Introduction
Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. When Theseus arrived among the Athenian youths sent as tribute to the Minotaur, she fell in love with him and secretly gave him a ball of thread to unwind as he entered the labyrinth, so he could retrace his path.
Family
Abandonment and Divine Marriage
Theseus took Ariadne with him when he fled Crete but abandoned her, sleeping, on the island of Naxos — motives vary by source, from deliberate betrayal to divine command. She was found there by the god Dionysus, who married her; in several traditions she was later placed among the stars as the constellation Corona.
As with all figures of Greek heroic legend, sources diverge on many particulars; the account above follows the most widely transmitted classical tradition.