1000 Classical Characters Briefly Described

Who was Iphigenia? What did Cincinnatus do? A thousand gods, heroes and tyrants of the classical world, each explained in the time it takes to read a text message.

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Ariadne

Daughter of Minos, second king of Crete, and Pasiphae, fell in love with Theseus, who was shut up in the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur. She gave Theseus a clew of thread by which he extricated himself from the windings of the labyrinth. After he had conquered the Minotaur he married her, but after a time he forsook her.

On this, according to some authorities, she hanged herself. According to other writers, after being abandoned by Theseus, Bacchus loved her, and gave her a crown of seven stars, which were made a constellation.

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