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
Minotaur by a semicircle of small balls, probably intended for stars; one of the monster's names was Asterion ("star"). While the ruins of Minos' palace at Knossos were discovered, the labyrinth never was. The enormous number of rooms, staircases and corridors in the palace has led some archaeologists to suggest that the palace itself was the source of the labyrinth myth, an idea generally discredited today. Homer, describing the shield of Achilles, remarked that Daedalus had constructed a ceremonial dancing ground for Ariadne, but does not associate this with the term "labyrinth". Some modern mythologists regard the Minotaur as a solar