Post on 16-Dec-2015
Chapter Fifteen, Lecture Two
Theseus
The Begetting of Theseus
The Begetting of Theseus
• Aegeus, a king of Athens, had no sons
• Delphi: do not open the wine skins until you return home
• At Troezen, Pittheus understands the prophecy
• Sends his daughter Aethra
• Poseidon also gets involved
The Begetting of Theseus
• The sword and the sandal
The Labors of Theseus
1. Periphetes, the Clubber
2. Sinis, the Pinebender
3. Cormmyonian sow
4. Sciron
5. Circyon
6. Procrustes
Arrival at Athens
• Under a spell cast by Medea, Aegeus doesn’t realize that this is his son
• Aegeus sends him out to kill a bull on the plains of Marathon
• Then she tries to poison him, but Aegeus recognizes his own sword in time – Medea flees
Theseus and Antiopê
Theseus and Antiopê
• On his way back from his adventure in Crete with the Minotaur (Chapter 16), Theseus forgets to change the ship’s flag to white
• Aegeus drowns himself in the sea (Aegean Sea)
Theseus and Antiopê
• Athens is “founded” again with Theseus’s wise reforms– Synoicism– Festival: Panathenaia– social reforms: classes– assembly
Theseus and Antiopê
• Goes off in search of more adventure– Abducts the Queen of the Amazons: Hippolyta
or Antiopê
• Leads to an Amazonomachy in Athens– The Areopagus
The Amazons
The Amazons
• Mythic homeland is north of the Black Sea (southern modern-day Russia)– a mazos ?– constructed the temple to Artemis at
Ephesus?
• A purely myth invention– the world turned upside down
The Amazons
• Contrary to the ideal for the Athenian woman– Always defeated by Greek heroes
• Given political significance after the Battle of Marathon– The Amazonomachy identified with the
Athenian victory over the Persians
Theseus and Hippolytus
Theseus and Hippolytus
• Remarries to Phaedra, a daughter of Minos
• Their son is Hippolytus
• Story told by Euripides in his Hippolytus
• Hippolytus worships only Artemis and neglects Aphrodite
• Aphrodite makes Phaedra, his mother-in-law, lust after him
Theseus and Hippolytus
• The slave intermediary
• Hippolytus curses women, but vows not to tell anyone
• Phaedra kills herself, but leaves behind a note for Theseus
• Theseus orders Poseidon to kill Hippolytus
The Folktale of “Potiphar’s Wife”
Folktale of “Potiphar’s Wife
• Story of the Two Brothers– Anubis (not the god)– Bata
• Joseph and Potiphar’s wife
• Bellerophon and the wife of King Proteus
Exploits of Theseus and Pirithoüs
Exploits of Theseus and Pirithoüs
• The Battle of the Centaurs and the Lapiths (at Perithoüs’s wedding to a Hippodamia)
• Caeneus (formerly Caenis)
• The two now seek appropriate wives
Exploits of Theseus and Pirithoüs
• Theseus tries for Helen, but she is too young and is sent away for safekeeping
• The two visit the underworld for Pirithoüs’s choice: Persephonê
• They are trapped but Theseus is eventually rescued by Heracles
Death of Theseus
Death of Theseus
• Lost favor of the people of Athens and expelled by Menestheus of Athens
• Fled to Scyros, King Lycomedes
• Killed by the king
Myth and Propaganda
Myth and Propaganda
• Theseus originally a minor figure
• Becomes more important with the rise of Athens beginning in the 6th century– Theseïs
• Expansion and popularization begins with Pisistratus– Uses Theseus to glorify his own
accomplishments for the city
Myth and Propaganda
• After the Pisistratid dynasty fell from popularity, Theseus remade again– To a hero of democracy and the defender of
freedom
• Cimon (son of Miltiades) – Modeled some of his career leading the
Athenian rise to empire after Theseus– The “bones” of Theseus; new festivals to
Theseus; leader of Ionian Greeks against Sparta
End