Between their time and ours lies an abyss of millennia, but the life of the heroes of a distant era excites us, as if it were yesterday. The cruel Minos, the bloodthirsty Minotaur, the noble Theseus, the wise Ariadne - these are the characters that have entered our memory. And what were they really, without gloss and thickening of colors?
To begin with, the terrible tribute imposed on Athens by Minos was the result of a treaty to end the war. And the reason for this war was not at all excessive attacks of appetite for power in Minos, and not the banal enjoyment of massacre and plunder. It was revenge and not just revenge, but the revenge of the father who lost his only son, the revenge of the king, whose dynasty was cut off forever, the revenge of a warrior who lost a comrade not in an honest battle, but killed by treachery …
Once he came to Athens for the holiday Androgen, the son of the mighty Cretan king Minos, and at the games he won all the best fighters of the city in single combat. Such a shame struck the Athenians and more than any other king Aegeus. Aegeus decided to chase the winner and sent him to this end on the marathon bull; the calculation was successful, and in the battle with the bull Androgen fell dead. The news of his death quickly reached Minos, who was then on the island of Naros, where, on a vow, he made sacrifices to the gods. The king of Crete equipped a strong fleet and went with him to the shores of Attica, intending to avenge the treacherous Athenians for the death of his son. Having conquered Megara, allied with Attica, he camped near Athens and held the city under siege.
It is not surprising that the gods joined the noble revenge of the Cretan king, punishing the treacherous Athenians. On their heads, they brought down crop failure and a terrible pestilence, dried up the rivers. The proud Greeks had to send ambassadors asking for peace.
For the atrocities of the fathers, their children had to pay. From now on, every nine years, the Athenians will send tribute to Crete, seven young men who do not know marriage and the same number of girls.
Don't you think that the image of the villain Minos has become somewhat lighter?
- Yes, but the murder of innocent children, and even methodical, even committed for the sake of blood feud, can not be justified, - you will say in response. And you will be right a thousand times over.
But the thing is that Minos did not kill children, did not feed them to the Minotaur and did not destroy them in the Labyrinth.
Promotional video:
He just did what they did at all times and, unfortunately, they do even today: in order to protect himself, he took hostages. These fourteen teenagers were hostages, a guarantee that their parents did not stab the winner in the back. By the way, not the first ones who came across were taken, but those whose parents had more influence on the solution of strategic issues.
By the way, according to the latest data, the reign of the king in Crete was also measured over nine years. Apparently, some sacred event extended the term of his reign every nine years. According to Plato's "Laws", Minos talked with Zeus every nine years in the Ideaskaya cave.
So there was no point in killing the hostages for Minos. But the boys and girls had a chance to visit the Labyrinth. True, they hardly saw the Minotaur there, since the Labyrinth, according to the Cretans themselves, is just a prison in which prisoners were serving their sentences or awaiting their fate. Thus, the Labyrinth is somewhat comparable to the Bastille, since both buildings served as a prison and were equally hated by their contemporaries.
The very name of the labyrinth is often derived from the labris of a double-sided ancient Greek ax. Labrys are especially often found during excavations on the island of Crete, where they apparently played a cult role and were a kind of symbol of the island, and were also considered an attribute of Zeus.
So, what fate did Minos invented for the Athenian hostages who languished in the labyrinths of the prison? No, he did not leave them locked up until the end of their days and did not squeeze the last strength from the young bodies in hard labor, but the children of traitors did not bask in idle laziness.
He acted very, very wisely, as they say, he killed all the birds with one stone. Minos made fourteen hostages a prize. The prize for which the strongest of the strongest of his state fought.
Since the gladiatorial massacre was not yet organized at that time, and even before the knightly tournaments it was still oh so far, the strength and skill of men had to be demonstrated, as they would say today, in sports. So, these were the competitions that became the basis of the Olympic Games.
And this whole demonstration of strength and dexterity, the beauty of a healthy body of the strongest men, accompanied, of course, by festivities and feasts, was dedicated to the memory of the murdered son of Minos and Pasiphae, Androgen, the winner of the Athenian competitions.
So, Minos secured himself as hostages from Athens. Quenched his thirst for revenge by hurting the hostages' parents. Having arranged festivities in honor of his son's memory, he found a truly royal gift to the winner of the competition. In addition, he automatically shifted all responsibility for the hostages onto this very winner.
Thus, you see that nothing bloodthirsty with the Athenian youths and girls did not do. Their life was guaranteed, at least with the peaceful behavior of their city. But their treatment was clearly not sweet, since two parties of hostages in a row went to a warrior nicknamed Taurus, who, even in those far from sugary times, was reputed to be rude and cruel.
