On its surface, the myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur" seems like a straightforward quest narrative. Upon closer examination the tale also contains the thematic concerns that life as we know is a wasteland. Joseph Campbell addresses this issue in his classic text A Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell characterizes the wasteland as a world full of stagnation and a land filled with people living inauthentic lives. It is a world that evokes nothing of a common humanity"s spiritual life, human potential or even human physical courage. (Campbell, 1972).

             In the wasteland myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur," the ancient island of Crete under King Minos is in thrall to a beast named the Minotaur. The young men and women of Athens are sacrificed to feed the beast and to keep the corrupt king safe. The young people are sacrifices, so they are not even given the implements to courageously fight back against the Minotaur. The reason for the Minotaur"s presence on their island has nothing to do with their own morality; the bull-man is a punishment for the king"s transgressions. Thus, their sacrifice is both purposeless and immoral as well as horrific. To kill the Minotaur, the heroic Theseus must secret a sword upon his person into the labyrinth and a ball of string so that the may kill the bull-like man and be free of the confines of the maze. He does so with help, he could not realize his objective alone.

             In a later interview with Bill Moyers, Joseph Campbell further clarified what a wasteland is by quoting T.S. Elliot"s famous poem, entitled, "The Wasteland." The first section "The Burial of the Dead" by Elliot reads "April is the cruelest month, breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirring/ Dull roots with spring rain." (Cited by Campbell, 1991).

             The youth of Athens are the flowers of the dead land spoken of in Eliot, waiting to be trod upon by the needs of a corrupt king and corrupt society, until the hero comes and saves them.