Theseus: Minotaur Slayer

Imagine you had to face a fifteen foot tall monster that is half man and half bull. Theseus had to defeat this monster, it was called the Minotaur. This monster was in a maze called a labyrinth. Every person that had been in the labyrinth was killed by the Minotaur. Only a few people knew the way out of the labyrinth. Theseus received help from Medea, the king’s daughter, to defeat the Minotaur. Theseus was the type of person that makes the person taste of their own weapon. Theseus defeated Periphetes, Sinis, Sciron, and Procrustes by making them taste their own weapon. All heroes have tasks that they complete Theseus defeated Periphetes, Sinis, and Sciron, and Procrustes. All heroes defeat some kind of monster; Theseus defeated the Minotaur. All heroes get help on their tasks just like Theseus did. The myths of heroes are very similar to Theseus’s myth.

Many other heroes have tasks. Perseus had a task that he was to kill the Gorgon Medusa. The Gorgon Medusa was a monster that if you looked at its head directly you would turn to stone. The king asked Perseus to defeat the Gorgon Medusa trying to get rid of him. Jason had a task where he was to get the Golden Fleece. This was a hard task because it was guarded by a dragon. One of Hercules’s Tasks was to clean out King Augeas’s stables in one day. These stables were pretty messy because of the cattle that were oversized. When a hero is on a task they receive help.

Heroes received help on their tasks. Perseus was given help by many things including a mirrored shield, flying shoes, special pouch to hold the head, a sword, and helmet of invisibility. He received help from the god Athena for where and what materials to use. She was happy to help him with this because the Gorgon Medusa terrorized one of her temples. She told him to go to the river nymphs for some supplies. Athena gave him the shield. The river nymphs gave him some flying shoes, a helmet, and a pouch. The god Hermes gave him a sword. Jason also received help from Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She made Medea, the princess, fall in love with Jason. Medea’s help saved Jason a lot of times as he made it to the Golden Fleece. Hercules also received help cleaning out the stables of King Augeas. Hercules cleaned them out by directing a river through the stable then he just shoveled the cow’s crap in the river. So he got help from the water. Without it he would not have been able to clean it out in time. Heroes get help defeating their monster too.

All heroes have a monster that they defeat. Theseus defeated the Minotaur. Perseus’s monster was the Gorgon Medusa. He killed it my looking into his mirrored shield (so he wouldn’t turn to stone). Then he used his special sword and cut off its head. He put the head in the pouch and flew away with the head. However, when he took out the head to show the king, the king turned to stone along with the people in the room. Jason’s monster was a dragon. Jason didn’t kill the dragon but he used a potion on the dragon to get past the dragon for the Golden Fleece. Jason was helped, by Medea, by a sleeping potion that he used on the dragon. Then he made his get away with the Golden Fleece without Medea. Hercules’s monster was the Hydra. The Hydra had more than eight heads. It was unsure because as soon as one of its head was chopped off two grew in its place. The Hydra also had lethal breath. Even a foot print was bad enough to kill an ordinary mortal. Hercules chopped off its head one by one. While his nephew Iolaus seared the neck of the Hydra with a torch so it would not grow two heads in its place. All heroes had an amazing monster that they defeated.

Hero myths are very similar to the myth of Theseus. Perseus, Jason, and Hercules all have tasks that they completed, Theseus did too. Theseus received help on his task, so did Perseus, Jason, and Hercules. Theseus, Perseus, Jason, and Hercules all somehow defeated their own impossible monster. This is just four of the heroes in mythology, and they are the same in many ways. Hero myths are very similar to other Hero myths.