Theseus (Greek Θησεύς) was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus or Heracles, all of whom
battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order. As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was the Ionian founding hero, considered by Athenians as
their own great reformer. His name comes from the same root as θεσμός ("thesmos"), Greek for
institution. He was responsible for the synoikismos ("dwelling together")—the
political unification of Attica under Athens, represented in his journey of labours. Because he
was the unifying king, Theseus built and occupied a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis
that may have been similar to the palace excavated in Mycenae. Pausanias reports that after the synoikismos, Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite Pandemos ("Aphrodite of all the People") and Peitho on the southern
slope of the Akropolis.
In The Frogs, Aristophanes credited him with
inventing many everyday Athenian traditions. If the theory of a Minoan hegemony[1] is correct he may have been based on Athens' liberation from
this political order rather than on an historical individual.
In Plutarch's vita of Theseus, he makes use of varying
accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus' escape and the love of Ariadne for Theseus. Plutarch's sources, not all of whose
texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes (mid-sixth century), Demon (ca 300),
Philochorus and Cleidemus (both fourth century).[2]
Aegeus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, found a bride, Aethra who was the daughter of Troezen's king Pittheus,
at Troezen, a small city southwest of Athens. On their wedding night, Aethra waded through the
sea to the island Sphairia that rests close to the coast and lay there with Poseidon (god of the sea, and of earthquakes). By the understanding of sex in antiquity, the mix of
semen gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature; such
double fatherhood, one father immortal, one mortal, was a familiar feature of Greek
heroes.[3] When Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. But before leaving, he buried his sandals and sword under a huge rock and told her that when their son
grew up, he should move the rock, if he were hero enough, and take the weapons for himself as evidence of his royal parentage. At
Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea, who had fled Corinth after
slaughtering the children she had borne Jason, and had taken up a new consort in Aegeus.
Priestess and consort together represented the old order at Athens.
Thus Theseus was raised in the land of his mother. When Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and
recovered his father's arms . His mother then told him the truth about his father's identity and that he must take the weapons
back to the king and claim his birthright. To get to Athens, Theseus could choose to go by sea (which was the safe way) or by
land, following a dangerous path around the Saronic Gulf, where he would encounter a string
of six entrances to the Underworld, each guarded by a chthonic enemy in the shapes of thieves and bandits. Young, brave and ambitious, Theseus decided to go by the
land route, and defeated a great many bandits along the way.
At the first site, which was Epidaurus, sacred to Apollo
and the healer Aesculapius, Theseus turned the tables on the chthonic bandit, the "clubber"
Periphetes, who beat his opponents into the Earth, and took from him the stout staff that
often identifies Theseus in vase-paintings.
At the Isthmian entrance to the Netherworld was a robber named Siris. He would
capture travellers, tie them between two pine trees which were bent down to the ground, and then
let the trees go, tearing his victims apart. Theseus killed him by his own method. He then raped Siris's daughter,
Perigune, fathering the child Melanippus.
Theseus and the Crommyonian Sow, with Phaea, on an Attic red-figured
kylix, ca.
440-430 BCE
In another deed north of Isthmus, at a place called Crommyon,
he killed an enormous pig, the Crommyonian sow, bred by an old crone named Phaea. Some versions name the sow herself as
Phaea.
Near Megara an elderly robber named Sciron forced travellers
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 sea monster (or, in some versions, a giant turtle). Theseus pushed him off the
cliff.
Another of these enemies was Cercyon, King at the holy site of Eleusis, 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. In interpretations of the story that follow the formulas of Frazer's
The Golden Bough, Cercyon was a "year-King", who was required to do annual
battle for his life, for the good of his kingdom, and was succeeded by the victor. Theseus overturned this archaic religious rite
by refusing to be sacrificed.
The last bandit was Procrustes, who had a bed 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. Theseus turned the
tables on Procrustes, although it is not said whether he cut Procrustes to size or stretched him to fit.
