Ariadne‘s sister and Theseus‘s wife, whose doomed love for her stepson Hippolytus is the subject of tragedies by Euripides and Racine.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 2/10 · Wisdom 5/10 · Courage 4/10 · Divinity 2/10 · Fame 5/10
Son of Theseus, devoted to Artemis. Falsely accused, he was cursed by his father and killed by a bull from the sea.
From Athens. Today: Athens, Greece.
Strength 6/10 · Wisdom 6/10 · Courage 7/10 · Divinity 2/10 · Fame 4/10
Queen of Crete, daughter of Helios, and mother of Ariadne, Phaedra and the Minotaur.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 2/10 · Wisdom 6/10 · Courage 4/10 · Divinity 4/10 · Fame 4/10
Son of Daedalus. Flying from Crete, he went too close to the sun, the wax on his wings melted and he fell into the sea.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 3/10 · Wisdom 2/10 · Courage 8/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 9/10
Imprisoned on Crete with his father Daedalus, who made wings of feathers and wax so they could escape. Daedalus warned him not to fly too low, where the sea would soak the feathers, or too high, where the sun would melt the wax.
Thrilled by flying, Icarus soared too high. The wax melted and he fell into the sea, now called the Icarian Sea, near the island of Ikaria.
He stands for over-ambition. Pieter Bruegel’s painting Landscape with the Fall of Icarus shows the world carrying on, barely noticing his splash.
Theseus and Crete, Other famous tales
Half man, half bull, kept in the Labyrinth at Knossos and fed on young Athenians, until Theseus killed it.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 9/10 · Wisdom 1/10 · Courage 7/10 · Divinity 3/10 · Fame 9/10
King Minos prayed to Poseidon for a sign and was sent a magnificent white bull, which he refused to sacrifice. As punishment Poseidon made his queen Pasiphae fall in love with the bull, and she gave birth to the Minotaur. Daedalus built the Labyrinth to hold it.
Every few years Athens had to send seven young men and seven young women to be devoured, until Theseus came among them and killed the beast.
Bull-leaping frescoes found at Knossos, and the maze of the real palace, may lie behind the legend.
Hero and king of Athens. He killed the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and escaped using Ariadne‘s thread.
From Athens. Today: Athens, Greece.
Strength 8/10 · Wisdom 8/10 · Courage 9/10 · Divinity 3/10 · Fame 9/10
Raised in Troezen, he lifted a boulder to find his father’s sword and sandals, then walked to Athens, killing bandits along the way, including Procrustes, who stretched or cut his guests to fit his bed. He volunteered to go to Crete as one of the Minotaur‘s victims.
He became king of Athens and was credited with uniting Attica. In the end he was driven out and killed on the island of Skyros.
The “Ship of Theseus” puzzle asks whether a ship with every plank replaced is still the same ship. A “Procrustean bed” means forcing things to fit a rigid system.
Princess of Crete who gave Theseus a ball of thread to find his way out of the Labyrinth. He abandoned her on Naxos, where Dionysus married her.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 3/10 · Wisdom 8/10 · Courage 7/10 · Divinity 3/10 · Fame 8/10
Daughter of King Minos. When Theseus arrived on Crete, she fell in love with him and gave him a ball of thread so he could find his way back out of the Labyrinth, on his promise to take her away.
Theseus left her asleep on the island of Naxos. Dionysus found her there and married her, and her wedding crown became the constellation Corona Borealis.
An “Ariadne’s thread” is a way to solve a complicated problem by following every step. Strauss’s opera Ariadne auf Naxos tells her story.
The master craftsman who built the Labyrinth for Minos, then made wings of feathers and wax to escape Crete.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 4/10 · Wisdom 10/10 · Courage 6/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 8/10
An Athenian inventor credited with the axe, the saw and statues that seemed to move. Jealous of his talented nephew, he pushed him off the Acropolis and fled to Crete, where he worked for King Minos and built the Labyrinth.
Imprisoned with his son Icarus, he made wings to escape. Icarus fell, but Daedalus reached Sicily, where King Cocalus protected him from Minos.
Something “daedal” is intricate and ingenious. Many robots, engines and aircraft have been named after him.
Theseus and Crete, Other famous tales
Phoenician princess carried across the sea to Crete by Zeus in the form of a white bull. Europe is named after her.
From Phoenicia. Today: Lebanon.
Strength 2/10 · Wisdom 5/10 · Courage 5/10 · Divinity 1/10 · Fame 8/10
A princess of Tyre in Phoenicia. Zeus turned himself into a beautiful white bull and lay down beside her as she played on the shore. When she climbed on his back, he plunged into the sea and swam to Crete.
On Crete she became the mother of Minos, Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon (in some versions), and married the island’s king. Her brother Cadmus searched for her and founded Thebes instead.
The continent of Europe is named after her, and she rides the bull on the Greek two-euro coin. Jupiter‘s icy moon Europa is named after her too.
Theseus and Crete, Thebes and Oedipus
King of Crete who had the Labyrinth built. After death he became a judge of the dead.
From Knossos, Crete. Today: near Heraklion, Crete.
Strength 6/10 · Wisdom 7/10 · Courage 6/10 · Divinity 4/10 · Fame 7/10
Son of Zeus and Europa and king of Crete, ruler of the seas. He refused to sacrifice Poseidon‘s white bull, leading to the birth of the Minotaur, and demanded young Athenians as tribute after his son was killed in Athens.
Chasing Daedalus to Sicily, he was killed there by the daughters of King Cocalus. He became one of the three judges of the dead.
The archaeologist Arthur Evans named the Bronze Age civilisation of Crete “Minoan” after him.
Theseus and Crete, The Underworld