All language subtitles for Clash.of.the.Gods.S01E04.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-deadorbit_track3_[eng]

[music playing, growling]

NARRATOR: A half man, half bull
monster locked in a giant maze,

waiting for its next
meal of human flesh.

This is the bizarre
myth of the Minotaur,

an angry, savage
freak of nature that

endures as a timeless symbol
of the beast inside all men.

But beneath its story lurks a
stunning reality, a real world

of human sacrifice, bestiality,
war, and the remains

of an actual labyrinth.

This is the myth
of the Minotaur,

and the truth behind it.

[music playing]

A heavy door clanks
shut behind you.

A dimly lit maze of
corridors lie ahead.

The stench of death
hangs heavy in the air.

[music playing, growling]

You are trapped in the
labyrinth of the Minotaur,

and there is no way out.

[music playing]

The story of the
Minotaur was a horror story

for the ancient Greeks.

The labyrinth was
a chamber of death.

Those that got
locked inside of it

knew there was only
one fate, and that's

to be devoured by a horrible,
ravenous, man-eating beast.

[music playing, growling]

This half man,
half animal would

rip you piece to piece
and consume your flesh.

[music playing, screaming]

NARRATOR: The Minotaur is the
mutant child of a human mother

and a bull father.

He has the body of a--

an enormously strong,
powerful man, but then

the head of a bull with horns.

PETER STRUCK: On the one
hand, it's part beast,

and this beast is
ravenous and hungry

and kills, and even
eats the flesh of people

that it has killed.

On the other hand, the
Minotaur is half human,

and it has a kind of
vulnerability from that

in which its humanity is trapped
inside of its bestiality.

NARRATOR: At its core, this
myth represents the battle

between reason and savagery,
between order and chaos.

The ancient Greeks
who told the story

prided themselves
on being civilized.

One of the things that the
Greeks really did believe in

was that human reason
could do a lot.

NARRATOR: But the
Minotaur was the enemy

of reason, a symbol of the
animal instincts trapped

inside all men.

The Minotaur, the monster was
the untamable part of nature

that the Greeks were
trying to get a hold of.

This was the one thing that
they could not control.

[music playing, growling]

NARRATOR: According
to the myth, this

is where the Minotaur lives,
on the island of Crete.

At the time when the
story takes place,

Crete dominates the
Greek world the way

the Minotaur dominates
the labyrinth.

In the late Bronze
Age, Crete really

was the most important power in
that part of the Mediterranean.

The places like
Athens and Sparta,

which in the classical period,
would really become the most

significant powers, really
weren't anything very important

at all.

In fact, they had to
pay tribute to Crete,

because it was the major
power in the-- in the region.

NARRATOR: In the
myth, the Minotaur

was created to punish
the king of Crete, Minos,

after he tried to outwit a god.

Every year, it was customary
that King Minos sacrificed

his most prized
bull as an offering

to the sea god, Poseidon.

But one year, his herd
produced a calf so beautiful,

so perfect, that Minos
couldn't bear to part with it.

He sacrificed a lesser
bull in its place.

But Poseidon was watching.

Anytime you try in Greek
mythology to outsmart the gods,

you're gonna lose.

When Poseidon saw this, he said,
OK, you like your bull so much?

I'm going to make your
woman like your bull.

And so he made Minos's
wife lust for the bull.

NARRATOR: Minos's wife,
Pasiphae, falls in love

with the bull.

Pasiphae's desire
for the bull, I think,

symbolizes a kind
of animalistic lust.

All of us like to think of
ourselves as very rational

creatures, but in
reality, all of us

know at our core there's some
piece of us that's driven

by pure animalistic desire.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The queen
hatches an elaborate plan

to seduce the bull.

She climbs into a cow costume
and lingers in the pasture

where it grazes, waiting
for the beast to approach.

It's a very strange
myth, this one,

because Pasiphae
essentially engages

in an act of beastiality.

She's in love with this bull.

She wants to have
sex with this bull.

[music playing]

PETER STRUCK: It seemed to be a
preoccupation of ancient Greeks

and Romans as to what the proper
mode of sexual behavior was,

and having sex with animals
was one of those taboos that

got kind of richly worked
out in their mythology.

