Theseus

Theseus (Greek ??????) was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aegeus (or of Poseidon). 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 ????o? ("thesmos"), Greek for institution. In The Frogs Aristophanes credited him with inventing many everyday Athenian traditions. He may have originated in, or been based upon, an historical person or persons.

Related Topics:
Greek - Legend - King of Athens - Aegeus - Poseidon - Perseus - Cadmus - Heracles - Dorian - Ionia - The Frogs - Aristophanes

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Birth and the six "labors" of Theseus

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Aegeus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, found a bride at Troezen, a small city southwest of Athens, in Aethra, daughter of Troezena's king, Pittheus. On their wedding night Aethra waded through the sea to Sphairia and lay with Poseidon: by the understanding of sex in Antiquity, the mix of semen gave Theseus a mix divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature. When she became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. But before leaving, he buried his sandals, shield, and sword under a huge rock and told her that when their son grew up, he should move the rock 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 born Jason, and took up a new consort in Aegeus. Priestess and consort represented the old order at Athens.

Related Topics:
Athens - Troezen - Aethra - Pittheus - Sphairia - Poseidon - Semen - Pregnant - Sandals - Shield - Sword - Medea - Corinth - Jason

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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, 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.

Related Topics:
Saronic Gulf - Underworld - Chthonic

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At the first site, 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.

Related Topics:
Epidaurus - Apollo - Aesculapius - Periphetes

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At the Isthmian entrance to the Netherworld, was a robber named Siris. He would capture travelers, 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 and fathered upon his daughter, Perigune, Melanippus.

Related Topics:
Siris - Pine - Perigune - Melanippus

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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.

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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.

Related Topics:
Megara - Sciron - Turtle

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Another of these enemies was Cercyon, King at the holy site of Eleusis, who challenged passersby 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.

Related Topics:
Cercyon - Eleusis - The Golden Bough

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The last bandit was Procrustes, who had a bed which he offered to passersby in the plain of Eleusis. He then made them fit into it, either by stretching them or by cutting off their feet. Theseus killed him, too.

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