Ariadne (poem) on a throne, before a flower-strewn bed, surrounded by the dead; how the priests and guards bound the Athenians with thongs and left. Theseus cut his thongs and freed his companion, Euthycles. The Minotaur, seeing the danger, seized a long sword to hold off the unarmed Greeks while it made to escape. Euthycles sprang at it and was killed, allowing Theseus time to crush the creature with its throne. They discover that the Minotaur was King Minos himself in a bull-mask. Hearing this, the horrified Ariadne thinks of the golden tress she left on her father's pillow, as a loving
Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete dying of natural causes. On her deathbed, she reveals that her daughter, the royal princess Phaedra, was not their only child: A twin sister, Ariadne, lives in secrecy on the Greek mainland in a humble village. She was brought there to avoid being sacrificed to the Minotaur, but now the queen's last wish is to see her daughters united again. While Minos consents to his wife's last request, Phaedra, who is a powerhungry and evil schemer, refuses to share the throne and sends out her loyal retainer, Chirone, to kill Ariadne. Chirone raids the village with a group of hired