Theseus and the Crommyonian Sow, with Phaea (detail of a kylix) Young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated a great many bandits along the way. To journey to Athens, Theseus could choose to go by sea (which was the safe way) or by land, following a dangerous path around the Saronic Gulf, where he would encounter a string of six entrances to the Underworld, each guarded by a chthonic enemy. His mother then told him the truth about his father's identity and that he must take the sword and sandals back to the king Aegeus to claim his birthright. When Theseus grew up and became a brave young man, he moved the rock and recovered his father's tokens. Thus Theseus was raised in his mother's land. In Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea, who had left Corinth after slaughtering the children she had borne and had taken Aegeus as her new consort. Before leaving, however, he buried his sandals and sword under a huge rock and told Aethra that when their son grew up, he should move the rock, if he were heroic enough, and take the tokens for himself as evidence of his royal parentage. After Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature such double paternity, with one immortal and one mortal, was a familiar feature of other Greek heroes. There she poured a libation to Sphairos (Pelops's charioteer) and Poseidon and was possessed by the sea god in the night. īut following the instructions of Athena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to the island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezen's shore.
Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughter Aethra. He asked the advice of his host Pittheus, king of Troezen. Her cryptic words were "Do not loosen the bulging mouth of the wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief." Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed. Desiring an heir, he asked the Oracle of Delphi for advice. Theseus and Aethra, by Laurent de La HyreĪegeus, one of the primordial kings of Athens, was childless. As the subject of myth, the existence of Theseus as a real person has not been proven, but scholars believe that he may have been alive during the Late Bronze Age possibly as a king in the 8th or 9th century BCE.
400 BCE), Philochorus, and Cleidemus (both fourth century BCE). Plutarch's sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, included Pherecydes (mid-fifth century BCE), Demon (c. Plutarch's avowed purpose is to construct a life that parallels the Life of Romulus, the founding myth of Rome. Plutarch's Life of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of the death of the Minotaur, Theseus' escape, how Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, fell in love with Theseus, and his betrayal of her.
Pausanias reports that after synoikismos, Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite ('Aphrodite of all the People') on the southern slope of the Acropolis. As the unifying king, he is credited with building a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis. He then goes on to unite Attica under Athenian rule: the synoikismos ('dwelling together'). The most famous legend about Theseus is his slaying of the Minotaur, half man and half bull. When he reaches Athens, he finds that Aegeus is married to Medea (formerly wife of Jason), who plots against him. He is raised by his mother, Aethra, and when he discovers his connection to Aegeus travels overland to Athens, having many adventures on the way. Theseus is sometimes described as the son of Aegeus, King of Athens, and sometimes as the son of the god Poseidon. The myths surrounding Theseus – his journeys, exploits, and friends – have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus ( UK: / ˈ θ iː sj uː s/, US: / ˈ θ iː s i ə s/ Greek: Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens.
0 kommentar(er)
