 Before he entered the Labyrinth to fight the Minotaur, Ariadne gave him a ball of thread which he unwound as he went into the Labyrinth so that he could find his way back by following it.Theseus killed the Minotaur, and then he and Ariadne fled from Crete, escaping her angry father.As it turns out, there probably was an association of the word "labyrinth", whatever its etymology, with ancient Crete.