In the real world, we
see these mythic scenes.

Famous scenes of
ancient bestiality

are performed in the Colosseum.

You would have women
slaves who would

be forced to copulate with
bulls in order to entertain.

NARRATOR: Often in these
real-life spectacles,

the ancients were acting
out Queen Pasiphae's

mythical encounter with a bull.

In the story, it isn't long
before his strategy succeeds.

PETER STRUCK: The
bull spies her,

is overcome with amorous
desire, mounts her.

Nine months later, you've
got yourself a Minotaur.

[music playing]

SCOTT LEONARD: The
birth of monsters

is very often associated with
sinfulness or some other kind

of wrongdoing.

Certainly, this is
both of those things.

Because Minos didn't keep
his end of the bargain,

because Pasiphae indulged
in an unnatural desire,

the child is born
monstrous and deformed.

NARRATOR: A half human,
half bull baby boy,

destined to become a horror.

He's a monster.

That's how we know him.

But at the same time, he seems
to be a victim of his fate.

And that's why I have mixed
feelings about the Minotaur.

I cannot really condemn him.

The Minotaur has
a strange name.

His father isn't Minos, but
the first half of his name

comes from the name Minos.

The second half, tauros, is
the Greek word for a bull.

So Minotaur means
the bull of Minos.

NARRATOR: To the ancients,
this man-bull hybrid

was a powerful and
frightening concept.

Bulls were a central part
of Greek civilization.

In fact, they were
even worshiped as gods.

There were a lot of sacrifices
and rituals around bull cults

all across the
eastern Mediterranean.

SCOTT LEONARD: A bull represents
male virility and strength,

and that's exactly what the
bull was religiously, an icon

representing male potency
and fertility, great strength

and power as well.

The memory of the
power of the bull

carried through into
Judeo Christian times,

and we see in pictures
of the nativity

the bull breathing in to the
baby Jesus with its life force.

NARRATOR: According to the
myth, the tyrannical King Minos

is furious when the Minotaur
is born, and decides to use it

as a weapon against anyone who
dares to challenge his power.

He devises a sinister plan
to build the world's most

terrifying prison and
makes his beastly stepson

its man-eating warden.

To build it, Minos turns to his
resident engineering genius,

Daedalus.

PETER STRUCK: Daedalus is
the world's most famous

ancient builder.

He's like Thomas Edison and
Frank Lloyd Wright rolled

into one.

He's able to construct
beautiful monuments,

and he's able also to construct
flying machines, wonders

of ancient technology.

NARRATOR: Daedalus
makes plans for a prison

with no barred cells, just
a massive, winding maze.

It would be so vast, so
impossible to navigate,

that even he could
barely make it out alive.

And in its heart would lie the
Minotaur, waiting for its prey.

SCOTT LEONARD: It was a series
of passageways and stairways.

There is some sort of
mystical or strange effect

inside the labyrinth that
so confuses those who

walk through it that they
don't know where they are

in a short time.

NARRATOR: Dark,
disorienting, deadly.

This mythical laboratory
would be terrifying.

But is it more than just a myth?

[music playing]

Today, there's an underground
maze on the island of Crete

with an eerie resemblance to
the labyrinth of the Minotaur,

the cave of Massara.

It's an ancient
underground quarry

that, according to local lore,
may have inspired the myth.

Winding passageways
stretch for over 2 miles

in no particular order.

In fact, most people who dare
to enter run a cable with them

to make sure they
don't get lost.

The same tactic will prove
crucial for the Minotaur's

victims later in the myth.

[music playing]

Chisel marks found
along these tunnel walls

prove the caves are
manmade, that they

were dug with ancient tools.

For centuries, visitors who
came to explore this place

were convinced they had found
the home of the Minotaur,

and many of them
left their mark.

Today, explorers still
take on the challenge

of navigating the labyrinth.

Their objective is to reach this
central room, where it is said

the Minotaur once dwelled.

They come here to
beat their fears,

and if they win, they
accomplish the mission,

they write their names
on it and go out happy.

It would be very nice
if it were the labyrinth.

I mean, everybody
wants to know where

the idea of the
labyrinth rats came from.

