Theseus
The semi-mythical, semi-historic Theseus is also the great national hero of Athens. The numerous heroic deeds ascribed to him were seen by the ancient Athenians as the acts that led to the birth of democracy in the Attic city-state, the cradle of Greek democracy. Since he is portrayed as the contemporary of Hercules (the Roman as well as popular English name for Heracles), another great hero of Greek myth, it can be assumed that he belonged to the generation previous to the Trojan War. His grand exploits against vicious villains and dreadful monsters are said to be an allegorical representation of how Theseus got rid of tyrants, freed the Athenians from fear, and brought to an end the burdensome tribute the city had to pay to foreign powers.
Aegeus, one of the prehistoric kings of Athens, although twice married, had no heir to the throne. So he made a pilgrimage to consult the celebrated oracle of Delphi. As he didn't get a clear-cut answer from the oracle, he sought advice from his wise friend Pittheus, king of Troezen (in Argolis). Pittheus happily gave away his daughter Aethra to his friend at a secret wedding.
Aethra, after having lain with her husband on her wedding night, decided to take a walk in the moonlight, which took her through the shallow waters of the sea to the Sphairia Island located close to the beach. There she found Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. Aethra thought it would be real fun to lay with a mighty god even though it was her wedding night. The lusty Poseidon was only too happy to oblige. Thus the lucky lady was doubly impregnated with the seed of a mortal and a god, giving birth in due course to our hero Theseus, blessed to be born with human as well as divine qualities.
King Aegeus apparently didn't need a wife, only an heir. So he decided to return to Athens after the birth of his son. Before his departure, however, he hid his sword and sandals beneath a huge rock in the presence of Aethra and told her to send Theseus to Athens when he was old enough, and had the strength enough, to roll away the rock and retrieve the evidence of his royal lineage.
Theseus grew up in Troezen under the care of his mother and grandfather. From a young age the brave lad was fired up with ambition to emulate the awesome exploits of his hero Hercules who had also achieved fame by destroying many villains and monsters. When at the right time Aethra led her son to the rock of his destiny, he easily rolled it away and retrieved the sword and sandals of his father.
As Theseus was about to set out on his fateful journey, Pittheus advised his grandson to avoid the robber-infested roads and travel by the shorter and safer sea-route. But our young hero would have none of it: he had already decided to make confronting and overcoming perils his lifetime hobby. So he chose the dangerous land-route around the Saronic Gulf on which he would shortly encounter a series of tremendous challenges at the six gateways to the Underworld.
It wasn't long before Theseus had his first adventure. At Epidauras, a place sacred to the god Apollo and the legendary physician Aesculapius, he met the "chthonic" (relating to the underworld) bandit Periphetes, son of Hephæstus, endearingly called the "clubber" for his habit of dashing out the brains of travelers with an iron club. As his grandfather had already given him a résumé of the "clubber," Theseus immediately recognized him. In the savage encounter that followed Theseus paid back Periphetes in his own coin by dashing out the brains of the scoundrel with his own iron club. The brave youth kept the club as a trophy and soon reached the Isthmus of Corinth without further interruption.
The inhabitants at the Isthmus warned Theseus about another danger that lay ahead: Siris (or, Sinnis) the bandit, guarding the Isthmian gate to the Underworld, who had a more interesting method of treating travelers than our previous villain. Siris would tie his hapless victim between two trees which he would bend to the ground and then abruptly release it. This improvised catapult would hurl the victims into the air and then onto the ground, dashing them to their deaths. Well, it didn't take much time for our hero to finish off this one, whom he killed with the iron club, courtesy of the late "clubber." Theseus thought this was as good a time as any to lose his virginity; so he promptly raped the daughter of the late Siris, named Perigune, who would beget him a son, Melanippus.
Our hero didn't stick around with his newly-raped woman (they never do!) but went on his merry way. [Don't judge Theseus too harshly: the brave lad had worlds to conquer! heroic deeds to accomplish!] At the wooded region of Crommyon, north of the Isthmus, he had a minor adventure involving the "Crommyon saw," a giant pig (daughter of an old hag named Phaea) whom he quickly dispatched to the netherworld.
The next adventure of Theseus occurred near the borders of Megara on a narrow trail leading to a cliff-face, where he found the evil bandit Scyron. This scoundrel would compel travelers to wash his feet with their backs to the sea, so that he could conveniently kick them into the waters below where a sea monster (or a giant turtle) would eat them. This time, however, it was the villain Scyron who had the privilege of being eaten by the sea monster without, however, being forced to wash the feet of our goodhearted Theseus.
