Original subtitles

[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]