Cretan tribute
event · 2 works · 2 mentions · 4 anchored passages
the Cretan tribute · the tribute · tribute of seven youths and as many maidens
in the texts
Comparison of Theseus and Romulus
The perilous obligation Theseus faced in Crete, variously described as food for a monster, a sacrifice on Androgeos's tomb, or servitude among cruel men, from which his courage and Ariadne's love saved him.
but as for the daring which he showed about the Cretan tribute, whether that was food for some monster, or a sacrifice on the tomb of Androgeos, or whether—and this is the mildest form of the story— he offered himself for inglorious and dishonourable servitude among insolent and cruel men when he volunteered to sail away with maidens and young boys, words cannot depict such courage, magnanimity, r …
For Ariadne’s love seems to have been, more than anything else, a god’s work, and a device whereby Theseus should be saved.
Theseus
Recurring nine-year tribute of Athenian youths sent to Crete after Androgeos's death, ended by Theseus's slaying of the Minotaur.
also that when their god assured them in his commands that if they appeased Minos and became reconciled to him, the wrath of Heaven would abate and there would be an end of their miseries, they sent heralds and made their supplication and entered into an agreement to send him every nine years a tribute of seven youths and as many maidens.
Accordingly, when the time came for the third tribute, and it was necessary for the fathers who had youthful sons to present them for the lot, fresh accusations against Aegeus arose among the people, who were full of sorrow and vexation that he who was the cause of all their trouble alone had no share in the punishment, but devolved the kingdom upon a bastard and foreign son, and suffered them to …
These things troubled Theseus, who, thinking it right not to disregard but to share in the fortune of his fellow-citizens, came forward and offered himself independently of the lot.