Q 01/05

In the usual telling, what relation was Ariadne to the Minotaur?

A) Cousin

B) Stepsister

C) Half-sister

D) Foster sister

Answer · why

C) Half-sister

Half-sister: both were born to Minos's queen, so when Ariadne helped Theseus through the Labyrinth, she doomed her own half-brother.

Q 02/05

Which English word once meant a ball of thread, like the one Theseus followed out of the Labyrinth?

A) Hint

B) Lead

C) Clue

D) Trace

Answer · why

C) Clue

Clue: it began as clew, a ball of thread, and because Theseus's thread guided him out of the maze, the word came to mean anything that points the way.

Q 03/05

What was the Minotaur's own name in Crete?

A) Asterion

B) Talos

C) Androgeus

D) Catreus

Answer · why

A) Asterion

It means 'star', and he shared it with the king who had raised Minos as a foster-son.

Q 04/05

What does the name 'Minotaur' literally mean?

A) Bull of Minos

B) Beast of the maze

C) Son of the sea

D) Star of Crete

Answer · why

A) Bull of Minos

It compounds the king's name with tauros, the Greek word for bull.

Q 05/05

Who was the Minotaur's mother?

A) Leda

B) Pasiphaë

C) Ariadne

D) Scylla

Answer · why

B) Pasiphaë

Pasiphaë: in one telling she put a charm on her unfaithful husband so that any other woman he took to bed died.