The Birthplace of Zeus
The Titan Cronos once ruled the heavens without challenge and feared nothing except being one day usurped by his own flesh and blood. This fear of betrayal only grew with time inside Cronos and every time his wife Rhea would get pregnant Cronos would take the newborns from her and eat them. Over and over this cycle repeated until one day Rhea devised a plan to save her children. Knowing she was pregnant again Rhea (with help of other Titans Gaia and Uranus) fled to the Greek island of Crete (Kriti) to a cave to give birth. The baby was healthy and she named him Zeus; to protect the child from Cronos she left Zeus on the island under the care of nymphs. After coming of age Zeus challenged his father Cronos and all of his fathers fears came to fruition. Zeus from then on was king of the heavens…
Theseus and The Minotaur
king Minos was the first king of Crete, the son of Zeus and Europa. He ruled from the palace of Knossos on the large island of Crete. Minos despite all of his attributes still encountered many perils during his rule. After ascending to the throne and turning Crete into a dominant naval superpower Minos planned to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon to commemorate all of his help along the way. Although; instead of staying true to his word and sacrificing the large grand white bull that Poseidon wanted. On the night before the celebrations Minos swapped the grand white bull out for a smaller less impressive one. The ungrateful Minos angered Poseidon with this bait and switch move and so to get his revenge on the sneaky king he Cursed Minoss’ wife pasiphae for this. She became pregnant and gave birth to a half man half bull child which they named Asterius the Minotaur. Minos was angry and ashamed but rather than murder his own son the king had his skilled engineer Daedalus build an elaborate labyrinth under the palace for the Minotaur to be kept and hidden from the public eye…
Years later Across the sea the other son of king Minos (Androgeos) was dominating the Panathenaic Games which were being held in Athens when he was ambushed in the night by jealous competitors and murdered. Blaming Athens for the events King Minos sent word to king Aegeus of Athens and demanded tribute for the accident. The price Minos asked was a high one! Every nine years Athens must send a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to Crete, where they would be locked inside the Labyrinth and devoured by the Minotaur……..and so they did for decades until one day king Argeus of Athens only son Theseus told his father he wanted to volunteer for the sacrifice so he could slay the Minotaur once and for all. Fearing for his son and the only heir to his throne Aegeus resisted at first but also knowing there was no persuading Theseus otherwise Aegeus eventually agreed and gave his son one instruction. “You will be sailing to Crete with black sails of mourning; if you are victorious switch your sails to white so that I may know your fate by looking at the coastline upon your return”. Theseus agreed to his fathers wishes and set sail for Crete.
Upon arriving at Crete King Minos was shocked to see Aegeus only son being offered as one of the sacrifices. Out of courtesy he greeted Theseus and held a palace dinner in his honor that evening. It was at that dinner that Theseus met Ariadne the daughter of Minos and Pasaphae. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus at first sight; she confessed her love to Theseus and pleaded with him not to proceed explaining to him that even if he killed the beast there is no way Theseus would find his way back out of the labyrinth. After the dinner Ariadne met secretly with Theseus with a plan to betray both her father and Minotaur brother. She gave Theseus a ball of yarn telling him to tie it at the entrance of the labyrinth and unwind it as he walks. That way if Theseus kills the Minotaur he can follow the yarn back out of the maze. Theseus accepted the gift and promised to take Ariadne back to Athens with him to marry after he killed the monster.
Theseus entered the labyrinth the next day with the other youths and did as Ariadne said. He tied the thread to the entrance and the other end to himself. He made it to the heart of the maze and found the Minotaur sleeping. Armed with only a club he slayed the Minotaur and rescued the other Athenian youths and maidens, guiding them all out of the labyrinth to safety. Having killed the Minotaur Theseus took his ships back to Athens with the rescued boys and girls. As promised he also brought Ariadne along with him as they sailed back to Athens
Along their journey home they stopped to spend a night on the island of Naxos. Realizing the consequences of sailing away with king Minoss’ daughter in haste the panicked Theseus woke his men up early and set sail for Athens leaving Ariadne alone sleeping on the island. Waking up only to see the ships leaving her Ariadne cursed Theseus praying to the gods for help after being presumably left for dead…Now it is unknown whether it was the haste in which they sailed that morning or if it was Ariadnes’ plea to the gods that caused this but during all the commotion that morning Theseus forgot to change his black sails to the white as his father Aegeus asked him.
King Aegeus, now an old man, had watched and waited from the top of the rock where the Acropolis now stands, hoping for a sign that his only son was returning home to him. When he saw the ship approaching, the black sails of mourning billowing in the wind, he gave a great cry of despair and flung himself to his doom from the top of the Acropolis. The bitter sweet conclusion of this tale led to both the crowning of Theseus as king of Athens and the naming of the Aegean Sea….
2017 Odyssey 