In Greek mythology, the daughter of Pasiphaë and King Minos of Crete. She fell in love with Theseus, who had promised to slay the Minotaur confined in Minos's Labyrinth. She gave Theseus a ball of thread or glittering jewels that enabled him to mark his path and thus to escape the Labyrinth after killing the monster. Endings to the legend vary. In one, Theseus abandons Ariadne and she hangs herself; in others, he carries her to Naxos, where she either dies or marries the god Dionysus. See also Phaedra
beautiful daughter of Minos and Pasiphae; she fell in love with Theseus and gave him the thread with which he found his way out of the Minotaur's labyrinth