And when you see
caves like this,

right away, the idea must
have come to the people

that this might have been
the lair of the Minotaur.

NARRATOR: An ancient manmade
maze on the same island

where the myth is said
to have taken place.

It's the perfect candidate
for the Minotaur's labyrinth

in every way but one.

Most experts think the myth
is older than the cave.

TOM STONE: It was worked very
late in Greek or Roman times,

and there are recorded
visits by many pilgrims

during this period.

But the actual myth of a
labyrinth and a Minotaur

came much, much earlier.

NARRATOR: If Massara isn't the
place that inspired the myth

of the labyrinth, what is?

The hunt for clues
leads back to the myth.

[music playing]

With his horrifying
maze complete,

Crete's King Minos
shifts his focus and hunt

for its first victims.

It's meal time for the Minotaur.

[music playing, growling]

According to an ancient
myth, the island of Crete

is home to a half man, half bull
monster who hungrily patrols

a dark labyrinth.

The labyrinth itself is so
confusing, even its builder

can barely find the way out.

Inside, the Minotaur
awaits its first victims,

hungry for human flesh.

[music playing, growling]

Meanwhile, 200 miles north in a
small city-state called Athens,

athletes have gathered from
all over the Mediterranean

to compete in a series
of sporting challenges.

It's an early precursor
to the Olympic games.

Among the competitors
is Prince Androgeus,

the son of cleats King
Minos and the half brother

of the Minotaur.

DAVID GEORGE: Minos's son,
Androgeus, won every contest,

running, throwing, singing.

He was a star.

And it so upset a number
of the Athenian youth

that they got into a drunken
brawl and went and killed him.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The son of a king
murdered in cold blood.

This means war.

Once the news reaches
Minos, of course,

his grief is overwhelming, and
his rage and thirst for revenge

is enormous.

NARRATOR: King Minos decides
to punish the Athenians

in the worst possible way.

He will feed them
to the Minotaur.

The Cretan navy drops
anchor at Athens

and delivers an ultimatum.

DAVID GEORGE: Minos
demanded that they send

seven male virgins and
seven female virgins

to be sacrificed
to the Minotaur.

NARRATOR: Virgins were a prized
commodity in the ancient world

because it was believed
their purity made them

closer to the gods.

DAVID GEORGE: They
would be put on a ship,

and the ship would take them,
in very degrading circumstances,

to Crete.

They would be led crying and in
great tears into the labyrinth

where they would be
consumed by the monster.

NARRATOR: So goes
the myth, but what

is the connection to reality?

Here, the story symbolizes an
actual historical conflict,

an epic struggle between an
aging superpower and an up

and coming state.

Early in Greek history,
Athens and Crete

were real-life enemies,
but Crete's massive navy

gave it a decided advantage.

In both myth and reality,
it was David versus Goliath.

PETER STRUCK: In
the Minotaur myth,

it's pretty clearly a symbolic
overlay of real history.

Crete was a very
powerful civilization,

and they kind of lorded
it over the city-states

on mainland Greece.

TOM STONE: When Minos made this
outrageous demand, what it was

was a reflection of the Cretan
dominance of that entire area.

NARRATOR: The Athenians
told the Minotaur story

as political propaganda.

The Minotaur represented
the tyranny of Crete.

The labyrinth was Crete's
nearly inescapable power,

and the victims symbolized
the suffering of Athens.

The myth's purpose was
to make the Cretan's

seem barbaric and
evil, and it worked.

For the Greeks themselves
who embellished the story

over the centuries, it was a
very important proof that they

and their gods and
their rational thinking

were superior to the Cretans and
their bulls and their monsters.

[music playing, growling]

NARRATOR: In the myth, Athens is
forced to send human sacrifices

to the Minotaur every nine years
or face all out war with Crete.

But why nine years?

It seems from their records
they had an understanding

of the movement of the Moon
through various constellations

that go through about
a nine-year cycle,

and that would be, then,
the basis of the nine-year

sacrifice.

NARRATOR: Whenever a full
moon falls on the equinox,

it'll be time to send fresh
sacrifices to the beast.