It was this man, intoxicated with his strength and with a whole bunch of vices, who became the tormentor of the Minotaur for the Athenians. That is, the concepts merged - the Minos Taurus, that is, King Minos, the commander of Taurus. The Cretans themselves, led by Minos, did not like this man very much. They were weary of his power. In addition, the king suspected him of being close to his wife Pasiphae. According to legend, it was she who gave birth to a monster son from a bull, in which Aphrodite made her fall in love. And in the guise of a white bull, Poseidon "tasted a strawberry". So it turns out that the Minotaur is the son of Pasiphae and Poseidon.
But Minos himself, according to legend, was born from Europe, the daughter of the Phoenician king, who was kidnapped by Zeus in the form of a bull. On the back of this bull, Europe swam across the sea and came to Crete, where she gave birth to Minos from Zeus. So the king himself had “bull genes”.
First, the commander of Taurus was close to the throne for victories in battles and enjoyed the greatest confidence in the king, but then the heights of power turned the warrior's head and he began to forget. But the commander behind whom the army stands is not so easy to remove from the pinnacle of power.
And now the day of the competition has come. The Athenians doomed expect that Taurus would again leave all the contenders for the "prize" behind. This victory was hated by the king of Crete. But there was a man who upset Taurus and delighted the hostages, and, of course, King Minos. Theseus became them.
Theseus ended up in Athens shortly before the third term of tribute, the Athenian king Aegeus recognized him as his son, and since Aegeus had no other children, Theseus automatically turned out to be the only heir to his crown.
So, the time came in time to send the tribute for the third time. Parents who had children “unmarried” had to part with their sons or daughters according to the lot. And there was a murmur among the citizens of Athens. And the whole point was that since Agey did not have children, he naturally did not take part in the sad drawing of lots. But as soon as he declared Theseus his son, then, in the opinion of citizens, he also had to take the most direct part in testing the fate of his son.
Naturally, such a turn of events did not suit the king, who had just found an heir for himself. And he used all his power to protect his son. And this was very difficult, since the fullness of his power was far from despotic, and it was not ordinary citizens who had to resist, but the elite, the stronghold of the monarchy. Because it was the ruling elite who had to bear the brunt of the "human tribute".
This state of affairs did not suit Theseus. The heir to the throne understood that in the eyes of the Athenians he was an illegitimate foreigner with ghostly rights to power.
Therefore, Theseus considered it his duty, the duty of the future ruler, not to stand aside, but to share the fate of fellow citizens, to win their trust and recognition. And he, not by lot, volunteered to go to Crete.
Everyone marveled at his nobility and admired his love for the people, and Aegeus, having exhausted all his requests and entreaties and seeing that his son was adamant and unshakable, appointed the rest of the teenagers by lot. Previously, those who set off had no hope of salvation, so the ship had a black sail as a sign of imminent misfortune. However, this time Theseus encouraged his father with proud assurances that he would overcome the Minotaur, and Aegeus gave the helmsman another sail, white, and ordered to raise it on the way back, if Theseus survived, if not, sail under black, announcing trouble. Simonides writes that Aegeus gave not a white, but "a purple sail, colored with the sap of the flowers of a branchy oak", and this was supposed to signify salvation.
And so the hostages arrived in Crete. They were assigned to the Labyrinth.
The competition was about to begin. It is not known how, but Theseus managed to become a participant in these competitions from a hostage, Perhaps because he was not legally a hostage, since he volunteered himself or Minos saw in him a worthy competitor to Taurus. And perhaps in Theseus the Cretan king recognized the reflection of his youth, since Minos was adopted by the Cretan king Asterius, as Theseus was adopted by Aegeus. Minos and Theseus considered their real fathers of the gods - only Minos of Zeus himself, and Theseus Zeus's brother - Poseidon.
One way or another, but the royal persons were able to agree.
So, Theseus asked permission to participate in the competition, Minos agreed. Not only the Athenians rejoiced at the victory of the Athenian prince, Minos also rejoiced - especially at the humiliating defeat of Taurus. The king of Crete not only gave the winner a legitimate prize, but also freed Athens from paying human tribute in general.
This generous act of Minos was probably not so much caused by joy for the humiliation of Taurus, as by the recognition in Theseus of the future ruler of Athens who was able to keep his word.
Where is Ariadne? - you ask.
- Where is the well-known ball of threads?
First, about the threads. Most of the legends say that the idea of the string belongs to Daedalus (who later flew with the rebellious Icarus). The great engineer of antiquity, who, by the way, built the Labyrinth for Minos, either himself or through Ariadne (who knows how) endowed Theseus with a ball of "guiding thread" and taught how not to get entangled in the twists of the Labyrinth. But since there was no need to get out of Theseus from the Labyrinth, the thread may have a different meaning. Most likely a wedding. That is, she was an element of the wedding ceremony. Perhaps the newlyweds were tied together for a stronger marriage.
