Minos, the king of Crete, was asked to sacrifice a bull to Poseidon, god of the sea. The bull was so beautiful that Minos decided to keep it for himself. Furious, Poseidon placed a spell on Pasiphae, the wife of king Minos, causing her to fall in love with the bull. From this union, Pasiphae bore a monster, half man, half bull, the Minotaur.

After its birth, Minos had Daedalus, the legendary first architect of the Greek world (who had fled to Crete from Athens after throwing his nephew Talus to his death from atop the Acropolis because he feared Talus was becoming a better architect then he)build a labyrinth to house the Minotaur. On a trip to Athens Minos’s eldest son Androgeus was accidentally killed, enraged Minos attacked Athens. As condition to end the conflict Minos demanded that Athens pay a yearly tribute of 14 youths to be fed to the Minotaur.

One spring, the Athenian hero Theseus asked his father Aegeus, the king of Athens, why when a ship with black sails approached everyone grew sad. Upon learning, from the ships Captain of the Minotaur and the fate of the 14 young men and women, Theseus quickly volunteered to be one of the victims. He pledged to his father that he would kill the Minotaur and free his people from the wrath of Minos. Aegeus agreed

While in Crete Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos fell in love with Theseus. She offered to help him kill the Minotaur if he would take her back to Athens with him and make her his queen. Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of silk thread to unwind through the massive maze of wondering paths. Theseus was thus able to slay the Minotaur, follow the thread out and safely set sail for Athens with Ariadne.

Soon after, Theseus was visited by Dionysus, the god of wine, Obeying the gods wishes, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos but was so upset that he forgot to hoist the white sail. Waiting on a cliff for the ships return, Aegeus was so distraught over seeing the black sails he jumped to his death into what is still known as the Aegean Sea.