[music playing]

As the first victims are being
locked inside the labyrinth,

a pivotal event is
unfolding across the sea.

In a small kingdom
50 miles from Athens,

a baby boy is being born.

His name is Theseus.

He is one of the
first great heroes

of Greek myth, the
one who is destined

to challenge the Minotaur.

The birth of Theseus is of
preeminent importance in terms

of Athenian national identity.

Theseus belongs to an
older order of heroes.

They are characterized
by tremendous strength,

tremendous bravery, and
also, great brainpower.

NARRATOR: Theseus is the son
of a beautiful Greek princess,

and not one, but two
powerful fathers.

On the night he was
conceived, his mother

had sex with both
Aegeus, king of Athens,

and Poseidon, god of the sea.

REBECCA KENNEDY:
What usually happens

is that the mother will
sleep with the human father,

and also sleep in
the same timeframe

with the divine father so that
the child is fertilized by two

people simultaneously.

Having dual paternity allows
him to both inherit the throne

from Aegeus, as well as
have access to things

like Poseidon's special favors.

NARRATOR: This two-father
scenario was a common plotline

in ancient myths.

It's even something real-life
rulers often claimed

for themselves.

KRISTINA MILNOR: One of
the perhaps best known

is Alexander the Great,
who celebrates himself

as being partially divine.

Later on in the Roman
period, the Roman emperors,

starting with Augustus,
claim that they became gods.

It gives you a kind of
authority if you can say,

I'm actually the child of a god.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: According to the
myth, when Theseus is born,

King Aegeus buries his
sandals and a sword

beneath a huge rock.

He tells Theseus's mother that
when the boy is strong enough

to lift that rock,
he should come

to claim his rightful
place as prince of Athens.

[music playing]

Nine years later,
Crete again demands

that seven men and seven women
be sent as tribute to die

in the Minotaur's labyrinth.

The kingdom needs a hero.

[growling, music playing]

The third time Crete demands
its tribute, Theseus is ready.

He is finally strong enough
to lift the rock that hides

his father's sword and sandals.

He vows to enter the
labyrinth, battle the Minotaur,

and free Athens from
the tyranny of Crete.

It's the classic face off
between monster and hero.

And modern evidence has revealed
some shocking truth behind it.

[music playing]

The city of Athens
is in mourning.

Once again, it is time
to send human sacrifices

to the Minotaur,
the innocent victims

demanded by King Minos,
the tyrant of Crete.

Those chosen are sure
to die, but there

is one who vows to challenge
fate, the prince of Athens,

Theseus.

He is anxious to
prove his bravery

and to free his kingdom.

All heroes have
to commit great acts

in order to gain their status,
so he needs to go out and do

something great,
and that is gonna

be to stop the Athenians from
having to submit to Minos

and submit their
children to the Minotaur.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The stage is set.

It's Theseus, heroic
symbol of man at his best,

against the Minotaur, the savage
reflection of man at his worst.

[growling, music playing]

Before Theseus
departs for Crete,

his father gives him
an important order.

When and if he
returns to Athens,

he must hoist the white
sail instead of the black,

that way, when the ship
appears on the horizon,

the king will know
his son is safe.

[music playing]

According to the myth, this
is where Theseus was headed,

Knossos, the capital city of
King Minos and the Cretans.

The ancient Greeks believed this
was the home of the Minotaur,

a scene of horrific
crimes against humanity.

Today, its ruins still hold
clues about the reality

behind the myth.

[music playing]

At the height of Crete's power,
between 1700 and 1450 BC,

this city was home
to 100,000 people.

At its center was a vast
palace with a complex layout.

In fact, some experts believe
it was the original inspiration

for the labyrinth.

It must have been extremely
difficult for anyone

to find their way all around
that huge palace, which

had something like
1,000 rooms in it,

and five stories in some places.

There were many
passageways in it.

There were no halls.

The passageways went
from one little room

to another little room, so you
could not find a direct line

anywhere.

My guess is that when
the Greeks first saw this,

they couldn't make
sense of it, so that's

where the notion of the
labyrinth came from.

They would have imagined it
as a dungeony, dark series

of corridors that violated
the Greek sense of symmetry.

Greeks liked symmetry.

