Half man, half
bull, the Minotaur was the result of king Minos's refusal to sacrifice a certain
bull to the god Poseidon. The god punished him by making Pasiphe, Minos's
wife, fall in love with the bull, and she bore it a son: the Minotaur.
Because it was a terrible monster, Minos had it enclosed in a labyrinth, and each year he had seven young girls and seven young boys from Athens sacrificed to it.
The Minotaur was killed by the hero Theseus, who with the help of Minos's daughter Ariadne made it out of the labyrinth by following a thread he had tied to the entrance.