Theseus
Greek hero
His parents
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Born in Trozen,
near Athens,
Greece
Aegeus fell in
love with
Aethra
He put a sword
and pair of
shoes under a
boulder
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“If my son
can move it,
send him to
me”
Journey to Athens
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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
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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)
Minotaur
 Two
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
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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
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He killed the
Minotaur with his
bare hands
Escaped with the
other tributes,
taking Ariadne
with him
Theseus abandons
Ariadne on Naxos
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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
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Bacchus
and
Ariadne
Titian
1522-3
National
Gallery,
London
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Bacchus and Ariadne - Le Lain Brothers
Ca. 1635 - Musee des beaux-arts d’Orleans
Back in Athens
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Theseus forgot to
fly white sails
Aegeus thought his
son was dead so
he threw himself
into the sea
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Aegean Sea
Theseus became
king of Athens
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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
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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
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Theseus last wife, sister
of Ariadne
Hippolytus refused to
worship Aphrodite
Aphrodite caused
Phaedra to fall in love
with Hippolytus
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She decided to starve
to death
Her nurse told
Hippolytus of Phaedra’s
feelings and he went
on a tirade about
women
Phaedra
 Out
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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