Dionysus and Ariadne

Dionysus and Ariadne

According to an Athenian version, Minos attacked Athens after his son was killed there. The Athenians asked for terms and were required to sacrifice 7 young men and 7 maidens to the Minotaur every 7 or 9 years.

One year, the sacrificial party included Theseus, the son of King Aegeus, who volunteered to kill the Minotaur.

Ariadne fell in love with him at first sight and provided him a sword and ball of thread (ο Μίτος της Αριάδνης, “Ariadne’s string”) so that he could retrace his way out of the labyrinth of the Minotaur.

Ariadne betrayed her father and her country for her lover Theseus.

She eloped with Theseus after he killed the Minotaur, yet according to Homer in the Odyssey “he had no joy of her, for ere that, Artemis slew her in seagirt Dia because of the witness of Dionysus”.

Most accounts claim that Theseus abandoned Ariadne, and in some versions Perseus mortally wounds her.

According to some, Dionysus claimed Ariadne as wife, therefore causing Theseus to abandon her.

Homer does not elaborate on the nature of Dionysus’ accusation, yet the Oxford Classical Dictionary speculated that she was already married to him when she eloped with Theseus.

Jean Pierre Granger,

French,

1799-1840