Ariadne/Definition

A character from Greek mythology who was the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae of Crete; therefore, she was the half-sister of the Minotaur. She helps Theseus kill the Minotaur by giving him a ball of thread to guide him out of the Labyrinth. Theseus takes her with him when he leaves Crete but he abandons her on the island of Naxos. Source: Elizabeth Vandiver, Classics scholar, authority on Greek mythology and Greek tragedy, including the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Homer, and Virgil. This definition is based on her course Classical Mythology for The Teaching Company.