In Greek mythology, Ariadne (; ) was a Cretan princess, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. There are variations of Ariadne's myth, but she is known for helping Theseus escape from the Minotaur and being abandoned by him (or herself dying) on the island of Naxos. There, Dionysus saw Ariadne sleeping, fell in love with her, and later married her. Many versions of the myth recount Dionysus throwing Ariadne's jeweled crown into the sky to create a constellation, the Corona Borealis.
Ariadne is associated with mazes and labyrinths because of her involvement in the myths of Theseus and the Minotaur.
There were also festivals held in Cyprus and Naxos in Ariadne's honor.
Etymology
thumb|250px|[[Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian: Dionysus discovers Ariadne on the shore of Naxos. The painting also depicts the constellation named after Ariadne.|left]]Greek lexicographers in the Hellenistic period claimed that Ariadne is derived from the ancient Cretan dialectical elements ari (ἀρι-) "most" (which is an intensive prefix) and adnós (ἀδνός) "holy". Conversely, Stylianos Alexiou has argued that despite the belief being that Ariadne's name is of Indo-European origin, it is actually pre-Greek.
Linguist Robert S. P. Beekes has also supported Ariadne having a pre-Greek origin; specifically being Minoan from Crete because her name includes the sequence dn (δν), rare in Indo-European languages and an indication that it is a Minoan loanword.
Family
Ariadne was the daughter of Minos, the King of Crete and son of Zeus and Europa, and of Pasiphaë, Minos's queen and daughter of Helios and Perse. Others denominated her mother Crete, daughter of Asterius, the king of Crete and husband of Europa.
Ariadne was the sister of Acacallis, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Xenodice, and Catreus. Through her mother, Pasiphaë, she was also the half-sister of the Minotaur (who was known in Crete as Asterion).
Ariadne married Dionysus and became the mother of Oenopion, the personification of wine, Staphylus, who was associated with grapes, as well as Thoas, Peparethus, Eurymedon, Phliasus, Ceramus, Maron, Euanthes, Latramys, and Tauropolis.
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:100%;
|+<big>Ariadne's family</big>
! rowspan="3" |Relation
! rowspan="3" |Names
! colspan="14" |Sources
|-
! colspan="2" |Homer
!Hesiod
! colspan="2" |Apollon.
! rowspan="2" |Diod.
! colspan="2" |Ovid
! rowspan="2" |Apollod.
!Plutarch
!Hyginus
! rowspan="2" |Pausa
! rowspan="2" |Quin.
!Theophilus
|-
|Ody.
|Sch. Ili.
|Ehoiai
|Arg.
|Sch.
|Her.
|Met.
|Theseus
|Fabulae
|Autolycus
|-
| rowspan="2" |Parentage
|Minos
|✓
|
|✓
|
|
|✓
|
|✓
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|-
|Minos & Pasiphae
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Consort
|Dionysus
|
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|✓
|
|
|✓
|✓ or
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|Theseus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="14" |Children
|Enyeus
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Thoas
|
|
|✓
|✓
|✓
|
|✓
|
|✓
|
|
|
|✓
|✓
|-
|Oenopion
|
|
|
|
|✓
|✓
|
|
|✓
|✓
|
|
|
|
|-
|Staphylus
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|✓
|✓
|
|
|
|✓
|-
|Latromis
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Euanthes
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Tauropolis
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Peparethus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|Phliasus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|Eurymedon
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|
|-
|Ceramus
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|
|
|-
|Maron
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|-
|Eunous
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|✓
|}
Mythology
thumb|Bacchus and Ariadne, [[Guido Reni, |282x282px]]
Minos put Ariadne in charge of the labyrinth where sacrifices were made as part of reparations either to Poseidon or Athena, depending on the version of the myth; later, she helped Theseus conquer the Minotaur and save the children from sacrifice. In other narrations she was the bride of Dionysus, her status as mortal or divine varying in those accounts.