Now about Ariadne. In Crete, it was customary for women to watch the games. The daughter of Minos, Ariadne, also watched them. Theseus' appearance did not leave her indifferent, delighted the princess and the victory of the Athenian hero over all rivals. Yes, and Theseus is clearly interested in the Cretan beauty. It is unlikely that this escaped Minos, who was quick to take advantage of such a situation. Namely, to make a rather strong ally out of a fairly strong enemy. The union of Theseus and Ariadne was supposed to seal the union of Athens and Crete.
Such an unexpected turn of events, caused by the geopolitical research of Minos, more than suited the young lovers. But it did not suit Taurus. Being almost the second person in the state, in the absence of an heir in the male line from Minos, through marriage with Ariadne, he could take the Cretan throne himself.
Despair prompted Taurus to rush to the Athenians preparing to sail. And it is in this skirmish that Theseus kills the Cretan commander. And much later, with the light hand of tragedians, legends appeared describing the death of the monster Minotaur at the hands of Theseus in the dark corners of the Labyrinth.
So, having put Ariadne and the Athenian teenagers on the ship, Theseus rushes home. It is not known how long Theseus stayed in Crete, but already home, according to the testimony of Peon Amatuntsky, he was taking a pregnant wife and, for a rather longer period, a wife.
After some time, the travelers were beaten by a storm to Cyprus. Pregnant Ariadne, exhausted by the rolling, went ashore, and Theseus was busy on the ship. Suddenly, the storm that had died down, raged again with even greater force, and the ship again carried into the open sea. Local women accepted Ariadne, tried to dispel the despondency into which the separation plunged her, brought forged letters allegedly written to her by Theseus, helped her and sympathized with her torments during childbirth, and when she died, without being relieved of the burden, they were buried. Then Theseus returned. Terribly saddened, he left money to the local residents and ordered them to bring sacrifices to Ariadne, and also erected two small images of her: one silver, the other bronze.
But according to the most common version, the Athenian travelers reached the island of Naxos happily and safely, where they stopped for a while. Here Dionysus appeared to Theseus in a dream and announced that Ariadne should not follow Theseus further: by the will of fate, she was destined to be the wife of Dionysus. Theseus feared incurring the wrath of God and fulfilled his command: with heavy grief in his heart, he sailed from the island at the time when Ariadne fell asleep. Upon awakening, she saw herself abandoned, alone on a deserted island and burst into loud complaints about her helplessness and about the treachery of the young man, for whom she sacrificed everything. Then the god Dionysus appeared before her, told her her fate and reassured her with a promise to make her a part of the bliss of the gods. Ariadne became the bride of Dionysus, and Zeus introduced her to the clique of the gods. Crown,which was put on her during her betrothal to Dionysus, was subsequently taken to heaven and turned into a constellation known today as the Northern Crown.
What was in reality between Ariadne and Theseus may forever remain under the canopy of secrecy. But there was a dynastic marriage between the ruling dynasties of Crete and Athens. Ariadne's place near Theseus was taken by her sister Phaedra. But with this daughter of the Cretan king Minos, Theseus had problems.
Phaedra was inflamed with love for her stepson Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and the queen of the Amazons Antiope. Rejected by the youth, she committed suicide. But before that, she slandered him before Theseus. He cursed his son and asked Poseidon to punish him with death. The Lord of the seas and oceans heeded his terrible words. The horses threw Hippolytus from the chariot, frightened by the bull sent by Poseidon. Later, an innocent youth in Athens was worshiped as a god.
The ship with the rescued was already approaching Attica, but both the helmsman and Theseus himself forgot to raise the sail, which was supposed to notify Aegeus of their salvation. The black sail instilled despair in the king of Athens, he threw himself down the cliff and died. The waters that received the grief-stricken king have from then until now been called the Aegean Sea. Going out on land, Theseus himself remained in Falera to make sacrifices to the gods, which he promised them by vow, going to sea, and sent a messenger to the city with the news of a happy return. The messenger found many citizens mourning the death of the king, but others, as expected, rejoiced and rejoiced when they heard the messenger's words, and wanted to decorate him with wreaths. However, accepting the wreaths, he wrapped them around his rod and returned to the sea. Theseus had not yet performed libations, and not wanting to interfere with the sacred rite, the messenger lingered aside,and when the libations were finished, he announced the death of Aegeus. Then, crying and screaming, all the travelers hastily moved into the city. After mourning, the Athenians recognized Theseus as their king …
J. Skiba “Interesting newspaper. Secrets of history №21 2009