The Minotaur (opera) Theseus tells Ariadne about his departure from Athens with the Innocents. Ariadne believes that Theseus offers her a means of escape from Crete. She plays a game of chance with him using a stone: if he chooses the hand in which she holds the stone he will enter the labyrinth to confront the Minotaur, but if he chooses her empty hand he must remain a bystander to the bloodshed. Ariadne cheats so that Theseus chooses the empty hand. "Scene 3: The Labyrinth" The Innocents enter the labyrinth, praying to the gods to bring them out safely. "Scene 4: Ariadne" Ariadne
HMS Minotaur (1793) M. W. Turner depicted the sinking, though the subject was not originally the "Minotaur", but a generic merchant ship. Turner had been producing sketches in preparation for the painting as early as 1805, but by the time he had completed the painting in 1810, the recent wreck of "Minotaur" was a subject of much discussion. He named the painting to capitalise on this public interest. The shipwreck of "Minotaur" remains the largest ever, in terms of loss of life, on the Dutch coast, with the possible exception of the loss of "HMS Hero" on 24/25 December 1811, on the same