In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a monstrous creature with the head of a bull on a man's body. Like many other mythological monsters, the Minotaur had a ravenous appetite for human flesh. He was eventually slain by a worthy hero with the help of a resourceful heroine.

The Minotaur—which means "Minos's bull"—was born in the palace of King Minos of Crete, a large island south of Greece. Some time earlier, the sea god Poseidon had sent Minos a pure-white bull to be sacrificed in his honor. When the king saw the magnificent creature, however, he refused to kill it. This angered Poseidon, who arranged for Minos's wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull. The offspring of their unnatural mating was the Minotaur. The king imprisoned the Minotaur in the Labyrinth, a maze built by a craftsman at his court named Daedalus.

In later years, after the people of the Greek city of Athens killed one of Minos's sons, the Cretan...