Theseus is sometimes described as the son ofAegeus, king of Athens,[1] and sometimes as the son of the godPoseidon. He is raised by his mother,Aethra, and upon discovering his connection to Aegeus, travels overland to Athens, having many adventures on the way. When he reaches Athens, he finds that Aegeus is married toMedea (formerly wife ofJason), who plots against him.
The most famous legend about Theseus is his slaying of the Minotaur, half man and half bull. He then goes on to uniteAttica under Athenian rule: thesynoikismos ('dwelling together'). As the unifying king, he is credited with building a palace on the fortress of theAcropolis.Pausanias reports that aftersynoikismos, Theseus established a cult ofAphrodite ('Aphrodite of all the People') on the southern slope of the Acropolis.
Plutarch'sLife of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus's escape, and his romantic involvement with and betrayal ofAriadne, daughter ofKing Minos.[i]
Plutarch's avowed purpose is to construct alife that parallels theLife ofRomulus, thefounding myth of Rome. Plutarch's sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, includePherecydes (mid-fifth century BC), Demon (c. 400 BC),Philochorus, andCleidemus (both fourth century BC).[2] As the subject of myth, the existence of Theseus as a real person has not been proven, but scholars believe that he may have been alive during the Late Bronze Age,[3] or possibly as a king in the 8th or 9th century BC.[4]
Birth and early years
Theseus and Aethra, byLaurent de La HyreTheseus uncovers Aegeus's sword and sandals, relief sculpture on a decree of 140/39 BC
Aegeus, one of the primordialkings of Athens, was childless. Desiring an heir, he asked theOracle of Delphi for advice. Her cryptic words were "Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief." Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed. He asked the advice of his hostPittheus, king ofTroezen. Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughterAethra.[5]
But following the instructions ofAthena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezen's shore. There, she poured a libation to Sphairos (Pelops's charioteer) andPoseidon and was possessed by the sea god in the night. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature; such double paternity, with one immortal and one mortal, was a familiar feature of otherGreek heroes. After Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. Before leaving, however, he buried his sandals and sword under a huge rock[ii] and told Aethra that when their son grew up, he should move the rock, if he were heroic enough, and take the tokens for himself as evidence of his royal parentage. In Athens, Aegeus was joined byMedea, who had leftCorinth after slaughtering the children she had borne toJason, and had taken Aegeus as her new consort.
Thus Theseus was raised in his mother's land. When Theseus grew up to be a young man, he moved the rock and recovered his father's tokens. His mother then told him the truth about his father's identity and that he must take the sword and sandals back to the kingAegeus to claim his birthright. To journey to Athens, Theseus could choose to go by sea (which was the safe way) or by land, following a dangerous path around theSaronic Gulf, where he would encounter a string of six entrances to theUnderworld,[iii] each guarded by achthonic enemy. Young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated many bandits along the way.
The Six Labours
Map of Theseus's laboursTheseus and theCrommyonian Sow, with Phaea (detail of a kylix)
The six entrances to the underworld, more commonly known as the Six Labours, are as follows:
At the first site, which wasEpidaurus, sacred toApollo and the healerAsclepius, Theseus turned the tables on the chthonic bandit,Periphetes, the Club Bearer, who beat his opponents into the Earth, taking from him the stout staff that often identifies Theseus in vase-paintings.
At theIsthmian entrance to the Underworld was a robber namedSinis, often called "Pityokamptes" (Ancient Greek:Πιτυοκάμπτης,lit. 'he who bends Pinetrees'). He would capture travelers, tie them between twopine trees that were bent down to the ground, and then let the trees go,tearing his victims apart. Theseus slew him by his own method. He then seduced Sinis's daughter,Perigune, fathering the childMelanippus.
In another deed north of theIsthmus, at a place calledCrommyon, he killed an enormous pig, theCrommyonian Sow, bred by an old crone named Phaea. Some versions name the sow herself as Phaea. TheBibliotheca byPseudo-Apollodorus described the Crommyonian Sow as an offspring ofTyphon andEchidna.
NearMegara, a robber namedSciron forced travelers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet. While they knelt, he kicked them off the cliff behind them, where they were eaten by a giant turtle (or, in some versions, a sea monster). Theseus pushed him off the cliff where he was eaten as well.
Another of these enemies wasCercyon, king at the holy site ofEleusis, who challenged passers-by to a wrestling match and, when he had beaten them, killed them. Theseus beat Cercyon at wrestling and then killed him instead.
