Theseus uberwindt Minotaurum · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Theseus uberwindt Minotaurum
Period: 1550-1600;
Geographic: Crete; Ancient Greece
Description: King Minos of Crete had Daedalus design and create an elaborate labyrinth to contain a minotaur that was born from his unfaithful wife. The minotaur is illustrated in the center of the Labyrinth. Every nine years, King Minos demands that people be sent to him from Athens in order to feed the minotaur. Theseus is one of the youths on the third occasion that Athens sends people to feed the minotaur. Theseus is illustrated at the forefront of the engraving, speaking to a woman. This woman is Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos. She gives Theseus a thread for him to unwind while he goes through the Labyrinth in order to find his way back once he has defeated the minotaur. Theseus successfully destroys the minotaur, and leaves with Ariadne.
Image Creator: Virgil Solis (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:22833
Language: ger
Source Name: P. Ouidij Nasonis, deß Sinnreichen und hochverstendigen Poeten, Metamorphoses oder Verwandlung, mit schönen figuren gezieret, auch kurzen Argumenten und außlegungen erkläret, und in Teutsche Reymen gebracht, durch Johann Spreng von Augspurg [Publius Ovidius Naso, the Ingenious and Highly Understandable Poet, Metamorphoses or Transformations, Adorned with Beautiful Images, and also descriptions of Short Arguments and Explanations, Brought into German Rhymes by Johann Spreng of Augsburg]
Parent Collection: 1564 Frankfurt Spreng
Image: mta_22833_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Ovid's Metamorphoses
Subject: Minotaur; Ariadne; Theseus; King Minos; Daedalus; Roman Mythology; Greek Mythology; Labyrinth

Media: mta_22833_OBJ.jpg