Minos and Theseus
Because ancient Greek myths were orally transmitted, like other myths, that of Ariadne has many variations. According to an Athenian version, Minos attacked Athens after his son, Androgeus, was killed there. The Athenians asked for terms and were required to sacrifice 7 young men and 7 maidens to the Minotaur every 1, 7 or 9 years (depending on the source). One year, the sacrificial party included Theseus, the son of King Aegeus, who volunteered in order to kill the Minotaur. At first sight, Ariadne fell in love with him and provided him a sword and ball of thread (ο Μίτος της Αριάδνης, "Ariadne's string") so that he could retrace his way out of the labyrinth of the Minotaur. Homer does not elaborate on the nature of Dionysus's accusation, yet the Oxford Classical Dictionary speculated that she was already married to him when she eloped with Theseus. According to Plutarch, Paion the Amathusian recounted Theseus accidentally abandoned Ariadne only to come back when it was too late. Dionysus appeared to Theseus as they sailed from Crete, saying that he had chosen Ariadne as his wife and demanding that Theseus leave her on Naxos for him. The Odyssey relates that Theseus took Ariadne away from Crete only for Artemis to kill her in Dia (usually identified with Naxos) on Dionysus's witness. An ancient scholiast wrote that Ariadne and Theseus had sex on a sacred grove, and an angry Dionysus revealed that to Artemis, who proceeded to punish Ariadne with death.
According to Plutarch, one version of the myth tells that Ariadne hanged herself after being abandoned by Theseus. Dionysus then went to Hades, and brought her and his mother Semele to Mount Olympus, where they were deified.
Some scholars have posited, because of Ariadne's associations with thread-spinning and winding, that she was a weaving goddess,
like Arachne, and support this theory with the mytheme of the Hanged Nymph
(see weaving in mythology).
As a goddess
thumb|left|Ariadne of [[Las Incantadas from the agora of Thessalonica, 2nd century, Louvre.]]
Karl Kerenyi theorized that Ariadne, whose name they thought derived from Hesychius's enumeration of "Άδνον", a Cretan-Greek form of "arihagne" ("utterly pure"), was a Great Goddess of Crete, "the first divine personage of Greek mythology to be immediately recognized in Crete", once archaeological investigation began. Kerenyi observed that her name was merely an epithet and claimed that she was originally the "Mistress of the Labyrinth", both a winding dancing ground and, in the Greek opinion, a prison with the dreaded Minotaur in its centre. Kerenyi explained that a Linear B inscription from Knossos "to all the gods, honey… [,] to the mistress of the labyrinth honey" in equal amounts, implied to him that the Mistress of the Labyrinth was a Great Goddess in her own right. Professor Barry Powell suggested that she was the Snake Goddess of Minoan Crete.
thumb|Ariadne as the [[Spouse|consort of Dionysus: bronze appliqué from Chalki, Rhodes, late fourth century BCE, in the British Museum.]]
Plutarch, in his Life of Theseus, which treats him as a historical person, reported that in contemporary Naxos was an earthly Ariadne, who was distinct from a divine one:
In a kylix by the painter Aison (), Theseus drags the Minotaur from a temple-like labyrinth, yet the goddess who attends him in this Attic representation is Athena.
thumb|right|The [[Vatican Museums|Vatican Sleeping Ariadne, long erroneously identified as Cleopatra, a Roman marble in late Hellenistic style]]
An ancient cult of Aphrodite-Ariadne was observed at Amathus, Cyprus, according to the obscure Hellenistic mythographer Paeon of Amathus; his works are lost, but his narrative is among the sources that Plutarch cited in his vita of Theseus (20.3–5). According to the myth that was current at Amathus, the second most important Cypriot cult centre of Aphrodite, Theseus's ship was swept off course and the pregnant and suffering Ariadne put ashore in the storm. Theseus, attempting to secure the ship, was inadvertently swept out to sea, thus being absolved of abandoning Ariadne. The Cypriot women cared for Ariadne, who died in childbirth and was memorialized in a shrine. Theseus, overcome with grief upon his return, left money for sacrifices to Ariadne and ordered two cult images, one of silver and one of bronze, erected.