The last bandit wasProcrustes the Stretcher, who had two beds, one of which he offered to passers-by in the plain of Eleusis. He then made them fit into it, either by stretching them or by cutting off their feet. Since he had two beds of different lengths, no one would fit. Theseus once again employed Procrustes's own method on him, cutting off his legs and decapitating him with his axe.
Medea, the Marathonian Bull, Androgeus, and the Pallantides
Silverkylix with Theseus and the Marathon bull, 445–440 BC, part of the Vassil Bojkov collection,Sofia,Bulgaria
When Theseus arrived in Athens, he did not reveal his true identity immediately.Aegeus gave him hospitality but was suspicious of the young, powerful stranger's intentions. Aegeus's consortMedea recognized Theseus immediately as Aegeus's son and worried that Theseus would be chosen as heir to Aegeus's kingdom instead of her sonMedus. She tried to arrange to have Theseus killed by asking him to capture theMarathonian Bull, an emblem of Cretan power.
On the way toMarathon, Theseus took shelter from a storm in the hut of an ancient woman namedHecale. She swore to make a sacrifice toZeus if Theseus were successful in capturing the bull. Theseus did capture the bull, but when he returned to Hecale's hut, she was dead. In her honor, Theseus gave her name to one of thedemes of Attica, making its inhabitants in a sense her adopted children.
When Theseus returned victorious to Athens, where he sacrificed the Bull, Medea tried to poison him. At the last second, Aegeus recognized the sandals and the sword and knocked the poisoned wine cup from Theseus's hands. Thus father and son were reunited, and Medea fled toAsia.[6]
When Theseus appeared in the town, his reputation had preceded him, as a result of his having traveled along the notorious coastal road from Troezen and slain some of the most feared bandits there. It was not long before thePallantides' hopes of succeeding the childless Aegeus would be lost if they did not get rid of Theseus (the Pallantides were the sons ofPallas and nephews of KingAegeus, who was then living at the royal court in the sanctuary of Delphic Apollo).[7] So they set a trap for him. One band of them would march on the town from one side while another lay in wait near a place called Gargettus in ambush. The plan was that after Theseus, Aegeus, and the palace guards had been forced out the front, the other half would surprise them from behind. However, Theseus was not fooled. Informed of the plan by a herald named Leos, he crept out of the city at midnight and surprised the Pallantides. "Theseus then fell suddenly upon the party lying in ambush, and slew them all. Thereupon the party with Pallas dispersed," Plutarch reported.[8]
Pasiphaë, wife of KingMinos of Crete, had several children. The eldest of these,Androgeus, set sail for Athens to take part in thePanathenaic Games, which were held there every four years. Being strong and skillful, he did very well, winning some events outright. He soon became a crowd favorite, much to the resentment of the Pallantides, who assassinated him, incurring the wrath of Minos.
Theseus and the Minotaur
When King Minos heard what had befallen his son, he ordered the Cretan fleet to set sail for Athens. Minos asked Aegeus for his son's assassins, saying that if they were to be handed to him, the city would be spared. However, not knowing who the assassins were, KingAegeus surrendered the whole city to Minos's mercy. His retribution was to stipulate that at the end of everyGreat Year, which occurred after every seven cycles on the solar calendar, the seven most courageous youths and the seven most beautiful maidens were to board a boat and be sent as tribute to Crete, never to be seen again.
In another version, King Minos had waged war with the Athenians and was successful. He then demanded that, at nine-year intervals, seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were to be sent to Crete to be devoured by theMinotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster that lived in theLabyrinth created byDaedalus.