NARRATOR: Modern excavations
inside the palace

have only strengthened its
connection to the Minotaur

myth.

Throughout the site, signs
of bull worship can be found.

One fresco found in the palace
even depicts a young man

battling a bull.

It's a scene that seems torn
almost directly from the myth.

SCOTT LEONARD: The depiction
from the Knossos palace

shows a naked young man
somersaulting are solving over

the top of a bull with large
horns that seems to be enraged

and chasing him.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: An ancient palace
that looks like a maze, filled

with artifacts related to bulls.

It's easy to see how this place
might have inspired the myth.

But the connections
do not end there.

Archeologists have unearthed
evidence suggesting

the existence of a real
King Minos, a throne

room with its seat
still perfectly intact.

It's the oldest ever
found in Europe,

dating back 3,500 years.

Also found was an inscription
in an ancient language

that may even mentioned
the king by name.

TOM STONE: In the archives
of the temple of Crete,

there were stone tablets
which have inscribed

on them words which looked to
be like the name of King Minos.

So one word, [non-english],,
a second word, [non-english],,

which could mean,
Minos the king.

[non-english] is a
title for royalty.

NARRATOR: These clues suggest
King Minos may have actually

lived, but the most intriguing
connection to the Minotaur myth

appears on another
tablet found at the site.

It depicts an offering
to a so-called mistress

of the labyrinth.

Here, in writing, is
a direct reference

to the maze of the Minotaur.

It's an unmistakable connection
between the city of Knossos

and the myth.

Who was this mistress
of the labyrinth?

Her identity is an
intriguing mystery.

Experts believe it was a
woman of great importance

at the palace, a high-ranking
priestess, or even the daughter

of a king.

In the myth, King Minos's
daughter is Ariadne,

and she plays an important
role in the rest of the story.

We don't know who the
mistress of the lavatories was,

but it could have been Ariadne,
inasmuch as she was entitled

to be the priestess
of the temple,

because she was the first
daughter of King Minos.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: From the moment
Theseus arrives in Crete

to be sacrificed, Princess
Ariadne is drawn to him.

Ariadne notices Theseus's
bearing, his courage,

his unblinking gaze, and is
immediately smitten with him.

She's just sort of overcome
by the power of her love

for Theseus, and she
immediately decides

that she's going to help him,
because she doesn't want him

to die in the labyrinth as
all the other figures do.

NARRATOR: But Ariadne
must act fast.

She seeks out Daedalus, the
designer of the labyrinth,

and begs him to explain
how to escape it.

What he gives her is a clew.

In old English
translations of this myth,

the word clew means
a bull of twine.

This is what Daedalus
gives to Ariadne,

and it's how the modern
word clue originated.

TOM STONE: And Daedalus
said, why don't you

just use a bull of twine?

Tie one end to the door,
and then unravel it

as you go into the labyrinth.

Once you're in the center,
you can find your way back

out by following the twine?

We have continued to
use balls of twine

in underwater exploration.

The divers will tie
the end of the twine

to an opening in
a wreck or a cave,

go inside, explore, and then
follow the twine back out

again.

Reason which is what the Greeks
honored more than anything else

is the thing that solves the
problem, a very simple answer

to what seems to be an
impossible situation.

[growling, music playing]

NARRATOR: Ariadne secretly
visits Theseus in his holding

cell and offers him her
clew on one condition.

He must marry her
if he survives.

When Theseus meets Ariadne,
he's sort of in a bind.

He's going into the middle
of a-- of a labyrinth about

to be eaten alive by a Minotaur.

And when Ariadne
volunteers to help him,

he really doesn't
have much of a choice.

It's either do what she
asks or takes chances,

and he's not going
to take chances.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The next
morning, 14 victims

are locked inside the labyrinth,
lambs ripe for the slaughter.

With his ball of twine in
hand, Theseus leads the way

into the maze.

Theseus ties off the
ball of twine at the door

and starts to walk step by step
through this dark, dank tunnel.

NARRATOR: Theseus has been
offered as a human sacrifice.

It's a concept that is
hard to fathom today,

but evidence suggests that
the real ancient Cretan's not

only sacrificed humans, they
also may have eaten them.

