Minotaur 
 
The Minotaur was a monster with a head of bull and a body of man. The Minotaur or Asterius (its name at birth) was the son of the Cretan Bull and Pasiphaë (Pasiphae), the wife of King Minos of Crete.

Minos confined the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. To punish Aegeus, for the death of his son, Minos required seven Athenian youth and seven maidens as tribute and sacrifice to the monster, every seven years.

Theseus aided by Ariadne, daughter of Minos, the Athenian hero was able to leave the Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. See Theseus.

The geographer, Pausanias, reported one of the many scenes of Bathycles' carving on the Spartan throne, where he mentioned that Theseus had captured alive and bound the Minotaur in fetter. Apart from this one reference, all other literal sources say that Theseus killed the Minotaur, not captured the creature