Greek ceramic plate depicting Theseus and Minotaur (24cm)
Handmade greek ceramic plate depicting Theseus and Minotaur
Hand-painted greek ceramic plate depicting the battle between Theseus, the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens, and Minotaur. A lovely and unique souvenir from Greece!
Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos of Crete, had several children. Androgeus, the eldest of these, set sail for Athens to take part in the Panathenaic Games, which were held there every four years. Being strong and skillful, he did very well and he soon became a crowd favorite, much to the resentment of the Pallantides who assassinated him, incurring the wrath of Minos.
When King Minos heard that his beloved son had been assassinated, he ordered the Cretan fleet to set sail for Athens. Minos asked Aegeus for his son's assassins, and if they were to be handed to him, the town would be spared.
However, King Aegeus surrendered the whole town to Minos' mercy because he didn’t kwon who the assassins were. His retribution was that, at the end of every Great Year, which occurred after every seven cycles on the solar calendar, the seven most courageous youths and the seven most beautiful maidens were to board a boat and be sent as tribute to Crete, never to be seen again.
Theseus volunteered to talk to the monster to stop this horror. Theseus was stripped of his weapons when they sailed. On his arrival in Crete, Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus and, on the advice of Daedalus, gave him a ball of thread, so he could find his way out of the Labyrinth. That night Theseus was escorted by Ariadne to the Labyrinth, promising that if he returned from the Labyrinth, he would take her with him.
As soon as Theseus entered the Labyrinth, he tied one end of the ball of string to the doorpost and brandished his sword which he had kept hidden from the guards inside his tunic. Theseus came to the heart of the Labyrinth where Minotaur was sleeping. The beast awoke and a tremendous fight then occurred. Theseus overpowered the Minotaur with his strength and stabbed the beast in the throat with his sword. After decapitating the beast, Theseus used the string to escape the Labyrinth and managed to escape with all of the young Athenians and Ariadne as well as her younger sister Phaedra.
Dimensions
24 x 24 x 2 centimeters
9.45 x 9.45 x 0.79 inches
Material
Ceramic
Color
€29.00
Other dimensions
28 x 28 x 2 cm (11.02 x 11.02 x 0.79 inches) €55.00 Add to cart View Product