The next adversary Theseus found on his journey was the king at the holy place of Eleusis, Cercyon, whose pastime it was to challenge all travelers to a wrestling match and after winning the match to kill them. Not this time, however. Theseus won the wrestling bout and, as per the rules of the match, killed the loser.
Little farther away from Eleusis, by the banks of the river Cephissus, Theseus encountered his final adventure on the journey to Athens. The last bandit to play dice with his life against our hero was the giant Procrustes, nicknamed the "Stretcher." This amiable scoundrel had an imaginative way of showing his hospitality to travelers for whom he always kept ready two iron beds, one too long and the other too short. He would offer the too short bed to the tall ones and, to help them to fit comfortably into the bed, would cut off their limbs, sending them to eternal repose. The same with the unlucky short men in the long bed: he would stretch their limbs to make a perfect fit, the victims dying in terrible agony when their limbs were ripped off. Theseus gave the "Stretcher" the same treatment, the giant Procrustes expiring in the short bed like his unfortunate victims. However, Procrustes is remembered for one noble deed he performed by his life and death: he gave the phrase "the Procrustean Bed" to the English language (and may be other languages).
Theseus finally arrived at his destination, Athens, without meeting any further challenges. He decided to delay the meeting with his father Aegeus until he had a hold on the surroundings. Being a smart as well as a tough hero, he did some research about the city and its king and gathered some disturbing news, including the intelligence that king Aegeus was in the helpless clutches of the evil sorceress Medea. So, when he came face to face with his father for the first time, he kept the sword and sandals, the tokens of his paternity, hidden. Medea, however, knew the true identity of the strange young newcomer through her occult powers. That didn't sit well with the sorceress who wanted her own son, Medus, to succeed to the kingdom of Athens. So she conspired to poison the aged king's mind against the stranger, and suggested, in all innocence, to send the youth to capture the dreaded Marathonian Bull so he could be got rid of easily, without resorting to the usual methods on such occasions, such as murder.
The Marathonian Bull proposal revived the flagging spirit of our hero who was getting rather bored in the absence any real challenges to face. On his way to Marathon, Theseus had to seek refuge during a storm in the humble abode of an aged woman called Hecale. She promised the brave youth to make a sacrifice to Zeus, chief of the gods, if he succeeded in capturing the bull. Well, capturing the Marathon Bull was no big deal for our intrepid hero. But Hecale was dead when Theseus returned to her hut with the captured bull. Remembering her kindness to him he would later name one of the demes (local community: a parish) of Attica "Hecale" in honor of the old woman.
When the victorious Theseus returned to Athens and sacrificed the Marathon Bull, Aegeus, goaded on by Medea, became still more suspicious of him. So he had to assent to the plan of the sorceress to poison an unsuspecting Theseus during a feast to celebrate his victory. However, as our hero was about to sip the poisoned wine, the eyes of Aegeus fell upon the sword and sandals the young stranger had just taken out. Recognizing his son, Aegeus knocked the cup of poisoned wine off his hand and, embracing him with great joy and emotion, named Theseus as his son and successor before his subjects and courtiers. The scheming sorceress Medea had to be satisfied with perpetual banishment from the dominions of Aegeus.
Another version of the Theseus legend states that the Marathon Bull episode took place after the banishment of Medea. The story goes like this: When Theseus was acknowledged as the rightful heir to the Athenian throne, the fifty sons of the king's brother Pallas, who had expected the country to pass on to them after the death of the childless Aegeus, conspired to kill the official heir. Having become privy to their plot, Theseus took them by surprise as they awaited his approach, and killed the whole brood of the Pallas brothers. In order to erase from the minds of Athenian citizens the stigma of the mass murder of his cousins upon him, Theseus decided to undertake a signal act of service to the country. This, as per the second version, was his motive for capturing the Marathon Bull (a menace to the farmers of the countryside) and solemnly sacrificing it at the altar of Apollo before the astounded citizens of Athens.
Theseus was soon to embark upon the greatest adventure of them all, a stupendous feat of daring and valor that would earn him the everlasting gratitude and admiration of his countrymen, as well as enshrine his name, along with Hercules (Heracles), among the noble pantheon of the immortal Greek heroes.
