Peace Offering
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0In Theseus’s defense, knitting material hardly seems a fitting item with which to equip a daring hero in his attempt to slay a deadly man-beast. This is probably all he could come up with on such short notice.
Theseus and the Minotaur is one of the signature stories of Greek mythology and is an important piece in the literature surrounding this mythological founder of Athens, though it is but a fraction of his story.
The most popular version of the tale starts with the famous King Minos of Crete. In this version of the tale, Minos and his brothers compete for the throne after the death of their father. Minos prays to Poseidon, god of the sea for a sign that the deity supports his right to rule. In response, the mighty god sends forth a snow-white bull to his mortal follower which the young Minos was meant to sacrifice as a show of his own faith in Poseidon. However, struck by the majesty of this creature, Minos decides to offer up an inferior specimen in place of the white bull. Furious at this disrespect, Poseidon decides to punish the new King and sends Aphrodite to wreak havoc in Minos’s household. The cunning goddess of love strikes Minos’s wife, queen Pasiphae, with a lustful passion for the white bull that her husband was so fond of. To help her in her quest to lay with the creature, she enlists the help of the inventor, Daedalus, who builds her a wooden cow in which to hide and which allows her to seal the deal, so to speak.
Fast forward several years and Pasiphae has birthed and raised a monster. Half man, half beast, the Minotaur is banished from sight and hidden in a maze from which there is no escape, also constructed by the keen mind of Daedalus. The isle of Crete is a powerful nation that demands tribute from Athens for past misdeeds. The tribute, seven courageous males and seven beautiful females, were sent to Crete every year and fed to the horrific monster held within the Labyrinth. Theseus, being a courageous young man, volunteered to take the place of one of the youths and set sail for the island of Crete. As they stepped upon the shore, and entered Minos’s halls, the lovely and resourceful daughter of Minos, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus. Before he was sent into the Labyrinth, she met with him in the night and bestowed upon him two gifts: a sword with which to fight the beast and a spool of thread (sometimes a ball of yarn or a ball of string) with which to find his way out. In return she asked for the young hero to take her away from Crete after he had completed his task. Theseus agreed and, being an intelligent man, (unlike in today’s comic hah!) knew right away what to do with her gifts. He entered the labyrinth with courage in his heart and Ariadne waited for his return.
It wasn’t long before the hero found his foe, decapitated it and followed the yarn (or string) he had laid out as he had come in out of the maze. Theseus departed Crete and took Ariadne with him, as he had promised. Unfortunately for her, during one of their stops at an island along the way back to Athens, she fell asleep and Theseus left her behind. His promise was kept, but he was still a douche.
Theseus had many other adventures both before and after this one that have been told and retold all over the world and he has been a source of inspiration for millions trying to find the courage to tackle their own metaphorical monsters, whatever they may be. Luckily, drawing inspiration from figures like Theseus doesn’t mean we have to abandon helpful women on islands as they sleep.
Or does it?
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Discussion (23) ¬
This has to be the first time I have ever caught you posting something! I feel a slight sense of accomplishment, and yet at the same time shame for I too have work in the morning at 8 a.m.
But, i’ll just take this post to say that I love your webcomic, and I hope you keep writing as long as it makes you happy
Man. Theseus was a dick.
Loved the comic!
From the author of
“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” come the new collection:
“If You Give a Minotaur a Sweater and Other Greek Mythos”
On a side note the great Greek inventor Daedalus probably was laughing,
after he was asked to build the labyrinth… I mean come on, he had to know what would have been the result of Pasiphae mating with the bull!
I wonder if the Greeks condoned zoophilia?
It would seem so, that and all the gods doing it with the mortals!
Shame on them!
I hope I don’t have to bring up the story of Leda (a mortal) and the Swan (aka Zeus in Swan form),
then again would that count as zoophila or rape by deity?
(and if it’s rape, or seduction,depending on version, by deity wouldn’t the birth be similar to the birth of Jesus, in that it could be considered a “virgin” birth? was this the story that the Christians used as the base for the story of the birth of Jesus? If it is that might explain Christianity’s noted hostility toward zoophilia… they don’t want to admit they stole the story!
The main scripture I’m referencing, concerning Christianity’s hostility towards zoophilia is Leviticus 20:15-16
“If there is a man who lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death; you shall also kill the animal. If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them.”
Anyways, before this becomes a really long comment…
I would like to add a little disclaimer:
I, (username Brefelan Silverpaw), do not condone NOR condemn zoophila, Christianity or any of the aforementioned groups,entities, or practices
They loved that swan story, I looked it up and found so much ancient swan smut. Even later cultures loved it, because it was sex but without actually being sex, so all the artists were sculpting and painting it.
Funny story, I looked it up many months (a year? More?) ago and I still come up with this off the top of my head. My decision to name all my Pokemon after Greek mythology was great, because I learned all this kind of stuff. Hehe, Eros the Ditto…
Eros the Ditto!
LMTO! (Laughing My Tail Off!)
I generally gave my Pokemon names that described them,
E.g. I named my cyndaquil Pyro… though that was before I knew about TF2!
Tldr but I get the idea.
I guess Ariadne should have given Theseus more of a “clue” as to what he was supposed to do with it!