[music playing]

Theseus, the prince of Athens,
is leading his fellow victims

deeper into the labyrinth,
determined to confront

the Minotaur head on.

He has a ball of twine, a clew,
so that he can find his way

back out.

[growling]

As the beastly growls of
the Minotaur grow louder,

Theseus is resolute, but
those trapped with him

are beginning to unravel.

As the victims walks.

His through the labyrinth, one
can imagine how terrified they

must have been.

Just think about going into
that dark space, and then,

as you wandered, not being
able to see anything.

They knew that somewhere
else in this maze,

there was this horrible
man-eating creature that would

devour them.

[growling, music playing]

You never know at
what point you're

going to encounter the monster.

[growling, music playing]

NARRATOR: Deep inside the
maze, the Minotaur stirs.

He hears the screams of
frightened victims headed

his way, and he's ready for
his next feast of flesh.

[growling, music playing]

This is the enemy Theseus must
defeat in order to free Athens

from the tyranny of Crete.

So goes the myth.

But what is the link to reality?

[music playing]

The tension between Athens and
Crete during the Bronze Age

is well-documented, but were
the Cretans really as savage

as the myth suggests?

At Knossos palace, excavations
have turned a possible evidence

that suggests some
truth behind the story.

Inscriptions found at the
site have been interpreted

by some as offerings made to
the gods, human offerings.

There are records of a--

a female servant being
offered, and also,

10 males being offered.

NARRATOR: Real people
killed in ritual sacrifice,

just like the victims of
the Minotaur in the myth.

The suggestion is that there
actually was human sacrifice

being practiced on Crete.

NARRATOR: But the evidence
extends beyond inscriptions.

There are also bones
that bear the markers

of cold-blooded murder.

In 1979, over 300 of them
were unearthed in Knossos.

Unbelievably, all of them
belonged to children.

[music playing]

About 25% of them bore cut marks
made by a fine blade, the type

that would have been used
to remove flesh from bone.

The bones had the
marks of knives.

They had cut marks on
the sides of the bones.

So it's hard to
get around the fact

that there was butchery going on
here, perhaps even cannibalism.

I don't know how else
one could interpret

this kind of evidence.

NARRATOR: Sheep bones were also
uncovered in the same place

as the human bones.

All were slashed in
a similar manner.

These scrape marks look a
lot like the kind of marks that

result from butchery of animals
that are being prepared to eat.

NARRATOR: This suggests that
the ancient Cretans were not

only sacrificing
humans, but eating them.

Is the Minotaur's
thirst for human

flesh an encoded message
about cannibalism?

It's the most repulsive
and abhorrent crime

we can ever even imagine.

It's a perfect way
to demonize someone.

So we can imagine that the
ancient Greeks would have told

this story about their
great enemy, Crete,

that not only were they horrible
people, they were monsters,

and even still,
they were cannibals.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The
labyrinth's corridors

are cloaked in darkness.

It is impossible for Theseus
to find his way by sight.

But the grunts and growls of
the Minotaur are getting louder.

They are his compass.

His ball of twine, his clew, is
small now, a quarter the size

it was when Theseus
entered the maze.

The beast is near.

PETER STRUCK: He smells the
stench of blood on the walls.

He sees the bones of the
poor beast's prior victims.

He rounds a corner and
sees a sleeping hulk.

[music playing]

Even the breath of the
Minotaur fills him with fear,

but this is the
difference between heroes

and us ordinary folks.

The hero feels the fear, masters
it, and pursues the great deed.

NARRATOR: Theseus ambushes,
catching the beast half asleep.

PETER STRUCK:
Theseus approaches.

The Minotaur is startled,
jumps up, and attacks.

NARRATOR: Ax meets sword
as man battles beast.

The future of Athens and
Crete hangs in the balance.

[music playing]

In the predawn hours, the sounds
of struggle pierce the night.

Inside the labyrinth, Theseus
has the Minotaur cornered.

He then pounces
on it, attacks.

[music playing]

Before the beast even
knows what hit him,

Theseus has the upper hand.

The Minotaur
struggles and gasps.

NARRATOR: The hero
goes in for the kill.

