The Meaning of the Myth of the Minotaur
Religious and Historical Inspiration behind Greek Myth
Nov 8, 2009
The Greek legend of Thesues, the Minotaur and the labyrinth originated from and is set on the island of Crete. This tale of gods, kings and heroes may appear to be simply a good story. It is also one full of symbolism that could also preserve certain elements of historical events.
Crete’s Bull Headed God and Minoan Religion
The myth could contain elements that refer to the religious beliefs of Bronze Age Crete, in particular the Minoan culture. Central to this is the emblem of the bull, one of the Minoan’s sacred animals. The Minotaur in the labyrinth could be seen as symbol of rituals of bull worship that centred on the palace complexes of Crete. At the root of this worship is the concept of the sacred marriage between heaven and earth, with the bull headed god of the Minoans and the island of Crete itself.
Queen Pasiphae, herself of divine origins as the daughter of the god Helios is often identified as a moon goddess. She is also the personification of Crete itself. The bull is associated with the heavens. Asterius, one of the versions of the Minotaur’s name means ‘of the sky’. One of the sacred symbols of the Minoans is, the double headed axe or the Labyrs from which the word labyrinth is derived. The labrys is also a symbol of the sun god. The bull of Poseidon/the Minotaur therefore becomes the heavens who mates with Crete, as represented by Mino’s Queen.
The involvement of young men and women with the Minotaur in the labyrinth may not refer to acts of sacrifice but the worship related to this sacred cult. Echoes of elements of the myth are found in religious ceremonies recorded in the frescos of Knossos. The Minoan rite of bull leaping, which involved youths and young women is one, as are the spring dances which involved young dancers weaving a maze like pattern in the ceremonial courtyards of the palace.
The Minotaur and History
The myth could also preserve fragments of historical fact. It possibly alludes to events dating from the period of Minoan dominance of the Greek world.
Minos may have been the name of the ruling dynasty of Minoan Crete during its heyday, rather than an individual king. Theseus’s mission to Crete could be an allegory for a revolt of Greek subject peoples who were obliged to send tribute to Knossos. In this context, Knossos becomes the labyrinth. The term ‘labyrinth’, which is taken from the labyrs, one of the symbols of Knossos, is believed by some to mean ‘house of the double axe’.
The myth in this context could preserve a memory of a time when the maze of Knossos’s rooms and corridors were overrun by a revolting Greek force, searching not for a mythical beast but Mino’s himself as the representative of an oppressive dynasty. The resolution of the affair was a marriage between the heiress of the dynasty of Minos represented by Ariadne and one of the revolting Greeks.
Sources
The Greek Myths Volume I (1996) Robert Graves. The Folio Society: London.
Minoan Crete: From Myth to History (2001) Andonis Vasilakis. Adam editions: Athens
The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion (2003) Ed Simon Price and Emily Kearns. Oxford University Press: Oxford
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