According to Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a horrible half man/half bull monster who devours anyone unlucky enough to be thrown into his labyrinth.
But you wouldn’t know it by looking at this meme, which casts the Minotaur as a shy, somewhat befuddled host, dealing with a rude guest. It all started when Twitter user @mardirooster posted a 1861 illustration of the Minotaur created by English artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The illustration shows the Minotaur in it’s [spoiler alert] final moments before it was slain by the Greek hero Theseus.
The tweet from @mardirooster shows the original artwork, as well as a close-up of the Minotaur. The images are captioned with the Minotaur’s polite request to “please get out of my maze.”
please get out of my maze pic.twitter.com/UrXF4fMuYJ
— SWAMP SAM (@mardirooster) July 19, 2018
For you sticklers out there, you’re correct. A maze and a labyrinth are not the same thing. A maze has multiple paths and dead ends, while a labyrinth has one single path leading to the center. That didn’t keep people from retweeting @mardirooster’s version, which puts a modern twist on the Minotaur’s plight.
https://twitter.com/zerosumgabe/status/1020032558715875328
No soliciting https://t.co/6wQD8i9PX2
— 🌷🌻🌸 (@lileirene) July 20, 2018
"if you're gonna invite yourself round to my flat, at least finish your fuckin phone call first." https://t.co/PWY1ruvXF4
— The Island of Jeanne Moreau (@en_ligne_) July 20, 2018
https://twitter.com/soitistoldcast/status/1020306488970162176
https://twitter.com/TheDonsieLass/status/1020336350036455425
Minotaur: Oh, you're here already. I was still in the shower. Um, oh, sure, yeah, you can come in and wait. The living room's over there. https://t.co/Gwxi0iXBvj
— Ryan Watt (@RyanWattWrites) July 20, 2018
The creator of the meme also offered his own fresh take on it.
https://twitter.com/mardirooster/status/1019754173062176770
The meme is currently only a few days old, so it will be interesting to see how long it sticks around and what new versions people create.