On the third occasion, Theseus volunteered to talk to the monster to stop this horror. He took the place of one of the youths and set off with a black sail, promising to his father, Aegeus, that if successful he would return with a white sail.[iv] Like the others, Theseus was stripped of his weapons when they sailed. On his arrival in Crete,Ariadne, King Minos's daughter, fell in love with Theseus and, on the advice of Daedalus, gave him a ball of thread (a clew), so he could find his way out of the Labyrinth.[v] That night, Ariadne escorted Theseus to the Labyrinth, and Theseus promised that if he returned from the Labyrinth he would take Ariadne with him. As soon as Theseus entered the Labyrinth, he tied one end of the ball of string to the doorpost and brandished his sword which he had kept hidden from the guards inside his tunic. Theseus followed Daedalus's instructions given to Ariadne: go forwards, always down, and never left or right. Theseus came to the heart of the Labyrinth and upon the sleeping Minotaur. The beast awoke and a tremendous fight occurred. Theseus overpowered the Minotaur with his strength and stabbed the beast in the throat with his sword (according to onescholium on Pindar's Fifth Nemean Ode, Theseus strangled it).[9]
After decapitating the beast, Theseus used the string to escape the Labyrinth and managed to escape with all of the young Athenians and Ariadne as well as her younger sisterPhaedra. Then he and the rest of the crew fell asleep on the beach of the island of Naxos, where they stopped on their way back, looking for water. Theseus then abandoned Ariadne, whereDionysus eventually found and married her. On his way back from Crete, he also stopped on the island ofDelos, where, according toPlutarch, "Theseus danced with the young Athenians a dance still performed by the inhabitants of the island, consisting of twisting and twisted movements that reproduce the shapes of the labyrinth. Dicearchos states that this dance is called 'Crane'."[10] Theseus forgot to put up the white sails instead of the black ones, so his father, the king, believing he was dead, committed suicide, throwing himself off a cliff ofSounion and into the sea, causing this body of water to be named the Aegean Sea.
According toPlutarch'sLife of Theseus, the ship Theseus used on his return fromMinoan Crete toAthens was kept in the Athenian harbor as a memorial for several centuries.
The ship wherein Theseus and the youth ofAthens returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time ofDemetrius Phalereus,[vi] for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place...[11]
The ship had to be maintained in a seaworthy state, for, in return for Theseus's successful mission, the Athenians had pledged to honorApollo every year henceforth. Thus, the Athenians sent a religious mission to the island ofDelos (one of Apollo's most sacred sanctuaries) on the Athenian state galley—the ship itself—to pay their fealty to the god. To preserve the purity of the occasion, no executions were permitted between the time when the religious ceremony began to when the ship returned from Delos, which took several weeks.[12]
To preserve the ship, any wood that wore out or rotted was replaced; it was thus unclear to philosophers how much of the original ship remained, giving rise to the philosophical question of whether it should be considered "the same" ship or not. Such philosophical questions about the nature of identity are sometimes referred to as the "Ship of Theseus" paradox.
Regardless of these issues, the Athenians preserved the ship. They believed that Theseus had been an actual, historical figure and the ship gave them a tangible connection to their divine provenance.
Theseus's best friend wasPirithous, king of theLapiths. Pirithous had heard stories of Theseus's courage and strength in battle but wanted proof so he rustled Theseus's herd of cattle and drove it fromMarathon and Theseus set out in pursuit. Pirithous took up his arms and the pair met to do battle but were so impressed with each other's gracefulness, beauty and courage they took an oath of friendship[13] and joined theCalydonian boar hunt.
InIliad I,Nestor numbers Pirithous and Theseus "of heroic fame" among an earlier generation of heroes of his youth, "the strongest men that Earth has bred, the strongest men against the strongest enemies, a savage mountain-dwelling tribe whom they utterly destroyed." No trace of such an oral tradition, which Homer's listeners would have recognized in Nestor's allusion, survived in the literary epic. Later, Pirithous was preparing to marryHippodamia. Thecentaurs were guests at the wedding feast, but got drunk and tried to abduct the women, including Hippodamia. The Lapiths won the ensuing battle.
Also according to Ovid, Phaedra, Theseus's wife, felt left out by her husband's love for Pirithous and she used this as an excuse to try to convince her stepson, Hippolytus, to accept being her lover, as Theseus also neglected his son because he preferred to spend long periods with his companion.[15][16]
Abduction of Persephone and encounter with Hades
Theseus carries off Helen, on anAttic red-figureamphora, c. 510 BC
Theseus, a great abductor of women, and his bosom companion,Pirithous, since they were sons of Zeus and Poseidon, pledged themselves to marry daughters of Zeus.[17] Theseus, in an old tradition,[18] choseHelen, and together they kidnapped her, intending to keep her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chosePersephone, even though she was already married toHades, king of the underworld. They left Helen with Theseus's mother,Aethra atAphidna, whence she was rescued by theDioscuri.
On Pirithous's behalf they rather unwisely traveled to the underworld, domain ofPersephone and her husbandHades. As they wandered through the outskirts ofTartarus, Theseus sat down to rest on a rock. As he did so he felt his limbs change and grow stiff. He tried to rise but could not. He was fixed to the rock. As he turned to cry out to his friend, he saw that Pirithous too was crying out. Around him gathered the terrible band ofFuries with snakes in their hair, torches, and long whips in their hands. Before these monsters, the hero's courage failed and he was led away to eternal punishment.
