Who or what was the Minotaur

A. The Minotaur was the 'love child' of an affair between Queen Pasiphae and a bull. Pasiphae, wife of Minos King of Crete, fell in love with a bull that should have been scarificed to the gods, and from that love came the Minotaur, a terrible monster who had the body of a man but the head of a bull.

Q. What did the Minotaur get up to

A. The Minotaur lived in a labyrinth under King Mino's palace. Following defeat by King Minos', Aegus, King of Athens was forced to offer seven boys and seven girls each year as a sacrifice to the Minotaur.

Q. Where does Theseus enter into the story

A. The third time Aegus was forced to make the sacrifice to the Minotaur his brave son Theseus stepped forward and persuaded his father to let him go to Crete and try to kill this monster.

Q. How did Theseus plan to kill the Minotaur

A. Before he left Theseus agreed with his father that if successful in his mission he would put up a white sail on his boat on his way back. Upon his arrival in Crete Theseus engaged the help of the beautiful Ariadne, daughter of Minos, who he promptly fell in love with. She gave him a ball of thread to help him thorough the labyrinth.

Q. Well, did he kill the Minotaur

A. Theseus wandered the labyrinth laying out the thread behind him until he found the Minotaur. Using some nifty moves Theseus snuck-up behind the monster and using his great strength leapt onto his back, grabbed his horns and twisted his head round so hard that he broke the monsters neck, killing him. He then followed the thread to get out of the labyrinth into the arms of the lovely Ariadne.

Q. So, all well that ends well

A. Not quite. Ariadne and Theseus set sail for Athens, however, in their excitement they forgot to hoist the white sail to indicate to his Theseus' father that his mission had been a success. Upon seeing the boat returning and no white sail in sight, Aegeas feared the worst, that his son was dead and fell from a rock into the sea. And it was from the untimely death of Aegeas that the Aegean sea took its name.