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Clue originally meaning yarn, or so the show on history channel from years back told me (Back when it actually had history on the channel.)
Oooo ho ho! I wish I’d thought of that before I fell asleep last night haha!
I feel really bad for Theseus in this myth– there are so many examples of him not being a douche to women, later (I mean, yeah, he has his fun with a lot of them, but he always seems to make sure they’re married well after, and that woman he borrows the cow from when he has to take care of business with the bull at marathon gets a whole FEAST day!) but here he is, not much more than a kid (because Minos demanded YOUTHS) and he makes one mistake (maybe) and it will haunt him forever, typecasting him as the biggest jerk to women who ever lived.
I did read a few theories that suggested Ariadne was already a goddess, or at the very least a consort of Dionysus, before Theseus arrived, and so his abandonment of her on Naxos was not necessarily abandonment, so much as making good on getting her out of Crete and getting her back to Dionysus (and even, that Ariadne used Theseus to escape, then abandoned HIM). But who says Ariadne even WANTED to marry Theseus? The guy had just killed her brother and destroyed her kingdom, pretty much. Maybe she had a change of heart after all of that, and Theseus was letting her off the hook?
But I am a great Theseus apologist, I guess. He’s my favorite hero — followed closely by Pirithous — in Greek Mythology.
haha I like Theseus a lot too, he’s one of the few heroic figures in myth not associated with monumental tragedy. He makes mistakes and he does some seemingly weird stuff (like leaving Ariadne behind) and he eventually has to step down as the ruler of Athens, but he isn’t linked with tragedy in the same way that Heracles or Orpheus are nor is he struck down by the gods for his hubris in the way Bellerophon was. The only figure in Greek myth that I, personally, find more consistently heroic than Theseus is Perseus who doesn’t really do a whole lot wrong. (personally, my favorite is Orpheus, though)
As for leaving Ariadne behind, Bulfinch includes a little snippet about how Theseus was supposedly visited by Athena in a dream and was commanded to leave the girl behind on Naxos but doesn’t really get into the why of it. It’s pretty clear in most stories that the girl adores Theseus and wanted to be taken away so she could be with him, romantically. Unfortunate for her that Athena intervened.
I have seen the theories about her being a goddess and also being romantically linked with Dionysus in some later fashion elsewhere, but these things don’t really factor into most tellings of the tale, though they are an interesting side note. It’d be neat if they were all intertwined somehow, Athena delivering her message to Theseus to prevent him from running off with the future bride of Dionysus, a relationship that would grant her godhood. Honestly, I have no idea what the original concept behind all this was but it’s damned interesting!
I would guess (and this is just me talking because I have no real research to back me up beyond my gut) that the story of Theseus and the Minotaur is how the Greeks explained the fall of the Minoan civilization as a dominant power, which was then subsumed by the Mycenaeans. Just as (in my humble opinion) the story of the Trojan War is the explanation for the Greek Dark Ages (all our leaders were killed in a glorious battle and we tumbled into chaos but its okay because we won!)
But as for Theseus not being as closely linked with tragedy — dude. Phaedra and Hippolytus! How is that not completely awful in every way?!
Anybody else notice the strange similarities between this tale and the Hunger Games?
Failed revolution from foreign nation leads to youths from said nation being offered as tribute to the oppressive nation. The tributes fight to the death for the entertainment of others. The hero of the story offers themselves as a tribute in place of a younger person they care about.
All we’re missing here is Woody Harrelson.
Suzanne Collins has mentioned in interviews that Theseus and the Minotaur was one of the influences for The Hunger Games. That was actually why I ended up reading the books — people wouldn’t leave me alone about how it was a supposed retelling of Theseus’s story.
Maybe Twilight would have benefited from being based on Greek mythology.
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Nah. That’s just crazy talk : D
The names of my favorite characters in Hunger Games? Castor and Pollux. Yeah. The swan kids. One was mute, the other wasn’t. We need a spinnoff of their backstory…
There is so much mythology in the Hunger Games. Characters with similar names, cultural similarities, the whole basis of the story is kind of like the offering of youths and gladiators. Fight for your freedom!
Oh yea Gods (and Goddesses)!
That’s actually a great idea!
Which reminds me I actually ought to read (and re-read) them,
I haven’t read them since the first book came out…
Ye, PTB (Powers that be), it seems like so long ago,
even though it was only 4 years ago!
If you want a surefire seller for the shop, you should do a poster with the minotaur posing while wearing a sweater that says “Labyrinth” on it. (a la Animal House)
I like Oglafs take on two parts of this story:
http://www.oglaf.com/labyrinth/
http://www.oglaf.com/skein/
A lot of people that read HT also seem to enjoy Oglaf haha I don’t really read it but I respect their work, it seems like they put a lot of effort into it!
Yo yo I need a Jonathan P. Necromancer button for the costume. can I just get it from you sometime in Millbury.
+3 fireproof lichenproof yarn of extensive yardage speaks for itself. Now it would be like…what is this boggy loud industrial polyester?
My Latin teacher periodically posts some of your Greek/Roman themed comics outside her door in the hallway. And every time I see this one I am overcome by the giggles. Every. Single. Time.