For many months in half-darkness, Theseus sat immovably fixed to the rock, mourning for both his friend and for himself. In the end, he was rescued byHeracles who had come to the underworld for his 12th task. There he persuaded Persephone to forgive him for the part he had taken in the rash venture of Pirithous. So Theseus was restored to the upper air but Pirithous never left the kingdom of the dead, for when Heracles tried to free Pirithous, the underworld shook. They then decided the task was beyond any hero and left. When Theseus returned to Athens, he found that theDioscuri had taken Helen and Aethra toSparta.
Phaedra and Hippolytus
Theseus saves Hippodameia, work byJohannes Pfuhl in Athens
Phaedra, Theseus's second wife and the daughter of King Minos, bore Theseus two sons,Demophon andAcamas. While these two were still in their infancy, Phaedra fell in love withHippolytus, Theseus's son by theAmazon queenHippolyta. According to some versions of the story, Hippolytus had scornedAphrodite to become a follower ofArtemis, so Aphrodite made Phaedra fall in love with him as punishment. He rejected her out of chastity.
Alternatively, in Euripides's version,Hippolytus, Phaedra's nurse told Hippolytus of her mistress's love and he swore he would not reveal the nurse as his source of information. To ensure that she woulddie with dignity, Phaedra wrote to Theseus on a tablet claiming that Hippolytus had raped her before hanging herself. Theseus believed her and used one of the three wishes he had received fromPoseidon against his son. The curse caused Hippolytus's horses to be frightened by a sea monster, usually a bull, and to drag their rider to his death. Artemis would later tell Theseus the truth, promising to avenge her loyal follower on another follower of Aphrodite.
In a version recounted by the Roman playwrightSeneca, entitledPhaedra, after Phaedra told Theseus that Hippolytus had raped her, Theseus called upon Neptune (as he did Poseidon in Euripides's interpretation) to kill his son.[19] Upon hearing the news of Hippolytus's death at the hands of Neptune's sea monster, Phaedra committed suicide out of guilt, for she had not intended for Hippolytus to die.[20]
In yet another version, Phaedra simply told Theseus Hippolytus had raped her and did not kill herself.[citation needed]Dionysus sent a wild bull that terrified Hippolytus's horses.[citation needed]
A cult grew up around Hippolytus, associated with the cult ofAphrodite. Girls who were about to be married offered locks of their hair to him. The cult believed thatAsclepius had resurrected Hippolytus and that he lived in a sacred forest nearAricia inLatium.
Pausanias wrote that on the road through the mountains fromTroezen toHermione there was a large rock that was originally called the altar of Zeus Sthenius, but was later renamed the Rock of Theseus, because Theseus took up the sword and sandals of his father from beneath it.[22][23]
Lycomedes of the island ofSkyros threw Theseus off a cliff after he had lost popularity in Athens. In 475 BC, in response to an oracle,Cimon of Athens, having conquered Skyros for the Athenians, identified as the remains of Theseus "a coffin of a great corpse with a bronze spear-head by its side and a sword." (Plutarch,Life of Theseus).[24] The remains found by Cimon were reburied in Athens. The early modern nameTheseion (Temple of Theseus) was mistakenly applied to theTemple of Hephaestus which was thought to be the actual site of thehero's tomb.
InGeoffrey Chaucer's epic chivalric romance "The Knight's Tale", one of theCanterbury Tales, Theseus is the duke of Athens, husband of Ypolita, and protector of Emelye, Ypolita's sister, for whom the two knights of Thebes, Arcite and Palamon, do battle.
F. L. Lucas's epic poemAriadne (1932) is an epic reworking of the Labyrinth myth: Aegle, one of the sacrificial maidens who accompany Theseus to Crete, is Theseus's sweetheart, the Minotaur is Minos himself in a bull-mask, and Ariadne, learning on Naxos of Theseus's earlier love for Aegle, decides to leave him for the Ideal [Dionysus].[26]
André Gide'sThésée (1946) is a fictional autobiography where the mythical hero of Athens, now elderly, narrates his life story from his carefree youth to his killing of the Minotaur.
Mary Renault'sThe King Must Die (1958) is a dramatic retelling of the Theseus legend from his childhood in Troizen until the return from Crete to Athens. While fictional, it is generally faithful to the spirit and flavor of the best-known variations of the original story. The sequel isThe Bull from the Sea (1962), about the hero's later career.
