Theseus and the Minotaur
A warning not to be forgetful of others, even in triumph.
King Minos of Crete reneged on a promise to sacrifice a white bull to Poseidon, and it went mad. Heracles captured it, but that was not the end of the story...
THE white bull of King Minos sired a dreadful half-man, half-bull called the Minotaur, which was at length confined in the Labyrinth, an ingenious maze.
Every year, at Minos’s command, a ship with a black flag of grief set out from Athens, bearing seven youths and seven maidens for the minotaur to consume in its lair.
Theseus offered himself as one of the seven youths, promising his father that he would soon return, flying a white flag of joy.
With the help of Ariadne, Minos’s daughter, Theseus felt his way to the heart of the maze, laying as he went Ariadne’s fine thread to mark his path, and slew the monster.
But when he came safely to harbour in Athens, he forgot to fly his white flag. His despairing father saw only the black flag, and cast himself into the sea.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Who commanded Theseus to go to Crete as one of the seven youths?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Theseus came back to Athens. His father was on the shore. He hoped to see a white flag.