Each of these sites was a very sacred place already of great antiquity when the deeds of Theseus were first attested in
painted ceramics, which predate the literary texts.
Medea and the Marathonian Bull
When Theseus arrived at 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 wife Medea recognized Theseus
immediately as Aegeus' son and worried that Theseus would be chosen as heir to Aegeus' kingdom instead of her son
Medus. She tried to arrange to have Theseus killed by asking him to capture the Marathonian Bull, an emblem of Cretan power.
On the way to Marathon, Theseus took shelter from a storm in the hut of an ancient
woman named Hecale. She swore to make a sacrifice to Zeus if
Theseus was 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 the demes 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, shield, and sword, and knocked the poisoned wine cup from Theseus's hand. Thus father and son were
reunited.
Minotaur
King Minos of Crete 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 the Minotaur,
who was half man half beast and who lived in the Labyrinth.
On the third occasion, Theseus volunteered to slay the monster. 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. King Minos' daughter Ariadne, out of love for Theseus, gave him a sword and a ball of
string to find his way back through the maze.
Theseus was successful and managed to escape with all of the children and Ariadne. On the return journey Theseus abandoned
Ariadne on the island of Naxos. The next day Ariadne realized that Theseus had only used
her and she cursed him to forget to change the black sail to white.
Seeing the black sail, Aegeus committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea (hence named Aegean). Theseus and the other Athenian youths returned safely.
Ship of Theseus
According to some accounts, the ship Theseus took on his return to Athens was kept in service for many years. However, as wood
wore out or rotted it was replaced until it was unclear how much of the original ship actually remained. Philosophical questions
about the nature of identity in circumstances like this are sometimes referred to as
a Ship of Theseus Paradox
Pirithous
Theseus's best friend was Pirithous, prince of the Lapiths.
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 from Marathon, 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 they took an oath of friendship and joined the hunt for the
Calydonian Boar. In Iliad 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 literary epic. Later, Pirithous was preparing to marry
Hippodamia. The centaurs were guests at the wedding feast, but got drunk and tried to abduct the
women, including Hippodamia. The Lapiths won the ensuing battle.
Theseus carries off the willing Helen, on an
Attic red-figure
amphora, ca. 510 BCE
Theseus and Pirithous: the abduction of Helen and encounter with Hades
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.[4] Theseus, in an
old tradition,[5] chose Helen, and together they kidnapped her, intending to keep her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose
Persephone. They left Helen with Theseus's mother, Aethra at Aphidna, whence she was rescued by the
Dioscuri.
On Perithous' behalf they travelled to the underworld, domain of Persephone and her
husband, Hades. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and laid out a feast, but as soon as the
two visitors sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them fast. In some versions, the stone itself grew and attached
itself to their thighs.
When Heracles came into Hades for his twelfth
task, he freed Theseus but the earth shook when he attempted to liberate Pirithous, and
Pirithous had to remain in Hades for eternity. When Theseus returned to Athens, he found that the Dioscuri had taken Helen and Aethra back to
Sparta. When Heracles had pulled Theseus from the chair where he was trapped, some of his thigh
stuck to it; this explains the supposedly lean thighs of Athenians.
Phaedra and Hippolytus
Phaedra, Theseus's first wife, bore Theseus two sons, Demophon and Acamas. While these two were still in their infancy, Phaedra fell
in love with Hippolytus, Theseus's son by Antiope(Shakespeare confused the two names of these Amazons; the Queen Hippolyta and her sister Antiope, saying
Hippolyta was the one who married him when in fact it was Antiope).[dubious – discuss] According
to some versions of the story, Hippolytus had scorned Aphrodite to become a devotee of
Artemis, so Aphrodite made Phaedra fall in love with him as punishment. He rejected her out of
chastity. Alternatively, in Euripides' 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 would die 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 from Poseidon against his
son. The curse caused Hippolytus's horses to be frightened by a sea monster (usually a bull) and 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 third
version, after Phaedra told Theseus that Hippolytus had raped her, Theseus killed his son himself, and Phaedra committed suicide
out of guilt, for she had not intended for Hippolytus to die. In yet another version, Phaedra simply told Theseus Hippolytus had
raped her and did not kill herself, and Dionysus sent a wild bull which terrified Hippolytus's
horses.
