1. Mythological Beasts In Dante's Inferno
The artisan used his skill to create a heifer out of wood and leather. The queen concealed herself inside the heifer and the white bull, deceived by appearances, coupled with her. The fruit of this unnatural union was the Minotaur, also known as Asterion or Asterius, which had the head of a bull and the body of a man. Furious and ashamed, Minos had Daedalus construct a sort of huge palace-prison, the labyrinth, in which to keep the monster. Every year (or every nine years), seven youths and seven maidens were fed to the Minotaur, a tribute imposed on the Athenians by Minos. One day, Theseus suggested that he join the group of youths and, with the help of the thread given to him by Ariadne, he found the Minotaur, killed it and emerged, triumphant, from the labyrinth.
The monstrous nature of the Minotaur derives from the way in which it was conceived. In this respect, the story of its origins is as important as its own story. Its life was in fact singularly devoid of incident. Imprisoned in the labyrinth, it was as if the tribute paid by the Athenians provided a periodic source of distraction and food. The story of the Minotaur is inextricably linked with that of the labyrinth -- the maze that was constructed for the creature, that was doomed to disappear with it and in which it waited. Without knowing it, the Minotaur was waiting to be slain by Theseus. This was the only event of its life.
From a literary point of view, the Minotaur has experienced two major phases, one as the incarnation of horror and the other as illustrating the complexities of monstrosity. In the Greek and Latin Classical myth, the Minotaur was not the subject of an autonomous literary theme. It was either the monster slain by Theseus or conceived by Pasiphae. Its monstrosity left so little room for doubt that, during the Middle Ages, it sometimes appeared as a devil or a monster among many others, independently of its mythical background.
He was known for his skill as an architect, sculpture, and inventor, and he produced many famous works.When the Minotaur was born, Daedallus was called upon to build the Labyrinth to contain the monstrous half-man, half-bull. ... Eventually, the hero Theseus came to Crete to attempt to slay the Minotaur. ... Minos, enraged at the loss of his daughter, not to mention the killing of the Minotaur, shut Daedallus and his son Icarus into the Labyrinth.Daedallus managed to get out of the Labyrinth - after all, he had built it and knew his way around. ... Charecters: Daedallus- the inventor to the k...
Examples in this essay of monsters and their hero counterparts will be Medusa and Perseus, the Minotaur and Theseus, and Polyphemus and Odysseus. ... For example, "a tribute of seven men and seven women were sent every nine years to be devoured by the Minotaur". ... Theseus is not afraid of the Minotaur and demonstrates this when he volunteers to be one of the seven men sent into the labyrinth to be devoured. ... When Theseus decides to go into the labyrinth to kill the Minotaur, "Ariadne procures the help of Daedalus, who informs Theseus how to kill the Minotaur and escape (via the unrolled...
In the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, Theseus, the son of the Athenian King Aegeus was sent to Crete to kill the Minotaur, whose name literally translates as Bull of Minos. ... "(5) The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur proved extremely popular, surviving into Roman and Christian times. Examples of labyrinth designs with references to Theseus or the Minotaur have been found as a decoration on floor and wall motifs in Greece and Italy, and at sites as ancient as Pompeii and Etruscan artifacts at Tragliatella. There is also evidence that the labyrinth and Minotaur motif was used as a l...
For example, all three traits appear in Theseus when he volunteers to enter a labyrinth and fight a Minotaur, a creature half-man and half-bull. ... Not only is he brave enough to enter the labyrinth to fight the Minotaur, but also Athens' hero portrays great strength when he pins the sleeping creature to the ground and kills the Minotaur with his hands alone. ...
On Slaying the Minotaur Plato's "Phaedo" discusses many human difficulties and attempts to discover ways to overcome such difficulties. The most important deficiency is the human condition the "Phaedo" deals with concerns death and the continuation of the spirit into an afterlife. The plot cen...
Pablo Picasso arrived in Paris with great talent. Picasso wanted to create something different from the art of the high and powerful royalty. Schama says "Modern arts was modern because it turns its back on those grand standing histories painted for aristocrats and kings". "Portrait of King Philip ...
Tantalus, king of Sipylos, was distinctively favored among the mortals of Greece. He had a banquet, which he invited gods and goddesses, major or minor, to feast. He didn't know of any dish worthy to be served to the immortals, so he sacrificed his most valuable possession, his son Pelops, to be mad...
