Theseus: Athenian Hero

Question 1

Describe Theseus’ family tree

Answer 1

• King Pittheus invites Aegeus of Athens to sleep with daughter Aethra
• After Aegeus sleeps with Aethra she goes to cleanse herself in the sea
  
  • Poseidon impregnates her while she is in the sea
  • Aethra gives birth to Theseus (son of a God who will inherit a kingdom from his earthly father)

Question 2

How does Theseus reunite with Aegeus?

Answer 2

• Follows instructions that Aegeus left with Aethra and uncovers sword and sandals (token of political birthright) underneath a boulder
  
  • He travels to Athens to claim his place in the ruling family
  • Cleans the road of threats, demonstrating his heroic qualities and authorizing his right to rule

Question 3

Describe the 6 labours Theseus did on his journey

1. Periphetes
2. Sinis
3. Crommyon
4. Sciron
5. Cercyon
6. Procrustes

Answer 3

1. Periphetes, a monster who robbed travellers
   
   • Takes his club
2. Sinis ‘the bender’, who ties hid victims to two pine trees to tear them apart
   
   • Torn about by Theseus
3. The man-eating pig of Crommyon
4. Sciron, who kicked travellers over a cliff to be eaten by a sea monster/turtle
5. Cercyon the wrestler
   
   • Defeats him, doesn’t kill him
6. Procrustes the ‘stretcher’, who made travellers fit his bed by stretching or cutting them

Question 4

What happens when Theseus arrives at Athens?

Answer 4

• Aegeus’ new wife Medea tries to kill Theseus so that her own child can become king (she’s pregnant)
  
  • She sends Theseus to kill the bull of Marathon (a.k.a. Cretan bull, which was earlier captured by Herakles as one of his labours but is now loose)
• When Theseus returns alive, Medea tries to poison him but Aegeus stops her when he recognizes the sword and sandals
  
  • Medea is exiled to the east

Question 5

Describe the Cretan royal family

Answer 5

• Origin of kings of Crete, including Minos
• Minos failed to sacrifice his finest bull to Poseidon
  
  • Poseidon’s revenge: Pasiphae (immortal daughter of Helios) falls in love with the bull, gives birth to Minotaur
    
    • Minos has labyrinth built to enclose Minotaur (however they must keep feeding it)
• As one of his labours, Herakles brings the bull to Eurystheus but he is not able to control it and it rampages
  
  • Theseus slays it at Marathon

Question 6

Why did Theseus sail to Crete?

Answer 6

• Aegeus killed a son of Minos, Androgeus, who won all the athletic games hosted in Athens
  
  • Minos went to war with Athens and won; demanded 14 Athenian youths be regularly sacrificed to the Minotaur
    
    • Theseus volunteered and sailed to Crete
    • Minos’ daughter Ariadne fell in love with him

Question 7

Who is Daedalus and how does he help Theseus

Answer 7

• An Athenian inventor living in Crete
  
  • Made the bull costume for Pasiphae to seduce the Cretan bull
  • Designed the labyrinth to contain Minotaur
• He tells Ariadne about the clew of thread used to escape the labyrinth
  
  • In return for her help, Theseus agrees to marry her and take her to Athens

Question 8

What happens to Ariadne and why does she curse Theseus?

Answer 8

• Theseus abandons her on the island of Naxos when she is asleep
  
  • Ariadne cannot go home since she betrayed her father, has no place in the world
  • She places a curse on Theseus and undergoes sparagmos or becomes the bride of Dionysus
• Theseus suffers forgetfulness
  
  • He forgets Aegeus’ instructions about replacing the black sail with a white won (to let his dad know he is alive)
    
    • Aegeus kills himself in the Aegean sea

Question 9

Describe Amazonmachy in Theseus

Answer 9

• Theseus later abducts the Amazon queen and has a son with her named Hippolytus
  
  • The amazons invade Athens to avenge the abduction leading to the Great battle on Areopagus (‘hill of Ares’) in Athens
• Similar to Centauromachy, Titanomachy; allegories for the triumph of Greek civilisation over savage and disordered threats to culture
  
  • Amazonomachy depicted on the Parthenon, shield of Athena, etc.

Question 10

Describe Theseus’ marriage to Phaedra and his son with the Amazon queen

Answer 10

• Theseus marries Phaedra, Ariadne’s sister
• Hippolytus is devoted to Artemis
  
  • Aphrodite is neglected by Hippolytus and gets revenge: she makes Phaedra fall in love with Hippolytus
  • Hippolytus refuses her and she kills herself in shame leaving an incriminating note about Hippolytus
    
    • Theseus curses his son who is destroyed by Poseidon (via a wave/bull from the sea)

Question 11

What is Pericles’ citizenship law of 450 BCE?

Answer 11

Pericles’ citizenship law 450 BCE: only sons of Athenian fathers and mothers could be citizens of Athens

• Consequently, many myths depict the dangers of foreign women who choose their own mate or act on erotic desire

Question 12

Describe Theseus’ katabasis

Answer 12

• Theseus’ companion is Pirithous, king of the Lapiths and son of Ixion (dude who tried to rape cloud Hera)
  
  • They decide they should marry daughters of Zeus
    
    • They kidnap Helen who is a child from Sparta for Theseus
    • They enter Hades to capture Persephone for Pirithous
      
      • Hades traps them and they must be rescued by Herakles

Question 13

How does Theseus die?

Answer 13

• Theseus returns from the underworld to find his city in Athens at war with Sparta over Helen
  
  • Goes to Skyros to arrange an alliance with king Lycomedes
  • He is pushed from a cliff and dies, similar to his father

Question 14

What is Theseus known for?

Answer 14

• Synoikism: amalgamation of villages in ancient Greece; said Theseus unified the scattered towns in the region around Athens (Attica)
• He is a legendary founder of the democratic assembly and the Panathenaic festival
• Said to be just, compassionate, wise, generous with refugees