Ariadne, 1898

Private Collection

Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. Her mother had a child with a bull, creating the Minotaur. A labyrinth was made to keep the Minotaur hidden. Every nine years the seven most beautiful girls of Athens would be sent to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur. Theseus, an Athenian, decided to put an end to this horrible tradition, so he gathered a crew and set off for Crete. When Theseus arrived he met Ariadne. They fell in love, and she gave him a magic sword and a ball of string to help him through the labyrinth and conquer the Minotaur. Theseus promised to take Ariadne away if he survived. When he had killed the Minotaur and made his way out of the labyrinth, he took Ariadne away on his ship just as he had promised. However, as they were sailing along, he had a dream telling him that Ariadne was destined to marry a god not a human, so he landed on an island and left while Ariadne was sleeping. When she awoke, she was very distraught. As time went by, she married Bacchus (also known as Dionysus), the god of wine.