In ancient Greece, each city had its hero. In the case of Athens, that condition fell to Theseuswho deserved it, on the one hand, for her exploits and, on the other, for her contribution as a ruler. Regarding the latter, they are credited with both the unification of all the people of Attica, the region in which the current Greek capital is included, and with having inspired the principles of democratic government that characterized Athens in the 5th century BC. c.
Theseus, the secret son of a king
Theseus (from Greek Theseus“he who founds”) was son of the king of Athens Aegeus. His conception was certainly peculiar, since his father, after his wives did not give him any heir, went to consult the oracle of Delphi. On the return trip he stopped at the palace of King Pitheus, who, knowing the Athenian’s wishes, got him drunk and made him lie with his daughter Ethra, who became pregnant. According to another version, the one who actually joined the young woman was the god of the seas Poseidon, so that Theseus would have divine blood in his veins.
Theseus spent his childhood with his mother and grandfather, since Aegeus refused to take him with him to Athens for fear that his nephews, who already saw themselves inheriting the throne, would attack him. What he did do was ask Etra not to tell his son anything about his origin until he was strong enough to lift a rock in which he had hidden a sword and sandals. So yes, Theseus could head to Athens.
And so it was: When he turned sixteen, the young man was informed who his father was. and, after lifting the rock and taking the objects that were kept there, he set out in search of his destination.
Theseus, the beneficent hero
Theseus decided to go to his father’s kingdom by the most difficult route, the terrestrial one.. He was driven by the desire to prove his courage, as he knew that the entire road was infested with bloodthirsty bandits and vermin that wreaked destruction everywhere.
one after another was annihilating all those pernicious elements: to Siniswho dismembered his victims by tying them to bent pine trees which he then released; to the monstrous sow Chromionwhich destroyed fields and lives; to Scironwho kicked the unwary into the sea, where a giant turtle devoured them; to the fierce Certionwhich forced travelers to fight with him; to Procrusteswhose insane sense of hospitality led him to cut off the limbs of guests who did not fit in his bed and stretch to death those who were too small, and the giant Perifeteswho killed those who passed through his domain with his enormous mace.
Theseus killed them all without effort, so that, Thanks to those six works, he earned the title of benefactor hero.
The entry into Athens of the hero Theseus
Once in his father’s palace, Theseus did not want to make himself known immediately. Nevertheless, was recognized by Aegeus’s new wife, Medeawho had magical powers. Since the newcomer could prevent his son from taking the Athenian throne, he attempted to get rid of him by sending him to fight another terrifying beast, the cretan bullwhich devastated the plain of Marathon. Theseus defeated him.
This did not mean that Medea gave up her efforts to kill her husband’s son. Theseus was invited to a palace banquet, but before he could taste the poisoned wine that Medea had served him, Aegeus recognized the sword he had left with Aethra. and thus he knew that the person carrying it was his firstborn.
After presenting him as such before the entire court, he repudiated Medea, who had to leave Athens.
Theseus in the labyrinth of Crete
As son of Aegeus, Theseus had to fight against the fifty sons of his uncle Pallaswho coveted the Athenian throne.
Shortly after defeating them, he learned that Athens must send a tribute of seven young men and seven maidens to Crete, where they would be delivered to the Minotaur, a monstrous creature half man and half bull. Against his father’s wishes, Theseus volunteered to lead that expedition.
That Minotaur lived locked in a labyrinthdesigned so that no one who entered it could find the exit. Further Theseus had the help of Ariadne, the daughter of the Cretan kingwho had fallen in love with him. It was she who gave him a ball of thread that, once inside the construction, he had to unwind so as not to get lost.
In exchange for that help, Ariadne asked Theseus to take her with him and make her his wife..
Thanks to that thread, the Athenians were able to leave the labyrinth once Theseus killed the Minotaur. Back on board their ship, they headed back to Athens. More Theseus He did not keep his promise to Ariadne. and, instead of marrying her, he married her sister Phaedra. He abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos.
Theseus, king of Athens
The arrival at the Athenian capital was mournful, as Theseus forgot the request that his father had made before leaving: in case his enterprise in Crete was crowned with success, he must replace the ship’s black sails with white ones. As a result of this, Aegeus, convinced that his son had died, rushed into the sea which has since carried his name.
Theseus thus became king of Athens.a city that ruled with justice and wisdom. His greatest achievement was to unify the twelve communities into which Attica was divided and give them just laws and institutions that gave a voice to the people.
That work did not prevent him from participating in wars either. like the one his friend Pirithous held against the centaurs or the one undertaken against the warlike Amazons, whose queen he married and had a son, Hippolytus.
The myths also refer to other adventures that Theseus had with Pirithous, such as the abduction of the beautiful Helen, which years later would cause the Trojan War. More risky was their descent into hell, where Hades, the god of the underworld, invited the two friends to sit on seats that, as soon as they felt the weight of their bodies, grabbed them tightly. Only Theseus, and thanks to another hero, Hercules, managed to emerge again into the light of the world.
The end of the hero Theseus
The last years of Theseus were bitter. It was he who caused the death of his son Hipólitoand all because he believed in what his wife Phaedra told him through tears: that the young man was burning with love for her. The reality was very different: It was Phaedra who had fallen in love with her stepson and, failing to satisfy his desires, he transmuted love into hate and falsely denounced Hipólito to his father.
Shortly after, Theseus decided to abandon an Athens who had taken advantage of his absence in hell to succumb to anarchy.
About his death, versions vary: according to one, he was thrown off a cliff by King Lycomedes of Sciros; according to another, he fell from the top of a rock accidentally.
The Posterity of Theseus
The memory of the hero, however, lived on among the Athenians. So much so that, when the Persians invaded Greece in 490 BC, the citizens who went out to fight them in Marathon believed they saw their former king fighting in their army. Fourteen years later, a group of Athenians traveled to the island of Skiros to recover the remains of Theseus and return them to Athens, where on the eighth day of each month sacrifices were offered to him.
Although the exact place where they were buried is unknown, a tradition placed him in Hephaestiona Doric-style temple dedicated to Hephaestus, the god of metallurgy, which can still be seen today in the Athenian Agora.