Description

Minoan Minotaur Statue 5,9″ or 15 cm

Height: 5.9 inches (15 cm)
Width: 1.1 inches (2.8 cm)
Depth: 1.2 inches (3 cm)
Weight: 0.58 lbs (265 gr)

This is a wonderful Ancient Minoan Minotaur 100% Bronze statue that is sold from Crete Minoan Museum.
Is Brand New with Tags

This is a handmade Museum Replica Of Minotaur made in Greece(Crete), from 100% bronze using the traditional “lost wax” technique, the same technique used by the ancient Greeks to create bronze sculptures and arsenal.

History Of Minotaur

In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a monster with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. The Minotaur was the offspring of the Cretan Queen Pasiphae and a majestic bull. Due to the Minotaur’s monstrous form, King Minos ordered the craftsman, Daedalus, and his son, Icarus, to build a huge maze known as the Labyrinth to house the beast. The Minotaur remained in the Labyrinth receiving annual offerings of youths and maidens to eat. He was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus.

The word Minotaur is a compound word consisting of the ancient Greek name “Μίνως” or “Minos” and the noun “ταύρος” or “bull.” Thus, the word Minotaur comes to mean “bull of Minos.” While, the Minotaur’s birth name, Asterion, in ancient Greek “ἀστέριον” means “starry one” which suggests an association with the bull constellation: Taurus.

PASIPHAE & THE BIRTH OF THE MINOTAUR
Queen Pasiphae, plagued by her divinely inflicted desires, sought the help of Daedalus and Icarus. For Pasiphae, Daedalus constructed a wooden cow coated with a real cow hide and placed it upon wheels. Daedalus, then, put Queen Pasiphae inside the structure and wheeled her into the meadow that her beloved bull grazed in. It was there that she met and laid with the bull, since the bull thought the wooden cow was real. It is from this union that the Minotaur was born.

The queen named the beast Asterion (after King Minos’ stepfather), which the Cretan people knew to be the Minotaur’s true name. Upon seeing the infant, King Minos discovered his wife’s bestial affair and as punishment, Minos enslaved Daedalus and Icarus for their parts in the affair, but he left Pasiphae untouched. Pasiphae cared for Asterion and was able to nourish Asterion while he was a bull calf. However, as he grew he became ferocious and monstrous, and she was unable to feed or care for him any longer. Asterion was unable to find a suitable source of food, since he was neither man nor beast, and so he started to eat people. In order to hide his wife’s disgraceful affair and on the advice of an Oracle, King Minos commanded Daedalus and Icarus to build a grand Labyrinth to house his wife’s son: Asterion or Mintauros.

THE DEATH OF THE MINOTAUR
Theseus, son of King Aegeus, was said to have volunteered for the third tribute of youths. He boasted to his father and to all of Athens that he would slay the Minotaur. He promised that on the journey home he would raise his white sails if he was victorious or have the crew fly black sails if he failed and were killed. Upon reaching Crete, the daughters of King Minos: Ariadne and Phaedra fell deeply in love with him. Unable to cope with Theseus being eaten by her half-brother the Minotaur, Ariadne went to Daedalus for help. She begged the craftsman to tell her how one could escape from his Labyrinth. Once he had told her, she raced to tell Theseus before he entered the Labyrinth. Following Daedalus’ instructions, she handed Theseus a ball of string to help him find his way out of the Labyrinth. Upon entering the Labyrinth, Theseus tied one end of the string to the door and continued into the maze. He found the Minotaur in the furthest corner of the Labyrinth and killed him with the jabs of his fist (or in other accounts, he sneaks in the sword of Aegeus and slays the Minotaur with it). Unlike the Labyrinth’s previous victims, Theseus is able to find his way out, because of Ariadne’s gift. Theseus simply follows the thread back through the maze to find his way to the doors. He finds and leads the other Athenians out of the maze and quickly sails off to Athens with Ariadne and Phaedra.