In Greek mythology, Ariadne was a Cretan princess, daughter of King Minos and (usually) Pasiphaë, best known for giving Theseus the thread that let him escape the Labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur. Ancient accounts disagree on what followed: Homer has Artemis kill her on Dia at Dionysus's witness; the dominant later tradition has Theseus abandon her on Naxos (or Dia), where Dionysus finds, marries, and immortalizes her, setting her bridal crown among the stars as Corona Borealis. She is not the same figure as other weaving or hanged-nymph types sometimes compared to her in modern scholarship.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Ariadne" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Ariadne's father was Minos; her mother is most often Pasiphaë, though some authors name Crete, daughter of Asterius. Her siblings include Phaedra, Androgeus, Deucalion, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis, and Xenodice; through Pasiphaë she was half-sister to the Minotaur (Asterion).
As wife of Dionysus she is mother of wine-linked sons such as Oenopion, Staphylus, Thoas, and Peparethus (lists vary widely by source). Romans sometimes identified her with Libera, bride of Liber.
II.Theseus and the Labyrinth
When Athens sent its tribute of youths and maidens to Crete, Theseus volunteered to kill the Minotaur. Ariadne fell in love with him and, advised by Daedalus, gave him a sword and a ball of thread so he could retrace his path through the Labyrinth. After he slew the beast they fled Crete together—an act that betrayed her father and country for her lover.
III.Abandonment and Dionysus
Homer's Odyssey says Theseus had no joy of her: Artemis slew her on seagirt Dia because of Dionysus's witness. Most later accounts say Theseus abandoned the sleeping Ariadne on Naxos (often identified with Dia); vase-painters show Athena or Hermes leading him back to his ship. Dionysus then discovered her, married her, and in many tellings placed her jeweled crown in the sky as Corona Borealis.
Variants abound: Dionysus himself demanded Theseus leave her; she hanged herself after abandonment and was later fetched from Hades; Perseus killed her with Medusa's head during a war with Dionysus; at Amathus on Cyprus a local legend had her die in childbirth after a storm put her ashore, with a cult of Aphrodite-Ariadne at her tomb. Plutarch reports that some Naxians distinguished two Ariadnes—one divine bride of Dionysus, one mortal abandoned by Theseus.
IV.Cult and reception
Festivals called Ariadneia were held on Naxos and Cyprus. Linear B offerings "to the mistress of the labyrinth" have prompted modern theories that Ariadne reflects a Minoan great goddess, though that identification remains speculative. Etruscan mirrors pair Areatha with Fufluns (Dionysus) without Theseus. From Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne to Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, the abandoned princess remains a staple of European art and opera.