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Theseus Comprehension: Why Did King Aegeus of Athens Send 7 Men and 7 Women To Crete Every Year?

King Minos demanded Athens send 7 men and 7 women every year to the Minotaur as punishment for his son's death. Theseus volunteered to kill the Minotaur to end the sacrifices. Princess Ariadne helped Theseus by giving him a thread to follow out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur, which had a bull's head and horns on a human body. Theseus used the thread to escape the labyrinth and kill the monster, breaking the cycle of revenge.

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117 views1 page

Theseus Comprehension: Why Did King Aegeus of Athens Send 7 Men and 7 Women To Crete Every Year?

King Minos demanded Athens send 7 men and 7 women every year to the Minotaur as punishment for his son's death. Theseus volunteered to kill the Minotaur to end the sacrifices. Princess Ariadne helped Theseus by giving him a thread to follow out of the labyrinth after killing the Minotaur, which had a bull's head and horns on a human body. Theseus used the thread to escape the labyrinth and kill the monster, breaking the cycle of revenge.

Uploaded by

Sarah Chouki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Theseus comprehension

1. Why did King Aegeus of Athens send 7 men and 7 women to Crete
every year?
Son of Minos, Androgeus, went to Athens to participate to the Panathenaic Games, but he
was killed during the Marathon by the bull that impregnated his mother Pasiphae. Minos
was infuriated and demanded Aegeus the king of Athens to send seven men and women
every year to the Minotaur to advert the plague caused by the death of Androgeus.
2. What did Theseus decide to do?
The third year, Theseus, son of Aegeus decided to be one of the seven young men that
would go to Crete, in order to kill the Minotaur and end the human sacrifices to the
monster.

3. How did Ariadne help Theseus?


Theseus met Princess Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, who fell madly in love with him
and decided to help Theseus. She gave him a thread and told him to unravel it as he
would penetrate deeper and deeper into the Labyrinth, so that he knows the way out when
he kills the monster.

4. Think about the description of the Minotaur. If you drew a picture of the
beast what features would you include?
If I had to draw Minotaur based on what I read about him, I would draw him with a bull
face and horns and an enormous human body.

5. What did Theseus do in the labyrinth?


Theseus volunteered to take the place of one of the doomed victims with the intent to kill
the Minotaur. He promised his father that upon his successful return he would sail back
under a white sail rather than the traditional black sail of misery.
6. How did he get out of the labyrinth?
He used the red thread Ariadne (Mino’s daughter) gave him. Ariadne gave him a ball of
red thread, and Theseus unrolled it as he penetrated the labyrinth, which allowed him to
find his way back out.
7. Does Theseus deserve to be remembered as a hero? Why? Why not?
I think he deserves to be a hero because he broke the cycle of revenge by killing the
Minotaur.

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