WILD OX AND ITS EXTERMINATION 59 
white. In these respects the painting of the Cretan 
artist accords closely with the description of the 
aurochs given by Herberstein. Dr. Keller also records 
numerous other representations of the ancient wild 
bull of Crete, to which fuller reference is here un- 
necessary. Archaeologists have already explained 
the legend of the Argonauts and the golden fleece by 
the discovery that in ancient times the sheep of 
Colchis were famed for their long and fine wool, and 
were accordingly imported into Greece to improve 
the native breed, and Dr. Keller claims that his dis- 
coveries in Crete serve to throw light on the myth 
of Theseus and the minotaur, that is to say, the bull 
of King Minos {J^Iinos taurus). He has proved that 
about the year 2000 B.C., or somewhat later, wild 
bulls inhabited the forests of Crete, and that some of 
these were brought into the palace of King Minos at 
Knossus. That palace was destroyed by fire, so that 
the burnt condition of the aurochs' skull above 
referred to may have been caused by that conflagra- 
tion. Apart from this, archaeological evidence has 
demonstrated that the so-called labyrinth in which 
the minotaur dwelt was the palace of King Minos ; 
and Dr. Keller suggests that young wild bulls were 
caught and brought here to be partially tamed and 
then used in the arena. The annual tribute of youths 
and maidens demanded from Athens for the minotaur 
he explains by suggesting that these were given as 
slaves to the best bull-fighters. Now and then a 
bull may have become unmanageable, and hence the 
need for a hero like Theseus, with Ariadne as his 
guide, to penetrate the recesses of the labyrinth and 
slay the monster. That such a monster should 
combine the head of a bull with the body of a 
