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The son of King Aegeus, Theseus, volunteered to be sent to Crete. He believed that he had the strength and power to kill the fearsome half-bull and half-man. After some time, Theseus finally persuaded the king to send him to Crete. Minos received the young Athenian and on account of his royal birth treated him with respect. Theseus told the Cretan king that he would kill the creature. However, the monarch was not afraid, he knew that the Athenians could not escape the maze that was escape-proof. However, Minos was unaware that his daughter Adriane had fallen in love with Theseus and agreed to help him in his quest. She gave him a ball of string or thread before he went into the labyrinth. The Athenians then went into the maze and used the string, which was still being held by Ariadne to mark the way back to the entrance of the labyrinth.<ref>Morford, Mark PO, and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical mythology (Oxford, Oxford University Press, USA, 1999), p 113</ref>
In the dark heart of the maze, Theseus encountered the enraged Minotaur and the two began a life and death struggle. The Athenian managed to kill the half-man half-bull. There are two versions as to how he did it, in one he killed the Minotaur with his bare hands and in another he killed him with a blade that Ariadne gave him. Later Theseus escaped from Crete with Ariadne, but he soon abandoned her on the island of Naxos. There are many depictions in Roman and Greek art of Theseus killing the Minotaur .<ref>Bosworth, J. Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003), p 167</ref>.
====The Minotaur and Minoan civilization====
