Theseus ohne Minotauros?

Abstract

The so-called Cretan adventure of Theseus with its basal setting and components is known from written sources since the 6th century BC: killing the Minotaur, getting helped by Ariadne, and her ball of thread. The iconic sources however show from the mid-6th century BC onward a diachronic focus on Theseus killing the Minotaur, without the presence of youths and maiden, or Ariadne and her ball of thread in the same picture. Klitias is the first who changed the iconographic pattern and departed from the convention of the so-called Cretan adventure: He showed not only a non-violent combat, he actually was the first who literally showed Theseus on an Attic wine bowl and introduced the hero to an Athenian society. Bossert demonstrates that Klitias remodeled the mythological meeting of Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur in a multivalent way: First Theseus is the leader of the Athenian youth and therefore representing his Athenian Polis, and second he is confronted with Ariadne in a known iconographic formula for a couple. Taking care of the details precisely, one sees the incorporation of the Minotaur on the fingertips of Ariadne: In her ball of thread as the threat of the Minotaur.