At the observation in her honour on the second day of the month Gorpiaeus, a young man lay on the ground and vicariously experienced the throes of labour. The sacred grove in which the shrine was located was denominated the "Grove of Aphrodite-Ariadne". According to Cypriot legend, Ariadne's tomb was located within the temenos of the sanctuary of Aphrodite-Ariadne. The primitive nature of the cult at Amathus in this narrative appears to be much older than the Athenian sanctioned shrine of Aphrodite, who at Amathus received "Ariadne" (derived from "hagne", "sacred") as an epithet.
Libera
The Roman author Hyginus identified Ariadne as the Roman Libera, bride to Liber.
Festivals
thumb|Ariadne on the [[Derveni krater.]]
Ariadneia (ἀριάδνεια) festivals honored Ariadne and were held in Naxos and Cyprus. According to Plutarch, some Naxians believed there were two Ariadnes, one of which died on the island of Naxos after being abandoned by Theseus. The Ariadneia festival honors Naxos as the place of her death with sacrifices and mourning. Paeon, as stated by Plutarch, attributes the Ariadneia festival in Cyprus to Theseus, who left money to the island so sacrifices could be made to commemorate Ariadne. Sacrifices were held in the grove of Ariadne Aphrodite, where Ariadne's tomb resided. During these sacrifices, a young man shall lie down and mimic a woman in labour by crying out and gesturing on the second day of the month, Gorpiaeus. One silver and one bronze statuette were also constructed in her honor.
==In Etruscan culture==<!--Areatha redirects here-->
Ariadne, in Etruscan Areatha, is paired with Dionysus, in Etruscan "Fufluns", on Etruscan engraved bronze mirror backs, where the Athenian cultural hero Theseus is absent, and Semele, in Etruscan "Semla", as mother of Dionysus, may accompany the pair, lending an especially Etruscan air of familial authority.
Cultural depictions
Some examples of works inspired by the myth of Ariadne are:
- Ariadne Auf Naxos (1912 Opera)
- Bacchus and Ariadne (1820 oil painting)
- Bacchus and Ariadne (1819 poem)
- Ariadne abandoned by Theseus (1774 oil painting)
- Ariadne (1804 oil painting)
- Ariadne (1932 short epic poem)
- Ariadne (1912 Oil and graphite painting)
- Ariadne auf Naxos (1775 one act)
- Ariane et Barbe-bleue (1907 opera)
- Bacchus and Ariadne (1933 ballet)
- Bacchus, Venus, and Ariadne (1576-77 oil painting)
- Ariadne musica (1702 collection of organ music)
- Ariane et Bacchus (1696 opera)
Art Depicting Ariadne
<gallery>
File:Ariadne abandoned on Naxos House of the Greek Epigrams Pompeii Plate IX by Geremia Discanno 02.jpg|Ariadne abandoned on Naxos House of the Greek Epigrams Pompeii Plate IX by Geremia Discanno 02.jpg
File:Titian Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg|Titian Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg
File:Schadow.Bacchus.troestet.Ariadne.1793.P1162206.jpg|Schadow.Bacchus.troestet.Ariadne
File:Reni, Guido - Bacchus and Ariadne (ca. 1619-1620).jpg|Reni, Guido - Bacchus and Ariadne
File:François Marot - Bacchus and Ariadne.jpg|François Marot - Bacchus and Ariadne
File:Bacchus and Ariadne by Francesco Solimena.jpg|Bacchus and Ariadne by Francesco Solimena
File:Ariadne MET DP169627.jpg
File:Ariadne. Angelica Kauffmann.jpg|Ariadne. Angelica Kauffmann
File:Bacchus and Ariadne by Jacopo Amigoni.jpg|Bacchus and Ariadne by Jacopo Amigoni
</gallery>
Notes
References
Bibliography
- Kerenyi, Karl. Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life, part I.iii "The Cretan core of the Dionysos myth" Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.
- Peck, Harry Thurston. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898).
- Ruck, Carl A. P. and Danny Staples. The World of Classical Myth. Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 1994.
- Barthes, Roland, "Camera Lucida". Barthes quotes Nietzsche, "A labyrinthine man never seeks the truth, but only his Ariadne," using Ariadne in reference to his mother, who had recently died.
External links
- Theoi Project – Ariadne Assembles Greek and Latin quotations concerning Ariadne, in translation.
- The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Ariadne)