[growling, music playing]

The Minotaur, this tortured,
trapped, terrible soul,

is dead.

Theseus, son of Poseidon
and prince of Athens,

has destroyed the
curse of King Minos.

PETER STRUCK: You can imagine
that his heart is pounding,

his adrenaline is pumping.

He's covered with the muck
and blood of this dead beast

and all the other human beings
that this beast has ingested

over the years.

That the forces of reason
as embodied by Theseus

overcame the forces
of irrationality

as embodied by the Minotaur.

NARRATOR: But there is no
time to celebrate his victory.

Daybreak is approaching.

Theseus needs to move fast
if he's going to escape

the wrath of King Minos.

Once he's killed the
Minotaur, it's not quite over,

because Minos is not gonna be
happy about this, of course.

So he has to retrace his steps,
get out of the labyrinth,

and then get back
on to the ship.

[music playing]

TOM STONE: He follows
his thread back out

and leads the
still living youths

of Athens out of the labyrinth.

GEORGE ZARKADAKIS: I can imagine
the joy that must have come

over the kids when they saw that
their fate was not what they

expected, that their
fate was actually changed

by the deed of the hero.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Ariadne,
the princess of Crete,

has spent a restless night
listening for any sign

of Theseus's survival.

He's promised to marry her if
he escapes the Minotaur alive,

and she intends
to hold him to it.

Just before dawn, she
joins him, and their ship

sets sail for Athens.

It's a defining moment
in Greek mythology.

PETER STRUCK: When Theseus
slays the Minotaur,

the action is really a
symbolic act in which we have

a hero of Athens who's finally
overthrowing the yoke of Crete.

GEORGE ZARKADAKIS: It's a
symbol of Greece beating Crete.

It's a symbol of human
bravery and ingenuity.

So all the stories, they
inspired the young citizens

to be faithful to their
country, to be able to sacrifice

themselves for their
city's glories,

and ultimately, to become true
citizens of a democratic city.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Theseus
leaves Crete a hero,

but his voyage home
will end in tragedy.

When he left to
fight the Minotaur,

Theseus promised his
earthly father, King Aegeus,

that he would hoist a white
sail if he returned home

alive to signal his victory.

Every morning for months, Aegeus
would visit the same seaside

cliff looking for
any sign of the ship,

but when it finally appears on
the horizon, its sail is black.

The king is inconsolable,
thinking his son has been

devoured by the Minotaur.

In his grief, Aegeus leaps to
his death in the sea below.

To this day, that sea
is called the Aegean

after Theseus's father.

PETER STRUCK: When Theseus
fails to raise the white sail,

the original ancient tale, it
doesn't tell us any motivations

as to why he forgets.

But in the end,
the original myth

seems to suggest a kind
of carefreeness of youth.

That's the
easiest explanation.

He was so excited
by his victory,

he was on his way home, and he
simply just forgot to do it.

NARRATOR: Aegeus's sudden death
is a shocking development.

Theseus comes ashore not only
as the liberator of Athens,

but as its new king, the king
who, according to the myth,

would transform the city
from a backwater outpost

into a regional superpower.

In this myth,
Athens's rise to power

is definitely
credited to Theseus.

In fact, the myth seems to have
been written in part to prove

this.

PETER STRUCK: In adopting
Theseus as their founding hero,

the Athenians were really
making a statement.

They were saying that this
longtime domination of Crete

was now over, and that there
was a new top dog in town,

and it was Athens.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Athens would go on
to become the Greek world's

dominant city-state, while
Crete would collapse and be

conquered.

But long after both kingdoms
have faded into history,

the myth of Theseus and
the Minotaur endures.

And like every good
myth, it reveals insights

into human nature that
are as relevant today

as they were 3,000 years ago.

There's a lot of things that
one can read into the Minotaur

story.

You can imagine labyrinth
as being the human mind,

a dark place that we constantly
explore in our conscious state,

the animal nature, the nature
that compels us to kill.

[growling]

These myths reveal to us in
a uniquely powerful way parts

of ourselves that we otherwise
keep hidden, hidden urges

and desires, hidden
means by which

we deal with the world, the
most fundamental struggles

of human experience.

[music playing]