It had to happen eventually - I've finally got around to posting up a myth about an age-old tale that everyone knows about... and if you don't, get reading! This (and Daedelus and Icarus) is in tribute to my move into 'Labyrinth'. Enjoy!
King Minos of Crete was given a snow-white bull by Poseidon but the sea-god became angry when Minos refused to sacrifice the animal. He therefore made Minos' wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the bull and she soon afterwards gave birth to a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Minos was ashamed of the creature and so locked it up in a giant labyrinth built by the architect and inventor Daedalus. This labyrinth was so intricate that escape was impossible. Minos fed the creature called the Minotaur with seven men and women every nine years which he forced Athens to send him as tribute for them wrongfully killing one of his sons.
Theseus, a Greek hero and son of King Aegeus of Athens, was determined to end this useless sacrifice of Athenian youths and offered himself as one of the human victims when the time came round again. Aegeus was upset at this but Theseus reassured his father that he would be successful and that if he was victorious, he would change the ship's black sails into white ones on his way back.
So Theseus went to Crete and immediately fell in love with Ariadne, the daughter of Minos. Ariadne wanted to help Theseus escape and so gave him a ball of thread, telling him to tie the thread to the door of the labyrinth so that when he killed the Minotaur, he would be able to find his way out of the labyrinth again. Theseus took her advice and successfully killed the Minotaur that night while the beast slept. He then took the young Athenian victims and Ariadne back onto his ship and set sail for Athens.
On their way back, they stopped to sleep on an abandoned island. Theseus was warned in his dream to leave immediately and sail to Athens without Ariadne. Theseus immediately woke and gathered everyone except for Ariadne back on to his ship. When Ariadne awoke alone on the island, Dionysus took pity on her and took her crown from her forehead and made it into a constellation before turning her into a spider.
Theseus meanwhile was sailing back to Athens but in his excitement of reaching home and his sorrow of leaving Ariadne behind, he forgot to change the black sails on his ship to ones of white. Aegeus, standing on a cliff and looking out for the ship, saw the black sails and assuming Theseus' death, threw himself into the sea which now bears the name 'Aegean'.