Stephen Dobyns wrote the poemTheseus within the Labyrinth (1986) which provides a retelling of the myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur, in particular the feelings of Ariadne.
In issue No. 12 of the Fright Night comic series, entitledBull-Whipped, Theseus and the Minotaur are resurrected by the comic's Aunt Claudia Hinault, who is the reincarnation ofAriadne.
Kir Bulychov's 1993 bookAn Attempt on Theseus' Life (Russian:Покушение на Тезея) is about a plot to assassinate a man during avirtual reality tour in which he lives through Theseus's life.
Aleksey Ryabinin's bookTheseus: The story of ancient gods, goddesses, kings, and warriors (2018) provides a retelling of the myths of Theseus, Aegeus, Minotaur, Ariadne, Pirithous and other personages of Greek mythology.[29][30]
Troy Denning's 1996 novelPages of Pain features an amnesic Theseus fighting to recover his past while interacting with some of the more colorful beings of thePlanescape universe.
Steven Pressfield's novelLast of the Amazons (2002) attempts to situate Theseus's meeting and subsequent marriage to Antiope, as well as the ensuing war, in a historically plausible setting.
British comedianTony Robinson wrote a version of the Theseus story entitledTheseus: Super Hero.
InGene Wolfe'sBook of the New Sun, set in a very distant future, the protagonist reads a story which appears to blend the myth of Theseus with the story ofBattle of Hampton Roads – presumably because of a confusion between the Minotaur and theUSS Monitor. (In this version, the Theseus character is nowa student's son.)
The musical comedyBy Jupiter (1942) byRodgers and Hart, based on the novelThe Warrior's Husband by Julian F. Thompson, features Theseus as one of the two leading men, who falls in love withAntiope, in a story radically different from the one in Greek mythology.[33]
The 1973 Italian filmWar Goddess depicts the story of Antiope and Theseus.
The filmImmortals (2011), a unique and modernized adaptation of the legend, featuresHenry Cavill as Theseus in a battle to save humanity from the evil man-King Hyperion, who seeks to release imprisonedTitans to contest the Gods.[36]
The video gameHades has Theseus, along with theMinotaur (named Asterius in game) acting as the bosses ofElysium, the third level of the game.[37]
References
Explanatory notes
^"May I therefore succeed in purifying Fable, making her submit to reason and take on the semblance of History. But where she obstinately disdains to make herself credible, and refuses to admit any element of probability, I shall pray for kindly readers, and such as receive with indulgence the tales of antiquity." (Plutarch,Life of Theseus, translated by Bernadotte Perrin).
^Rock "which had a hollow in it just large enough to receive these objects," Plutarch says.
^Compared toHercules and his Labours, "Theseus is occupied only with the sacred Entrances that are local to the lands of Athens" (Ruck and Staples 1994:204).
^Plutarch quotesSimonides to the effect that the alternate sail given by Aegeus was not white, but "a scarlet sail dyed with the tender flower of luxuriantholm oak." (Plutarch, 17.5).
^Ariadne is sometimes represented in vase-paintings with the thread wound on herspindle.
^Demetrius Phalereus was a distinguished orator and statesman, who governed Athens for a decade before being exiled, in 307 BCE.
^Morford, Mark; Lenardon, Robert J.; Sham, Michael."Classical Mythology Tenth Edition".Oxford University Press.Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Retrieved31 October 2016.
^Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, and Michael Sham. 2014.Classical Mythology (10th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
^Singh, Tarsem (11 November 2011),Immortals (Action, Drama, Fantasy), Relativity Media, Virgin Produced, Mark Canton Productions, retrieved13 December 2022
Price, Anne,The Quest for Theseus (London, 1970) examines the Theseus-Minotaur-Ariadne myth and its historical basis, and later treatments and adaptations of it in Western culture.
Ruck, Carl A.P. and Danny Staples,The World of Classical Myth: ch. IX "Theseus: making the new Athens" (1994), pp. 203–222.
von den Hoff, Ralf (2015). "Media for Theseus or the different images of the Athenian polis hero". In Foxhall, Lin; Gehrke, Hans-Joachim; Luraghi, Nino (eds.).Intentional History : Spinning Time in Ancient Greece. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 161–188.ISBN978-3-515-11288-8.
Walker, Henry J.,Theseus and Athens, Oxford University Press (US 1995). The most thorough scholarly examination of Theseus's archaic origins and classical myth and cult, and his place in classical literature.
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