|According to Greek Mythology, the Aegean Sea owes
its name to the King of Athens, Aigeas (Aegeas).
King Minos 'Minoas' of Crete in order to punish the Athenians
who had killed his son Androgeo, declared war on Athens and
won. The Athenians subsequently became subjects of the Minoan
Empire. King Minos then demanded that a tribute of honour
be paid. At nine year intervals, seven Athenian boys and seven
Athenian girls were to be sacrificed. They were to be sent
to Crete and devoured by the mythical Minotaur, a monster
with the body of a man and the head of a bull, who lived in
Thiseas, the son of Aigeas and Aithra, decided that he would
slaughter the Minotaur and end the shameful bloody sacrifices.
He took the place of one of the seven young men and set sail
for Crete. Before he left, it was agreed with his father Aigeas
that they would hoist black sails as a 'show' of mourning,
but that if they were successful and slayed the monster, they
would hoist white sails on the journey home.
On his journey he met and fell in love with Ariadne, daughter
of King Minoas. She gave him a ball of string, 'Ariadne's
Clue'. The idea was to unravel the string in the Labyrinth,
so that after Thiseas slayed the Minotaur, he would find his
way back to the entrance. The mission was successful and the
Minotaur was killed.
Under the cloak of night, Thiseas, Ariadne and the others
escaped to the port and embarked on the ship for the return
journey. On the way they stopped at the island of Naxos. Story
tells us that Thiseas abandoned Ariadne while she was sleeping
and continued on his journey home, but forgot to raise the
white sails as he had promised to Aigeas (some say that Ariadne
laid a curse on Thiseas).
Aigias waited for his son to return. As he stood on the Akrotiri
of Sounio, he spied the ship as it rounded the cape - it had
black sails. Believing that his son was dead, the king despaired.
He jumped off the cliffs into the sea from the temple of Poseidon
and killed himself.