The Minotaur (opera) labyrinth and they engage in brutal fighting, cheered on by the chorus. Theseus hesitates momentarily when the Minotaur acquires the power of human speech, but then delivers the fatal blow. Theseus begins his journey out of the labyrinth. Once he has escaped, he intends to set sail for Athens with Ariadne. "Scene 13: Death of the Minotaur" As the Minotaur lies dying, he laments his empty existence, neither fully man or fully beast. He pulls out the bloodied sword from his side and declares that he is the son of Poseidon. The chorus leave the labyrinth as the Minotaur dies.
Minotaur the main political and cultural potency in the Aegean Sea. As the fledgling Athens (and probably other continental Greek cities) was under tribute to Crete, it can be assumed that such tribute included young men and women for sacrifice. This ceremony was performed by a priest disguised with a bull head or mask, thus explaining the imagery of the Minotaur. Once continental Greece was free from Crete's dominance, the myth of the Minotaur worked to distance the forming religious consciousness of the Hellene "poleis" from Minoan beliefs. The Minotaur ("infamia di Creti", Italian for "infamy of Crete"), appears briefly in