Summaries. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur also involves a relationship with a woman. Son of either Aegeus, the king of Athens, or Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Aethra, a princess, Theseus was raised by his mother in the palaces of Troezen. The Story. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Theseus-Greek-hero, Ancient Origins - Theseus: The Greek Hero That Slayed the Minotaur, Poetry Foundation - Biography of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Theseus - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Set against this is the base lust of the Minotaur, with its ferocity and bullish instincts, to say nothing of its predatory nature. Hippolyta was the fabled queen of the Amazons, a nation of … Hearing of his Theseus’ fame, Aegeus invited the hero to a banquet, unaware that the young hero was his son. When Theseus reached manhood, Aethra sent him to Athens. King Minos … The man introdu… Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Omissions? Aegeus, however, finally recognized Theseus and declared him heir to the throne. The king of Athens kidnaps Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, to be his wife, starting a bloody war. In Megara Theseus killed Cercyon, who forced strangers to wrestle with him. He defeats the bad guys at every turn, from his "Six Labors" on the road to Athens, to the wild Marathon Bull, the unnatural minotaur, and beyond. His father leaves his sword and sandals under a rock for Theseus to find when he is older. Theseus’s chief festival, called Theseia, was held on the eighth of the month Pyanopsion (October), but the eighth day of every month was also sacred to him. On his arrival in Athens, Theseus found his father married to the sorceress Medea, who recognized Theseus before his father did and tried to persuade Aegeus to poison him. And, as we’ll reveal in our analysis of the Minotaur story below, there are a number of details in the story – including one of the most famous, the ball of thread – which don’t feature in some tellings of the myth. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. These games, held every four years, are the pinnacle of athletic competition. Theseus curses his son… He only traveled a few miles inland before he encountered the first such robber. Legend relates that Aegeus, being childless, was allowed by Pittheus to have a child (Theseus) by Aethra. He was a tall, muscular man brandishing a club made of some sort of shining metal. Nobody knew who his father was, for both King Aegeus of Athens and Poseidon had been fond of his mother Aethra. Hamilton’s account of Theseus, the greatest hero of Athens, again draws upon Apollodorus, but it also stitches together details from other writers, some as early as Sophocles. King Minos lived on a lovely island called Crete. Right before Theseus was born, Aegeus said to Aethra, "If we shall have a son, then when he becomes of age, tell him to lift this rock and take my sword and sandals." This went on for a few years until eventually it was entirely made of metal. Hermia … One final detail in the Theseus story involving the Minotaur concerns his journey home. The most detailed accounts of Theseus’ antics we have from antiquity are Apollodorus, the author of the wonderful The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World’s Classics) (which is well worth reading as the Greek precursor to Ovid’s more famous Metamorphoses) and Plutarch, the later Greek writer who lived under the Roman Empire. Plot Summary. Later he kicks the Amazonian Queen to the curb and takes the Cretan Princess Phaedra for his new bride. She fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur, a beast half bull and half man that Minos kept in the Labyrinth. As a result, the Amazons attacked Athens, and Hippolyte fell fighting on the side of Theseus. When Theseus arrived on Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphaë, clapped eyes on him and promptly fell in love with the Athenian youth. Summary: Chapter II — Theseus. On this island, King Minos had a pet called a Minotaur. So he made the bull so savage that it was a menace to Minos, and Pasiphaë, Minos’ wife, desired the bull. There, boys and girls are devoured by the man-eating Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. Aegeus saw the black sail and remembered that this was the signal that his son Theseus was dead, so he jumped off a cliff to his death. She asked Daedelus, her husband’s master craftsman, to help her with her dilemma, and he created a heifer made of wood and leather (not a wooden horse, then, but a wooden cow) into which Pasiphaë could climb and then … mate with the bull. He argues that the poet "gives to airy nothing / A local habitation and a name," a trick performed by strong imaginations. When Theseus' ship came in sight of the coast of Attica, everyone on board was so happy that no one remembered to put up the white sail. Later, according to the command of the Delphic oracle, the Athenian general Cimon fetched the bones of Theseus from Scyros and laid them in Attic earth. