the immortal gods loved, and, as a sign in mid-sky, a crown of stars, which men call Ariadne's crown, rolls along all night among the heavenly constellations. So to you too shall be thanks from the gods, if you will save so mighty an array of chieftains. For surely I see from your lovely form that you excel in gentle courtesy." -Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, 3.997
Minos, residing in Crete, passed laws, and married Pasiphae, daughter of Helius and Perse; but Asclepiades says that his wife was Crete, daughter of Asterius. He begat sons named Catreus, Deucalion, Glaucus, and Androgeus, and daughters named Acalle, Xenodice, Ariadne, Phaedra. And by a Nymph Paria he had Eurymedon, Nephalion, Chryses, and Philolaus. And by Dexithea he had Euxanthius. Since Asterius had died childless, Minos wished to reign over Crete, but his claim was opposed. So he alleged that he had received the kingdom from the gods, and in proof of it he said that whatever he prayed for would be done. And in sacrificing to Poseidon he prayed that a bull might appear from the depths, promising to sacrifice it when it appeared. Poseidon did send him up a fine bull, and Minos obtained the kingdom, but he sent the bull to the herds and sacrificed another. Being the first to obtain the dominion of the sea, Minos extended his rule over almost all the island. Angry at him for not sacrificing the bull, Poseidon made the animal savage, and contrived that Pasiphae should conceive a passion for it. In her love for the bull she found an accomplice in Daedalus, an architect, who had been banished from Athens for murder. He constructed a wooden cow on wheels, took it, hollowed it out, sewed it up in the hide of a cow which he had skinned, and set it in the meadow in which the bull used to graze. Then he helped Pasiphae into it. The bull came and coupled with it, as if it were a real cow. And Pasiphae gave birth to Asterius, who was called the Minotaur. He had the face of a bull, but the rest of him was human. Complying with certain oracles, Minos shut him up and guarded him in the Labyrinth. Now the Labyrinth which Daedalus constructed was a chamber that hid the way out with its tangled windings. I will tell the story of the Minotaur, Androgeus, Phaedra and Ariadne later in my account of Theseus. -Apollodorus, The Library, 3.1.2-3.1.3
Theseus was one of those chosen to be sent as the third tribute to the Minotaur, or as some affirm, he offered himself voluntarily. And as the ship had a black sail, Aegeus charged his son, if he returned alive, to spread white sails on the ship. And when he came to Crete, Minos' daughter Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and offered to help him if he would agree to carry her away to Athens and marry her. Theseus agreed under oath, so she begged Daedalus to disclose the way out of the labyrinth. At Daedalus' suggestion, Ariadne gave Theseus a thread when he went in. Theseus tied it to the door, and entered the labyrinth, unraveling the thread as he went. And having found the Minotaur in the last part of the labyrinth, he killed him by striking him with his fists; and made his way out again by gathering up the thread. And by night he arrived with Ariadne and the children at Naxos. There Dionysus fell in love with Ariadne and carried her off; and having brought her to Lemnos he enjoyed her, and begat Thoas, Staphylus, Oenopion and Peparethus. In his grief at the loss of Ariadne, Theseus forgot to spread white sails on his ship as he came into port; and Aegeus, seeing from the acropolis the ship with a black sail, supposed that Theseus had perished; so he cast himself down and died. -Apollodorus, The Library, E.1.7-1.10
The Sibyl's shrine to Apollo was built by Daedalus after he fled from Minos on Crete. Daedalus depicted mythic scenes in the temple: the death of Androgeus [Minos' son] and subsequent penalty [sacrifice of seven Athenian boys each year, selected by lots]. Also depicted: the love of Minos' wife Phaedra for a prize bull which resulted in the birth of the Minotaur, and the Labyrinth, whose secret entrance and exit Daedalus shared with a lovelorn princess [Ariadne]. But Daedalus couldn't bring himself to carve the story of his own son Icarus. -Virgil, Aeneid, 6.14-33
Minos' wife Pasiphae mated with a bull [via a hollow wooden cow built by Daedalus] and gave birth to the Minotaur. Minos wanted to hide the offspring, so Daedalus built a labyrinth, or complex network of passages, from which there was no escape. Minos forced the Athenians to pay tribute every nine years in the form of young citizens, whom Minos fed to the Minotaur. The hero Theseus killed the Minotaur and escaped from the labyrinth with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne, by cleverly unravelling and retracing a thread. Then Theseus cruelly abandoned Ariadne on the island of Dia. There Dionysus took pity on the abandoned girl, became her lover, and transformed her crown into a constellation. -Ovid, Metamorphosis, 8.152-182

Secondary Sources

A.Baring and J.Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess:Evolution of an Image (1991) 137-143, 294-296.
T. Bullfinch, Bullfinch's Mythology (1959)126,136.
E. Hamilton, Mythology:Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes (1969) 58, 157, 162.
S.Harris and G.Platzner, Classical Mythology:Images and Insights (2000)287-289,303.
http://www.geocities.com/soho/lofts/9407/ariadne.html
http://www.classicalmythology.org/glossaries/character_a.html
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Ariadne.html
http://www.emufarm.org/~cmbell/myth/corona_borealis.html

LINKS!

My photo album
My Family Tree
A map of Greece with the islands of Crete and Naxos
A diagram of the Corona Borealis
Lots of Ariadne Links

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