A cult grew up around Hippolytus, associated with the cult of Aphrodite. Girls who were
about to be married offered locks of their hair to him. The cult believed that Asclepius had
resurrected Hippolytus and that he lived in a sacred forest near Aricia in
Latium.
Other stories and his death
According to some sources, Theseus also was one of the Argonauts, although Apollonius of Rhodes states in the Argonautica that
Theseus was still in the underworld at this time. With Phaedra, Theseus fathered Acamas, who was
one of those who hid in the Trojan Horse during the Trojan
War. Theseus welcomed the wandering Oedipus and helped Adrastus to bury the Seven Against Thebes. Lycomedes of the island of Skyros 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 Cimon, quoted Burkert 1985,
p. 206)
Books
Mary Renault's The King Must Die
(1958) is a dramatic retelling of the Theseus legend through 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 is The Bull from the Sea (1962), about the hero's later career. Theseus is also a prominent
character as the Duke of Athens in William Shakespeare's plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Two Noble
Kinsmen. Shakespeare draws on Geoffrey Chaucer's Knight's Tale and
Giovanni Boccaccio's Teseida, whence the use of the anachronistic term "Duke":
when Boccaccio and Chaucer were writing in the fourteenth century, there was an actual Duke of
Athens. Hippolyta also appears in both plays.
John Dempsey's "Ariadne's Brother: A Novel on the Fall of Bronze Age Crete" (Athens, Greece: Kalendis 1996, 679pp., ISBN
960-219-062-0) tells the Minoan Cretan version of these events based on both archaeology and myth.
Steven Pressfield's "Last of the Amazons" is a
fictional account of Theseus meeting and subsequent marriage to Antiope and the ensuing war. Theseus also appears as a major
character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Knight's
Tale
Jorge Luis Borges also presents an interesting variation of the myth, from the
Asterion's point-of-view, in a short story, "La Casa de Asterion" ("The House of
Asterion"), which depends for its full effect on the reader's not knowing the identity of the narrator.
The Cretan Chronicles are an alternative, interactive version of the
legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. The reader controls Theseus's brother Altheus, who learns from Hermes Theseus was killed by the Minotaur and takes up his brother's quest to slay the beast.
Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun contains a retelling of the story of Theseus
and the Minotaur, about a student who makes a son from dreams and sends him off to fight an ogre who, unlike the minotaur, has a
head like a castle and a body like a ship. In order to save a young maiden, the young man of dreams defeats the ogre by blinding
him with burning tar and then returns to the island where the student lives. Sadly the student sees the sails, blackened by the
burning tar, and, thinking his created son is dead, throws himself from his bed, for "no man lives long when his dreams are not
here."
Notes
- ^ Minoan cultural dominance is reflected in the ceramic history, but not
necessarily political dominance
- ^ Edmund P. Cueva, "Plutarch's Ariadne in Chariton's Chaereas and Callirhoe"
American Journal of Philology 117.3 (Fall 1996) pp. 473-484.
- ^ Of a supposed Parnassos, founder of Delphi,
Pausanias observes, "Like the other heroes, as they are called, he had two
fathers; one they say was the god Poseidon, the human father being Cleopompus." (Descriprion of Greece x.6.1).
- ^ Scholia on Iliad iii.144 and a fragment (#227) of Pindar, according to Kerenyi 1951:237, note 588.
- ^ Reported in Athenagoras,
Apologeta, 557a, according to Kerenyi 1959:234 and note.
References
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