Hora (or Chora, Χώρα), on the island of Naxos. Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island, and she was taken to wife by Dionysius. Her wedding crown was set in the heavens (the corona borealis). © tango7174, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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.
Précis
King Minos kept the Minotaur, a monstrous bull, imprisoned in a maze, fat with human sacrifices. Pretending to be one of them, Theseus entered the maze (marking his path with princess Ariadne’s thread) and killed the Minotaur. But he forgot to tell his father he was safe, and the poor man committed suicide in the sea. (56 / 60 words)
