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Long long time ago in Athens was living a great hero,called Thiseus.

His father
was Aegeas, the king of Athens, but his real father was Poseidon (god of the sea).
Thiseus did many great and heroic deeds at this time. He was young but very very
strong and he is the greatest hero of Athens. At that time the Athenias had to pay
a very heavy penalty to the Minoans, because they had killed the son of Minoa,
Androgeos. Every nine years they had to send seven young men and seven young girls
to Crete. They were put in a huge palace, the Labyrinth to be eaten by the
Minotaurus, a monster with human head and body of bull. Now it was the third time
that Athenians had to pay this "tax". They had put black sails to the ship asa sign
of bereavement for the young people that would be sacrificed to the Minotaurus.
This people had to be the best of the city, the most aristocratics and the most
beautiful ones. The whole city of Athens was lamenting so Thiseus decided to go
together with them to Crete to stop this for ever. The only way to achieve this was
to kill the Minotaurus. So, Thesaus would go to kill him or to be killed be him.
His father, Aegeas didn't even want to hear about it, his only son to take this
risk, but he decided to go. He offered respects to Apollo and he started the trip.
When they arrived to Crete, Minoa was very amazed by Thiseus, his daughter Ariadni,
too. Aphrodite, the protector or Thiseus put burning love in her heart for him. She
could not stand the thought that he would die in the Labyrinth by the Minotaurus.
So she decided to help him; she gave him secretly a sharp knife and a ball of
thread. When the people were taken to the Labyrinth, Thiseus tied the edge in the
entrance. The Labyrinth was a place full of confused corridors and since he was in,
nobody could ever find the way out. They were walking long time until they heard
the scaring shout of the Minotaurus. Thiseus fought very hardly with the monster
until he killed it and he saved all the young people. Ariadni met him after, full
of joy. But now they had to escape the anger of king Minos. In a hurry Thiseus
opened a hole with his sword to all the Cretan ships and they embarked to their
own boat to go back to Athens. Ariadni left together with them. Halfway, at the
island of Naxos, they stop to rest. Thiseus fell asleep and he dreamed of Dionysus,
the god of vine who told him to leave Ariadni in this remote seashore because the
gods had another woman for him. When he woke up he left fast, because he knew that
he could never disobey the will of gods. Ariadni get married to Dionysus and became
an immortal goddess. The ship of Thiseus was going fast back to Athens. From far
they could see the seashore of Attica. Thiseus, being very sad for separating from
Ariadni, forgot the promise that he had given to his father Aegeas, that if he had
killed the Minotaurus and was coming back safe to Athens, he would change the black
sail of the boat with a white one. Aegeas was standing high in the edge of the rock
and was waiting for his son with his gaze fixed on the horizon. Suddenly, he saw a
black sign that was becoming bigger as it was approaching the coast. It was the
boat of his son; he looked more carefully to see what was the color of the sail. It
was not white to shine in the sun; the boat was coming with black sail. So, he
thought his son was killed. Full of despair he jumped in the sea; the waves brought
in the seashore his dead body. Since then, the sea that the king of Athens Aegeas
was drowned is called Aegean sea. Thiseus learned the news and offered great honour
to his father and after he became king of Athens.

This is a myth of greek mythology but must have historical roots. The period that
it reffers must be around 700 B.C., the time that Minoan empire was at decline and
Athens start to get stronger and stronger. Thiseus is to be the one who organized
the society of Athens, putting the base for the development that happened the next
centuries.

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