Theseus learned that for the past couple of decades Aegeus had been paying a barbarous tribute to King Minos of Crete after he had been defeated in a long-running war, launched by the Cretans to avenge the murder by Athenians of Androgens, the young son of the Cretan king. The tribute consisted of seven boys and seven maidens from the noblest families of Athens to be sent at every nine years to Crete to be devoured by the half-man, half-beast Minotaur who lived in the impenetrable maze-like Labyrinth from which no creature could escape.
Despite his father's objections, Theseus was determined to embark upon the perilous mission as one of the nine boys on the occasion of the third tribute. Before he set sail, he promised his father Aegeus that, should he return victorious from the enterprise, the ship carrying him and the others would hoist white sails instead of the customary black sails that was used on the previous occasions.
Theseus set sail with his fellow boys and maidens only after taking some wise precautions. He consulted an oracle which told him to make Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, his patroness. After making the necessary sacrifices to the goddess he embarked on his fateful journey to confront the dreadful Minotaur.
Theseus and his fellow sacrificial lambs were given an audience by King Minos at the palace where Ariadne, daughter of the Cretan king, fell madly in love with our hero, instigated by the goddess Aphrodite. Ariadne somehow managed to meet the noble youth alone where they swore eternal love and fidelity to each other. She also provided him with a sharp sword (to slay the Minotaur) and a skein of thread (to find his way back within the complex maze). Thus armed, Theseus and company entered the confines of the inscrutable Labyrinth.
Following the advice of Ariadne, Theseus fastened the end of the thread at the entrance to the Labyrinth and continued to carefully unwind the skein as he looked for his adversary. After much difficulty the brave youth finally found the dreaded Minotaur in his lair. Their ensued a long and fierce battle which came to an end when Theseus killed the monster with the sword provided him by the king's daughter. Following the line of thread Theseus and his companions safely came out of the Labyrinth where an anxious Ariadne was waiting for him. They then embarked on the ship (Ariadne with them) and set sail for Athens.
However, the happiness of the young lovers was short-lived. At the island of Naxos where the ship had touched, Theseus had a dream in which the wine-god Dionysus told him that the lovely Ariadne had been reserved to be his bride by the Fates and also warned him of the innumerable misfortunes he would have to face if he didn't give up the maiden. Although he had no fear of any number of monsters and sundry villains, he had great reverence for the gods, instilled in him from childhood. So Theseus and Ariadne took a tearful farewell of each other and the ship set sail towards Athens. Unfortunately, everyone in the ship – Theseus, the young men, the maidens – forgot to change the ship's sails to white because all were distraught at parting from Ariadne.
Another more credible version of the story portrays the conduct of Theseus in a poor light. According to it, Theseus merely pretended to be in love with Ariadne in order to obtain her help. After they all had fled the island safely, our hero abandoned the lovely maiden at Naxos, as he had no more use for her. The heartbroken Ariadne cursed Theseus and his companions so that they all forgot about changing the ship's sail from black to white.
When Aegeus, anxiously waiting on a cliff, saw the ship approaching with black sails hoisted, he leaped in grief and despair into the waters below killing himself. Consequently, the sea was named the "Aegean" in memory of his tragic end, says legend.
Theseus became King of Athens in the place of his father the late Aegeus. He won the approval and admiration of the Athenian citizens who saw in him a wise and far-sighted ruler as well as a brave and fearless warrior. Theseus peacefully unified the disparate Attic communities into a powerful centrally administered state. Agriculture and commerce flourished, and Athens became a prosperous and important maritime port to which foreigners flocked to seek their fortunes. Theseus revived the Isthmian Games and inaugurated many new festivals, including the Panthenaea, dedicated to Athene-Polias.
The next adventure of the restless Theseus got him into a lot of trouble and imperiled the safety of his kingdom. On a voyage of exploration, his ship alighted on the Amazonian coast, the land of the legendary female warriors. The lovely Antigone, sister of the Queen of the Amazons, was sent as an ambassador to find out whether the intentions of the war-like stranger were peaceful. Theseus took one look at the gorgeous emissary and forgot all about diplomatic niceties. He immediately set sail to Athens with the dumbfounded Antigone. The warrior-lady must have been impressed with the intrepid king of Athens, as she apparently didn't object to her own abduction. When they reached Athens, Theseus made her his queen. Antigone bore her husband a son, Hippolytus.
The outraged Amazons bided their time and launched their attack when the defenses of Athens were down. Their attack was so startling that they managed to penetrate deep into Athenian territory. Theseus soon recovered from his alarm, organized his forces, and unleashed a vicious counterattack that forced the Amazon warriors to sue for peace. The unfortunate queen Antigone, however, who had valiantly fought alongside her husband against her own people, died on the battlefield, to be mourned by her husband.
