The Minotaur

The Minotaur was part man and part bull. According to a Greek myth, before Minos became king, he asked the god Poseidon for a sign, to assure him that he, and not his brother, was to receive the throne. Poseidon agreed to send a white bull on condition Minos would sacrifice the bull to him in return. Indeed, a bull of unsurpassed beauty came out of the sea. King Minos, decided to keep the bull for himself and instead he sacrificed another bull. Poseidon was very angry for this act, so he caused Minos's wife, Pasiphae, to fell in love with the bull. Pasiphae went to Daedalus for assistance, and he constructed a hollow wooden cow covered with cowhide for Pasiphae to hide in and allow the bull to unite sexually with her. The result of this union was the Minotaur (the Bull of Minos). 

The Minotaur had the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. Pasiphae nursed him in his infancy but when he grew he became ferocious. Minos, after getting advice from the Oracle at Delphi, asked Daedalus to construct the labyrinth under his palace in Knossos, to hold the Minotaur. Minos then forced the Athenians to send as tribute, seven young men and seven young women for the Minotaur to eat. To save the young Athenians, the hero Theseus enter the Labyrinth and killed the Minotaur. On the instructions of the king's daughter Ariadne, Theseus used a ball of thread, which he unwound as he went through and then used the thread to find his way out of the Labyrinth.