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Once upon a time, there was a man named King Minos. Theseus is also said to have taken part in the Argonautic expedition and the Calydonian boar hunt. He was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and Aethra, princess of Troezen, and daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. There are many tales about Theseus, the brave Attic (or Athenian) hero who, in the course of a colourful and full life, sired two sons who fought in the Trojan War, joined Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece, and fought the Amazons. In the story, Theseus' father, King Ægeus, had ended his life in despair over his son's failure to return from the land of Minos. Task Question. It’s always a bad idea to hope that a god won’t notice your trickery, and sure enough, Poseidon wasn’t fooled. Instead of the traditional sea-route, he chose the far more dangerous overland route that was inhabited by bandits and thieves of all sorts. But Lycomedes, king of Scyros, killed Theseus by casting him into the sea from the top of a cliff. Theseus and the Minotaur. Theseus and the other tributes then travelled to Crete and were thrown in the Labyrinth, the palace of the Minotaur. Summary. Plot summary Book One: Troizen. Theseus, Prince of Athens, decides to … And if he kills the creature he will signal his success by flying a white sail on the return journey. Theseus is born to Aethra and Aegeus. Next came the adventure of the Cretan Minotaur, half man and half bull, shut up in the legendary Cretan Labyrinth. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk. He was desperate. But they were caught and confined in Hades until Heracles came and released Theseus. As the story goes ... Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a king named Minos. The Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull: the product of a rather twisted coupling between Pasiphaë, Minos’ wife, and a ferocious bull that Poseidon had brought out of the sea so that Minos could sacrifice it to him. But it's all pretty much caused by Theseus, himself. His role in history has been called "a major cultural transition, like the making of the new Olympia by Hercules." The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World’s Classics). They became prey of the Minotaur in the labyrinth, and Athens escaped further sanctions through their obedience. When it is Athens’ turn, Minos insists that Theseus, King Aegeus’ son, be one of the seven victims. Every nine years (although the interval varies from telling to telling), Minos demanded seven Athenian men and seven Athenian maidens be given to the Minotaur as sacrifices. She gave him a ball of thread (of which more below), so he could find his way out of the Labyrinth: as he weaved his way through its various corridors he would unravel the thread on the floor beneath him, allowing him to retrace his journey back out of the maze. Theseus' famous speech from Act V also appears to denigrate the poet's imaginative faculty by aligning him with lovers and madmen. To this day, we talk about following the ‘clues’ to discover something, and it’s all thanks to the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Theseus insists that Egeus must have his way, and gives Hermia a month to marry Demetrius, or either die or become a nun. The Minotaur and the Labyrinth of Crete Once Theseus had decided to travel to Athens, he had to choose a route. Theseus pursued, but when he caught up with him, the two heroes were so filled with admiration for each other that they swore brotherhood. Theseus, great hero of Attic legend, son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen (in Argolis), or of the sea god, Poseidon, and Aethra. Theseus is a hero in several Greek myths and is recognized as a well-liked king of Athens. However, Minos was so taken by the bull – a handsome beast, and useful to have as stud for his cattle – that he sacrificed a different animal and hoped Poseidon wouldn’t notice. Minos’ monstrous son, the Minotaur, lives in a labyrinth beneath the palace. Medea bore Aegeus a son, named Medus. Theseus is the son of the Athenian king, Aegeus, but he grows up with his mother in the south. Aegeus plunged himself into the sea below, and drowned – and this, the myth says, is why that sea is named the Aegean to this day. King Minos had everything a king could possibly want. