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Who Was Theseus?
Mysterious Origins.
Like many other heroes of myth
and legend, Theseus was born and raised in unusual and
dramatic circumstances. His mother was Aethra, daughter
of King Pittheus of Troezen. Although some accounts
name Poseidon* as his father, most say that Theseus was
the son of King Aegeus of Athens, who had stopped at
Troezen after consulting the oracle at Delphi.
Oracle: priest or priestess or other creature through
whom a god is believed to speak; also the location
(such as a shrine) where such words are spoken
The oracle had warned Aegeus not to get drunk or father
a child on his way home to Athens—or one day he would
die of sorrow. However, at Troezen, Aegeus ignored the
warnings and became
Aethra's lover. Before leaving for Athens, he placed
his sandals and sword under a boulder and told Aethra
that if she bore a son who could lift the boulder, that
son would inherit the throne of Athens.
Theseus grew into a strong young man, and one day he
easily lifted the boulder and retrieved the sandals and
the sword. He then set off for Athens to claim his
heritage. On the way, he faced a series of challenges:
three vicious and murderous outlaws; a monstrous pig
that was destroying the countryside; a king who
challenged travelers to fatal wrestling matches; and an
innkeeper named Procrustes who tortured people by
either stretching them or chopping off their limbs to
make them fit his beds. Theseus overcame these
dangerous opponents and killed them by the same methods
they had used against their victims.
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Meeting the Minotaur. Upon arriving in Athens, Theseus
found King Aegeus married to an enchantress named
Medea. Medea tried to poison Theseus. But when Aegeus
saw the young man's sword and sandals, he realized that
Theseus was his son and saved him from the poison.
Medea fled, and Theseus became heir to the Athenian
throne. He continued his heroic feats, defeating a plot
against his father and destroying a savage wild bull.
Theseus, a hero of Greek mythology, is best known for
slaying a monster called the Minotaur. When Theseus
entered the Labyrinth where the Minotaur lived, he took
a ball of yarn to unwind and mark his route. Once he
found the Minotaur and killed it, Theseus used the
string to find his way out of the maze.
Theseus, a hero of Greek mythology, is best known for
slaying a monster called the Minotaur. When Theseus
entered the Labyrinth where the Minotaur lived, he took
a ball of yarn to unwind and mark his route. Once he
found the Minotaur and killed it, Theseus used the
string to find his way out of the maze.
Athens labored under a terrible curse. Earlier Aegeus
had sent another warrior, the son of King Minos of
Crete, against the bull. The prince had died, and in
revenge King Minos called down a plague on the
Athenians. Only by sending seven young men and seven
young women to Crete every year could they obtain
relief. In Crete the youths were sacrificed to the
Minotaur, a monstrous man-bull that lived below Minos's
castle in a maze called the Labyrinth.
Determined to end this grim tribute, Theseus
volunteered to be one of the victims. When the
Athenians reached Crete, Minos's daughter Ariadne fell
in love with Theseus. (Some accounts say that
Aphrodite*, whose help Theseus had requested, filled
the girl's heart with passion.) Before Theseus entered
the Labyrinth, Ariadne gave him a ball of yarn and told
him to unwind it on his way in so that he could find
his way out again. Deep in the maze Theseus met the
Minotaur and killed it with a blow from his fist. He
and the other Athenians then set sail for Athens,
taking Ariadne with them. Along the way, they stopped
at the island of Naxos, where Theseus abandoned
Ariadne.
Theseus had promised his father that if he returned
safely to Athens he would raise a white sail on his
homecoming ship. He forgot to do so, however, and left
the black sail hoisted. When Aegeus saw the blacksailed vessel approaching, he killed himself in grief,
thus fulfilling the prophecy he had heard at Delphi.
Later Adventures. On his father's death, Theseus became
king of the city-state of Athens, where he won honor
and was credited with enlarging the kingdom. His name
sometimes appears in myths about heroic deeds, such as
a battle against the centaurs or the quest of Jason and
the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece*. Theseus also went
to war against the female warriors known as Amazons,
and he captured and married one of them—either
Hippolyta, the Amazon queen, or her sister Antiope.
This wife bore him a son, Hippolytus.
After his Amazon wife died, Theseus eventually married
Phaedra, said to be a sister of Ariadne. Phaedra fell
passionately in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, who
rejected her love. The scorned Phaedra hanged herself,
leaving a letter in which she accused Hippolytus of
raping her. Furious, Theseus asked his patron Poseidon
to destroy Hippolytus, and the god fulfilled the king's
wish. Later, Theseus learned the truth and knew that he
had wrongly had his only son killed.
*Tribute: payment made by a smaller or weaker party to
a more powerful one, often under the threat of force
*city-state: independent state consisting of a city and
its surrounding territory
*centaur: half-human, half-animal creature with the
body of a horse and the head, chest, and arms of a
human
patron: special guardian, protector, or supporter
Theseus's final adventures were less than glorious.
Seeking another wife, he kidnapped a daughter of Zeus*
(Helen of Sparta, later known as Helen of Troy). He
also became involved in a plot to carry off Persephone,
queen of the underworld. These events brought trouble
upon Athens, and the people drove Theseus away. Now a
lonely old man, Theseus took refuge on the island of
Skyros, but the local king, regarding Theseus as a
possible rival, pushed the hero off a cliff to his
death.