ARIADNE, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphae, the daughter of Helios the Sun-god. When Theseus landed on the island to slay the Minotaur (q.v.), Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a clue of thread to guide him through the mazes of the Labyrinth. After he had slain the monster Theseus carried her off, but, according to Homer (Odyssey, xi. 322), she was slain by Artemis at the re quest of Dionysus in the island of Dia, near Knossos, before she could reach Athens with Theseus. In the later legend, while asleep on the island of Naxos, she was abandoned by Theseus. She was discovered by Dionysus on his return from India, who, enchanted with her beauty, married her when she awoke. She received a crown as a bridal gift, which was placed amongst the stars, while she herself was honoured as a goddess. (Ovid, Metam. viii. 152, Fasti, iii. 459) . The name probably means "very holy" (apt, ay1/? ).
Ariadne, originally a goddess of vegetation, is the personifica tion of spring. Hence her festivals at Naxos present a double character; the one, full of mourning and sadness, represents her death or abandonment by Theseus, the other full of joy and revelry, celebrates her awakening from sleep and marriage with Dionysus. Thus nature sleeps and dies during winter, to awake in spring time to a life of renewed luxuriance. With this may be compared the festivals of Adonis and Osiris and the myth of Persephone.
The story of Dionysus and Ariadne was a favourite subject for reliefs and wall-paintings. Most commonly Ariadne is repre sented asleep on the shore of Naxos, while Dionysus, attended by satyrs and bacchanals, gazes admiringly upon her ; sometimes they are seated side by side under a spreading vine. The scene where she is holding the clue to Theseus occurs on a very early vase in the British Museum.