The knowledge behind the rescue
In the Library’s epitome, Ariadne is Minos’s daughter and falls in love with Theseus when he reaches Crete. She offers assistance in exchange for his promise to marry her and take her away. Consulting Daedalus, she learns how a thread can preserve the route through the labyrinth. Theseus performs the killing, but Ariadne arranges the means by which victory can become escape. Her help is also a departure from her father’s interests. The narrative makes rescue possible through an alliance inside the household that administers the tribute.
Source: Library and Epitome · Epitome 1.8–9
A death in the Odyssey
Among the women encountered in the underworld, Odysseus names Ariadne. He says Theseus brought her from Crete toward Athens, but Artemis killed her on Dia through the involvement or testimony of Dionysus. The precise implication of that compressed wording is debated, and the passage does not supply a full motive. It should not be expanded into a confident account of jealousy or a broken ritual obligation without further evidence. What is clear is the outcome: this Ariadne belongs among the dead, and the journey with Theseus does not end in the life that later marriage narratives describe.
Source: Odyssey · Odyssey 11.321–325
An immortal marriage in Hesiod
The Theogony instead says Dionysus makes Ariadne his wife and Zeus renders her immortal and ageless. This is a genuine difference in the relationships and destination the text supplies. The late epitome gives another compact sequence, in which Dionysus takes her on Naxos after she leaves Crete with Theseus. Neither brief notice fills every gap between the labyrinth and the divine union. The source switch therefore compares selected claims rather than pretending to recover a single missing chronology. Ariadne’s changing place between mortal loss and immortal marriage is itself part of what the surviving tradition preserves.
Sources: Theogony, in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica; Library and Epitome · Theogony 947–949; Epitome 1.9–10
One story, different sources
Choose a textual witness. The summary, diagram, and cited connections below change together. This is a selective map of claims, not a complete family tree.
Odyssey · Ariadne among the dead
Artemis kills Ariadne on Dia, with Dionysus implicated by a compressed reference to his testimony. The exact motive is not explained.
Source: Odyssey · Odyssey 11.321–325
Hesiod · an immortal bride
Dionysus takes Ariadne as his wife and Zeus makes her immortal. This genealogy supplies a different destination from the Odyssey’s notice of her death.
Source: Theogony, in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica · Theogony 947–949
Cited connections 2
Dionysus marries Ariadne
Source: Theogony, in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica · Theogony 947–948
Zeus makes immortal and ageless Ariadne
Source: Theogony, in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica · Theogony 949
See what differs across the witnesses
Odyssey · Ariadne among the dead
Artemis kills Ariadne on Dia, with Dionysus implicated by a compressed reference to his testimony. The exact motive is not explained.
Source: Odyssey · Odyssey 11.321–325
Hesiod · an immortal bride
Dionysus takes Ariadne as his wife and Zeus makes her immortal. This genealogy supplies a different destination from the Odyssey’s notice of her death.
Source: Theogony, in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica · Theogony 947–949
- Period / witness
- Archaic Greek epic through an imperial-period mythographic compilation
- Recording context
- The Odyssey, Theogony, and Library preserve distinct textual traditions concerning a Cretan princess. Their differences are retained rather than merged into a continuous biography.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
Explore time & place →Read the sources
These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
Library and Epitome ↗
Pseudo-Apollodorus (ancient author uncertain); translated by Sir James George Frazer · Greek compilation probably first or second century CE; ending survives through later epitomes; Frazer translation 1921; host text page dated 2026-10-05
Edition & rights noteOdyssey ↗
Homer (traditional attribution); translated by Samuel Butler · Ancient Greek epic conventionally dated late eighth or seventh century BCE; translation first published 1900; electronic edition updated 2026-11-02
Edition & rights noteTheogony, in Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica ↗
Hesiod; translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White · Ancient poem conventionally dated around 700 BCE; translation 1914; digital edition updated 2020
Edition & rights note