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. After crushing a conspiracy by the Pallantids, sons of Pallas (Aegeus’s brother), Theseus successfully attacked the fire-breathing bull of Marathon. The story of Theseus’ slaying of the Minotaur remains one of the best-known tales out of Greek mythology, with Theseus the archetypal classical hero and Ariadne’s devotion to him representing pure love. Theseus had promised Aegeus that if he returned successful from Crete, he would hoist a white sail in place of the black sail with which the fatal ship bearing the sacrificial victims to the Minotaur always put to sea. The result of this rather bestial union was the Minotaur, a fierce creature who worried Minos, so he told Daedelus to build a vast palace comprising a maze-like network of corridors and rooms, and then he had the Minotaur placed inside this palace. The famous friendship between Theseus and Pirithous, one of the Lapiths, originated when Pirithous drove away some of Theseus’s cows. When Theseus reached manhood, Aethra sent him to Athens. Theseus' later years are full of female trouble. Theseus The son of either Poseidon or Aegeus and Aethra, Theseus was widely considered the greatest Athenian hero, the king who managed to politically unify Attica under the aegis of Athens. At the Isthmus of Corinth he killed Sinis, called the Pine Bender because he killed his victims by tearing them apart between two pine trees. But he forgot his promise, and when Aegeus saw the black sail, he flung himself from the Acropolis and died. This mythic story, by the way, inspired Suzanne Collins’s idea of ‘tributes’ in The Hunger Games. In the vast Labyrinth on the island of Crete, built by the cunning Daedalus for King Minos, there dwelt the Minotaur: a man with the head and tail of a bull. However, both Apollodorus and Plutarch mention only a ball of thread or wool, and this is the version that has taken hold. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. THESEUS & HIPPOLYTA Theseus returning how from his adventure of slaying the Minotaur needed to find a wife and a queen for Athens. This meant that Aegeus, waiting at the top of the Acropolis for his son to return, saw the black-sailed ship returning and feared that his son was dead. Theseus and the Minotaur: Story for Kids! This ends badly too, when Phaedra falls in love with Hippolytus, Theseus's son by Hippolyta. Theseus’ most famous adventure was his slaying of the Minotaur of King Minos on Crete. Nevertheless, the Minotaur is usually depicted as bull-headed and man-bodied. Mythology Summary and Analysis of Theseus Theseus is the great Athenian hero. King Minos was an evil king who lived on an island called Crete. The story of Theseus begins before he is born, in Crete. This was, then, a glow-in-the-dark tool which Theseus could use to illuminate his way around the darkened Labyrinth. A Brief Summary: Because of a past wrong, Athens is forced to ship off young people to Crete every few years. Alone or with Heracles he captured the Amazon princess Antiope (or Hippolyte). Hermia and Lysander love each other; but Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius (who is loved by Helena). Posted on November 26, 2019 by Madeleine. Among other things, the tale helped to inspire the central premise of one of the most popular series of dystopian novels and films of the twenty-first century (of which more below). Ariadne, in Greek mythology, daughter of Pasiphae and the Cretan king Minos. In exchange, Theseus descended to the Underworld with Pirithous to help his friend rescue Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter. But Theseus’ subsequent abandonment of Ariadne, whether down to personal choice or not, shows how messy things could get even in the most archetypal myths. The palace was named the Labyrinth, a name that has since been applied to countless other mazes, and one film starring David Bowie. When Theseus returned home victorious, he became aware of a company of women clad in black who knelt at the side of the highway, shrieking. Theseus then united the various Attic communities into a single state and extended the territory of Attica as far as the Isthmus of Corinth. He accomplishes this with the help of Ariadne, who gives him a ball of thread to mark his path in and out of the labyrinth. This is because Minos had defeated Athens in a war, and demanded the city offer up these tributes as, if you like, the spoils of Minos’ victory. The Minotaur will only eat human flesh and every year is fed seven young men from different kingdoms in Greece. Similarly, although the majority of accounts state that the Minotaur had a bull’s head and a man’s body (putting it at odds with other half-human creatures, such as the centaur), some accounts are less specific: for instance, Ovid simply states that the Minotaur was half man and half bull, without telling us which half was which. But as so often with Greek myths, the one about Theseus killing the Minotaur is even more interesting than we might first think. When Hippolytus says, "Ooh gross" to Phaedra's advances, his stepmother accuses him of rape. When he is old enough, Theseus travels to the city to meet his father and overcomes many obstacles along the way. The story of Theseus and the Minotaur is one of the most famous and enduring myths of ancient Greece. Theseus was always my favorite. In order to kill the Minotaur, Theseus has to find his way to the center of a labyrinth and back out again. Whatever floats your boat, eh? Then from a cliff he flung the wicked Sciron, who had kicked his guests into the sea while they were washing his feet. Theseus was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. Theseus persuades his father to allow him to go to Crete, with the aim of killing the Minotaur. A contemporization of the original Greek myth, 'Theseus' uses the story's ancient symbols to revive the importance of inward reflection through the narrative of a delinquent youth who reconciles with the memory of his grandfather in a rundown automotive shop. