TheseusGreek hero

His parents• Born in Trozen,

near Athens, Greece

• Aegeus fell in love with Aethra

• He put a sword and pair of shoes under a boulder• “If my son can

move it, send him to me”

Journey to Athens Theseus grew up and moved

the boulder easily Traveled to Athens on land Killed the bandit Periphetes

(“club-bearer”) and took his club

Killed Sinis, the Bender of Pines

Killed Sciron by pushing him over a cliff

Killed Procrustes, who forced people to fit a bed

Arrival in Athens Didn’t reveal

himself to his father at first

Invited to dinner and drew his sword to carve meat

Aegeus recognized it immediately

Theseus captured the Cretan bull

Minotaur Androgeous, son of Minos

(king of Crete) was murdered in Athens

Gods cursed Athens until they made amends with Minos

Minos demanded 7 young men and 7 young women be sent to Crete every 9 years

Went into the labyrinth to be killed by the Minotaur (son of Pasiphae, Minos’ wife, and the Cretan bull)

MinotaurTwo tributes had been sent to Crete already, with black sails on the ship Theseus volunteers

(as tribute!) Said he would sail

with a white sail if he killed the Minotaur, but a black one if not

Ariadne Daughter of Minos

and Pasiphae Fell in love with

Theseus and vowed to help him

Gave him the ball of yarn to get out of the labyrinth

He vowed he would marry her in return

Ariadne He killed the

Minotaur with his bare hands

Escaped with the other tributes, taking Ariadne with him

Theseus abandons Ariadne on Naxos Ariadne’s lament

Dionysus comes to her rescue

Ariadne - John William Waterhouse 1898 - Private collection

Ariadne in Naxos - Evelyn De Morgan 1877 - The De Morgan Foundation

Bacchus and Ariadne

Titian 1522-3 National

Gallery, London

Bacchus and Ariadne - Le Lain Brothers Ca. 1635 - Musee des beaux-arts d’Orleans

Back in Athens Theseus forgot to

fly white sails Aegeus thought his

son was dead so he threw himself into the sea Aegean Sea

Theseus became king of Athens Centralized

government Divided society into

classes

Amazons Gave Hercules refuge after he killed his family Went with Hercules to see the Amazons Married an Amazon named Antiope or

Hippolyta Had a son named Hippolytus

Lapiths vs. Centaurs Lapiths are a group

of people from Thessaly (northern Greece)

At King Peirithous, the centaurs got too drunk and tried to steal all the women

“civilization vs. barbarism”

Peirithous Theseus and Peirithous were originally

enemies, but became friends Theseus kidnapped Helen Peirithous wanted to kidnap Persephone Hades invited them to sit down, but the

chairs had invisible chains Theseus was rescued by Hercules

Phaedra Theseus last wife, sister

of Ariadne Hippolytus refused to

worship Aphrodite Aphrodite caused

Phaedra to fall in love with Hippolytus She decided to starve

to death Her nurse told

Hippolytus of Phaedra’s feelings and he went on a tirade about women

Phaedra Out of shame, Phaedra hanged herself

Left a note saying that Hippolytus had raped her

Theseus immediately sent Hippolytus out of the city and prayed to Poseidon to kill him

Poseidon sent waves that overwhelmed Hippolytus’ chariot

Hippolytus Near death,

Hippolytus was dragged back to Athens

Aphrodite appeared to Theseus to explain the misunderstanding

Hippolytus died in Theseus’ arms

Theseus’ death Theseus was driven out of Athens Went to Skyros King Lycomedes pretended to have him

as a guest, but then pushed him off of a cliff

Cimon, leader of the Athenians in the fifth century, brought Theseus’ bones back to Athens