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Description
After a brutal war between Crete and Athens, Athenian king Aegeus negotiated peace terms with Cretan king Minos: every nine years fourteen youths (seven males and seven females) had to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, a terrible monster with the head of a bull that lived in a labyrinth underneath the city of Knossos in Crete. The Minotaur was the abominable offspring of queen Pasiphae and the Cretan bull and safely kept locked away.
[Pasiphae had fallen for this beautiful bull and convinced the inventor Daedalus to make her a cow disguise to mate with it; all the while, the bull was also terrorizing the island, so Minos let Heracles capture it in accord to his seventh labour. Heracles brought it to the mainland to king Eurystheus; after its escape,the bull started wrecking havoc in Marathon, thus getting the nickname of Maratonian bull; king Aegeus called a party of heroes to kill it. But even Minos's son Androgeus was killed by it; this was the main reason for the war between Crete and Athens; in the end the bull was killed by Theseus.]
Those who entered the labirynth never came out alive, either because they got lost or because they were eaten by the Minotaur. Theseus offered himself to be a part of the youths to be sacrificed since he was eager to face the monster and save his city. When they arrived in Knossos, Theseus befriended Minos's daughter Ariadne. She was young and beautiful and instantly fell in love with the hero. She offered her help: she gave Theseus a ball of string and told him to tie one end at the entrance of the maze and unfold it while walking so that he could easily trace back his steps to the exit. In exchange, she wanted to flee with him. That night Theseus entered the labirynth, faced the monster and killed it barehanded. Thanks to Aradne's yarn he easily found the exit to the maze. They all fled during the night in order to avoid the guards. The ship stopped at Nasso for some time and there Theseus abandoned Ariadne. The reason is not known, some say he was in love with someone else, others that the Attic people would have disliked a Cretan queen, others that Dionysus whispered him to leave her. Anyway, Theseus left her on the island (where she will be found by Dionysus and will marry the god) and set sail for Athens. Meanwhile, king Aegeus, was constantly on watch to see the return of his newlyfound son. Before the party had left they had agreed that in case of victory Theseus would change the ship's sails from black to white, so that Aegeus would know the outcome of the expedition. But while coming back Theseus forgot to change the sails, so that Aegeus, believing his son was dead threw himself into the sea, thus it's name Aegeus Sea. Theseus was now king of Athens.

I'm sorry if it's not always that clear, but there are a lot of names and facts all quite complex to tell, I hope you understand and that you're interested in the stories.

Description
After a brutal war between Crete and Athens, Athenian king Aegeus negotiated peace terms with Cretan king Minos: every nine years fourteen youths (seven males and seven females) had to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, a terrible monster with the head of a bull that lived in a labyrinth underneath the city of Knossos in Crete. The Minotaur was the abominable offspring of queen Pasiphae and the Cretan bull and safely kept locked away.
[Pasiphae had fallen for this beautiful bull and convinced the inventor Daedalus to make her a cow disguise to mate with it; all the while, the bull was also terrorizing the island, so Minos let Heracles capture it in accord to his seventh labour. Heracles brought it to the mainland to king Eurystheus; after its escape,the bull started wrecking havoc in Marathon, thus getting the nickname of Maratonian bull; king Aegeus called a party of heroes to kill it. But even Minos's son Androgeus was killed by it; this was the main reason for the war between Crete and Athens; in the end the bull was killed by Theseus.]
Those who entered the labirynth never came out alive, either because they got lost or because they were eaten by the Minotaur. Theseus offered himself to be a part of the youths to be sacrificed since he was eager to face the monster and save his city. When they arrived in Knossos, Theseus befriended Minos's daughter Ariadne. She was young and beautiful and instantly fell in love with the hero. She offered her help: she gave Theseus a ball of string and told him to tie one end at the entrance of the maze and unfold it while walking so that he could easily trace back his steps to the exit. In exchange, she wanted to flee with him. That night Theseus entered the labirynth, faced the monster and killed it barehanded. Thanks to Aradne's yarn he easily found the exit to the maze. They all fled during the night in order to avoid the guards. The ship stopped at Nasso for some time and there Theseus abandoned Ariadne. The reason is not known, some say he was in love with someone else, others that the Attic people would have disliked a Cretan queen, others that Dionysus whispered him to leave her. Anyway, Theseus left her on the island (where she will be found by Dionysus and will marry the god) and set sail for Athens. Meanwhile, king Aegeus, was constantly on watch to see the return of his newlyfound son. Before the party had left they had agreed that in case of victory Theseus would change the ship's sails from black to white, so that Aegeus would know the outcome of the expedition. But while coming back Theseus forgot to change the sails, so that Aegeus, believing his son was dead threw himself into the sea, thus it's name Aegeus Sea. Theseus was now king of Athens.

I'm sorry if it's not always that clear, but there are a lot of names and facts all quite complex to tell, I hope you understand and that you're interested in the stories.