Ariadne Ariadne Ariadne (; ; ), in Greek mythology, was a Cretan princess. She is mostly associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of the Minotaur and Theseus. Ariadne was the daughter of Minos—the King of Crete and a son of Zeus—and Pasiphaë—Minos' queen and a daughter of Helios. Others called her mother Crete, daughter of Asterius, husband-king of Europa. Ariadne was the sister of Acacallis, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Xenodice and Catreus. Through her mother, Pasiphaë, she was also the half-sister of the Minotaur. Minos put Ariadne in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were
Greek hero cult Greek hero cult Hero cults were one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. In Homeric Greek, "hero" (, ) refers to a man who fought (on either side) during the Trojan War. By the historical period, however, the word came to mean specifically a "dead" man, venerated and propitiated at his tomb or at a designated shrine, because his fame during life or his unusual manner of death gave him power to support and protect the living. A hero was more than human but less than a god, and various kinds of supernatural figures came to be