The next great episode in the life of Theseus was his celebrated friendship with Prithious, prince of the Lapiths (legendary people form the Pelion mountain in Thessaly). Prithious had heard lots of stories about the brave deeds and awesome adventures of Theseus, and he wanted to test the renowned hero. So he made an incursion into Attica with a band of followers and decamped with Theseus' herd of cattle. When our hero, along with his armed men, encountered Prithious, both of them were suddenly struck by an inexplicable admiration for each other. They swore eternal friendship and became inseparable boon companions.
According to legend, the new friends were said to have taken part together in the famed hunt for the Calydonian Boar as well as the battle against the Centaurs (part-human, part-horse creatures). The latter event occurred when one among the Centaurs invited to Prithious' wedding feast got drunk and tried to carry off the bride Hippodamia, joined by the other Centaurs, all of whom also tried to carry off any woman they could lay their hands on. Prithious and the Lapiths defeated the Centaurs and recovered their women, with ample assistance from Theseus.
The trouble-seeking Prithious soon began to get his bosom buddy Theseus also into all kinds of trouble, what with our hero already having a penchant for trouble himself. Both of them decided to assist each other to abduct a daughter of Zeus each. Theseus' choice was Helen, who was later to become famous (or infamous) as Helen of Troy. The fact that Helen was only nine years old at that time didn't deter our hero, who apparently never had heard of laws relating to Child Marriage, Minimum Marriageable Age, Abduction of a minor, etc. The duo kidnapped Helen first and Theseus left her in the safe custody of his mother Aethra at Aphidna (Theseus probably decided on second thought that he should wait a few more years before he had a go at Helen!!).
The choice of Prithious also spelt trouble: Persephone, who also happened to be the wife of none other than Hades, king of the Underworld! Against his better judgment Theseus decided to help his friend. The intrepid duo descended into the underworld where they were greeted with pretended hospitality by Mr. Hades himself. The unsuspecting pair soon found themselves prisoners when the stones on which they sat coiled around their feet like snakes trapping them. Theseus was lucky his hero Hercules was visiting the underworld at that time in order to carry out his "twelfth labor" as part of his "Labors of Hercules" series. Although Theseus was freed by his adopted mentor, Prithious was condemned for his impudence and audacity (and stupidity) to spend eternity as a prisoner in Hades! When Theseus returned from Hades to Athens he learned the bad news (good news for child Helen) that the brothers of Helen, the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), had rescued and taken their sister back to Sparta.
After the death of his Amazonian wife Antigone, Theseus had married Phaedra, the sister of Ariadne, the woman he had once betrayed and with whom he had later become reconciled. Phaedra had given her husband two sons, Demophone and Acamas. Meanwhile Theseus' son by Antigone, Hippolytus, had grown into a handsome youth under the care of his uncle. He had become a devotee of Artemis, the goddess of hills and forests, spurning Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. The incensed Aphrodite caused Phaedra to fall in love with her handsome stepson. When Hippolytus scornfully rejected the advances of his stepmother, she committed suicide without forgetting to write a suicide note naming the innocent Hippolytus as responsible for her death and for betraying the honor of his father.
The enraged Theseus appealed to the sea-god Poseidon (one of his fathers) who sent a monster that frightened the horses drawing the chariot of Hippolytus. The horses went berserk overturning the chariot dragging along the youth who was trapped in the reins. Theseus, meanwhile, had learned the truth of the matter from an old servant of Phaedra; and he rushed to save his son's life, only to find him at the point of death. The poor Hippolytus expired in the arms of his grief-stricken father after learning that his honor had been vindicated.
This incident was the beginning of end for Theseus who began to lose his popularity among the Athenians who had once adored him. His former heroic deeds and services to the state were forgotten, and insurrections and rebellions began to surface all around against his rule. Theseus finally abdicated his throne and took refuge in his estate on the island of Sycros. Here he was betrayed by the king of the island, Lycomedes, who in the guise of friendship took him to the top of a cliff and murdered him by pushing him off the cliff into the sea.
This was the tragic end of the life of one of the greatest Greek heroes and noblest of Athenians. Later generations have recovered his sullied memory, extolling his many brave deeds, and they have also restored his honor that had been besmirched by the fatal flaws in his monumental character.