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). On the journey he encountered many adventures. She told him that she was once the wife of King Cappaneus who was destroyed at Thebes, and that all … The oldest of the women asked Theseus for pity. Unfortunately, after Ariadne had helped him to accomplish his task, his abandoned her … because Dionysus made him (in some accounts), or because he was in love with someone else (in other accounts). Later he slew Procrustes, who fitted all comers to his iron bed by hacking or racking them to the right length. It was, after all, the product of a union founded on lust. Every time a piece of the ship needed replacing it was replaced with a metal part. Finally Theseus arrived in Athens. Theseus triumphs over unjust and savage beings throughout his story. I love this analysis. There is no way to decide which story, if any, is true. In Greek mythology, Theseus can truly be thought of as the greatest Athenian hero. Androgenos, the eldest son of King Minos and his wife, Pasiphae, sets sail for Athens to take part in the Panathenaic Games. The Knight begins his tale with the story of Theseus, a prince, who married Hippolyta, the queen of Scythia, and brought her and her sister, Emelye, back to Athens with him after conquering her kingdom of Amazons. For example, in one version, Ariadne doesn’t give Theseus a ball of thread but a luminous crown (a wedding gift from Dionysus, who desired Ariadne). Corrections? When Theseus returned to Athens, he faced an uprising led by Menestheus, a descendant of Erechtheus, one of the old kings of Athens. The story is told by Theseus, looking back on his life from his vantage point as an adult. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Theseus killing the Minotaur, detail of a vase painting by the Kleophrades Painter, 6th century. Failing to quell the outbreak, Theseus sent his children to Euboea, and after solemnly cursing the Athenians he sailed away to the island of Scyros. Now and then, King Minos sent his navy to the tiny village of Athens, across the sea. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Theseus was a hero of Greek mythology associated with the city-state of Athens, and best known for slaying the Minotaur. Theseus and the Minotaur | Ancient Greek Mythology Stories |The Minotaur and the Labyrinth of Crete. The king of Athens did not know what to do. As he was leaving his home and setting sail for the island of Crete, his father Aegeus gave young Theseus two sets of sails, one black and one white, instructing his son to mount the black sails onto his ship as he sailed away (to reflect the solemn nature of his voyage) and telling him that, if he was successful, he should mount the white sails on his voyage home, so Aegeus would see the ship approaching and know his son had been successful in killing the Minotaur. Is the metal ship of Theseus the same ship as the wooden ship of Theseus? Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Theseus was a brave Athenian youth who put himself forward as one of the tributes. Every nine years (although the interval varies from telling to telling), Minos demanded seven Athenian men and seven Athenian maidens be given to the Minotaur as sacrifices. Theseus, however, felt no fear of the brutes. Theseus and the Minotaur: plot summary In the vast Labyrinth on the island of Crete, built by the cunning Daedalus for King Minos, there dwelt the Minotaur: a man with the head and tail of a bull. Having killed the Minotaur, Theseus set sail for home – but forgot to change the black sails for the white ones, as his father had instructed. A Minotaur is half man, half bull. Pirithous later helped Theseus to carry off the child Helen. Like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, Theseus battled and overcame foes that were identified with an archaic religious and social order. A ball of thread is known as a clew or, in an alternative spelling, a clue. His father Aegeus is king of Athens, but Theseus grows up in southern Greece with his mother. He was the son of King Minos of Crete. The novel opens with Theseus as a six-year-old child in the household of his grandfather, King Pittheus of Troizen. The Minotaur was a scary pet, so King Minos hid him in a maze called a labyrinth. Theseus Adventures Once, there was a young boy named Theseus. However, Aegeus had married Medea, the sorceress who fled Corinth after killing Jason’s betroth and her father.Aegeus finally managed to have a son of his own. Before Theseus was born his father Aegeus left Aethra in Troezen of Argolis and returned to Athens before he was born. Theseus, great hero of Attic legend, son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen (in Argolis), or of the sea god, Poseidon, and Aethra. Theseus was also the leader who unified the Greek region of … Even heroes have their flaws – indeed, the Greeks believed that a tragic flaw is what made a hero.