The King: The Myth Of Theseus

Odysseus’s love for Penelope has not been changed even though he spends almost eight years with goddesses. When Odysseus meet his mother in the House of Death, he asks her about his family and royal rights. His shows the values of kingship for him as he says, “do my royal rights still lie in their safekeeping?” (XI.269). So let’s look to the feeling of kingship that is internalized within him due to a period of hardship.

In ancient Greece, Theseus would be considered a hero because he was courageous while also being kind. Even as a small child, Theseus showed great courage. For example, when he was a young boy and was looking for his father, he chose travel by land instead of by sea because the land was more dangerous. The land was more dangerous because there were many bandits along the way, but Theseus wanted to become a hero as quickly as possible, so he traveled by land and killed every bandit along the way. Greeks would have valued this courage because in ancient Greece, people greatly admired brave and powerful heroes who wouldn't back down from any challenge. Although Theseus was brave, he was also kind to others. This is why he convinced Hercules not to kill himself after he murdered his family under the influence of Hera. Many other people would’ve agreed with Hercules ending his own life for what he’d done, but Theseus knew that it wasn’t his fault, and that suicide was not the right way. The ancient greeks would have valued this because ancient greece was a violent and dangerous, so someone who was kind and gentle and was also strong was person to be respected.

Theseus, born of Aethra and Poseidon, grew up secretly in Troezen keeping him protected from those who would harm him. Thus, claiming the items his father left him and setting out for Athens, he started on the path leading to many great and heroic adventures.

Now Theseus is older and is in his father’s palace in Athens, the fame seeking youth decided to set his sights on a new journey. A journey which would lead to him being loved and remembered by all the people of Athens. During this time Athens had a severe problem, the neighboring island Crete would attack them every so often. The king of Athens decided to try and compromise with Crete. He stated if Crete left Athens alone for nine years they would send fourteen Athenian youths seven male and seven females as a sacrifice to Minos to be fed to the Minotaur king Minos pet. The king of Athens goal was to build a strong navy, so they could defend themselves from Crete. Surprisingly the king of Crete Mino kept his word and never attacked Athens. Now nine years had come, and it was Athens turn to keep their word. The king of Athens was conflicted as he knew the value of keeping one's word. Theseus seeing this as the perfect opportunity to earn new fame and liken his image in Athens volunteered as the seventh male Athenian youth. Theseus’s goal is to slay the Minotaur and save his fellow Athenians. Theseus promises his father, he will return alive and when he does, he will change the color of the sail on the ship from white to black. In the event the sails stay black his father should assume Theseus has met his demise. After the Athenians arrive in Crete they are welcomed by King Mino’s and princess Ariadne, upon seeing

Theseus, the newly found prince of Athens, embarks on several hero journeys including on against Minos’ Minotaur and the Labyrinth. Joseph Campbell’s representation of the hero’s journey fully encompasses Theseus’ narrative throughout his quest to defeat the Minotaur. Beginning with a call to adventure on through the crossing of the threshold and on to the reward and resurrection. Compared to Rank’s hero’s journey which includes a revelation and transformation with atonement, Campbell’s process fits more precisely to Theseus’ story.

He trains them, strengthening their skill and power. He shows his true leadership, becoming a sort of teacher to them. When they arrive at Knossos, he tries to convince King Minos to let the tributes go. He is not only thinking for himself, but for his people. Minos refuses, but Theseus is still set on fighting the bull, not for the glory now, but so others will not have to be killed. His mindset has practically switched, instead of being self-pitying, he is now selfless. Theseus successfully slays the Minotaur, and takes his tributes and the two of Minos’ daughters home. He is so happy, “drunk with strength and joy,” that he forgets a promise he made to his father. When he was leaving Athens, he swore that if he killed the beast and made it back alive, he would change his sail from black cloth to white. Theseus forgets to change the black sail, and his father, under the assumption that Theseus is dad, jumps off a cliff, killing himself. This makes Theseus the king, and he unites many City-states in Greece, and eventually takes King Minos’s kingdom as well. He rules as a fair and wise king, and many people look up to and respect

The Minotaur, half man half bull, lived in Crete. Trapped in a labyrinth, constructed by the great Daedalus, the king of Crete, King Minos, demanded a tribute of seven boys and seven girls from Athens to satisfy the Minotaur’s savage hunger. But one year, Minos was deceived, for a new hero arose, Theseus, son of Aegeus, Prince of Athens. He won over the heart of Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, and used her ball of string to venture into the labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. After a hard-fought grapple within the lair of the minotaur, the beast fell to the sword of Aegeus, which Theseus had smuggled into the maze. Using the string, he found his way back out. The Labyrinth went underground, void of life, never to be seen again.

Finally, the Greek hero Theseus can be compared to the modern fictional Hero arrow through the final stage of the hero’s journey, which is the hero’s return. In the T.V. show, Arrow Oliver Queen returns to his home of starling city when he is eventually found on a remote island, which comes as a surprise to everyone in Starling City because he was presumed dead for many years. He turns into a vigilante and becomes known as the Arrow. He fights, to save his city from crime, and corruption using the skills he acquired on the island, and becomes known as a robin hood like figure by the people of Starling City, his return was fuelled by a desire to save his city. In Theseus’s return, he returns to the city of Athens where which is ruled by his

Theseus’ quest hoped to end the unnecessary sacrifices, but caused another. Theseus’ father, Aegeus was the King of Athens. Aegeus put a sword and shoes in a hole under a boulder, when Theseus could lift the stone, he was old enough to become the heir. Theseus was successful and traveled to Athens by land, a perilous route, killing all the bandits. Upon arrival at Athens he was praised and invited to the King’s dinner. Aegeus recognized his sword in Theseus’ hand and declared Theseus as his son and the heir. Every nine years the Minotaur took fourteen victims into his Labyrinth and Theseus was determined to end the cycle. He offered to be a victim, with a plan to kill the beast. In exchange for a marriage, Theseus received a ball of yarn along

Because Minos was ungrateful to the gods, Poseidon, the god of the sea, punished the king by making his wife fall in love with a bull. “At the request of the queen, Daedalus built a lifelike model of a cow in which she could conceal herself and spend time with her beloved bull” ("Daedalus." UXL Encyclopedia of World Mythology.). As a result, the queen gave birth to the Minotaur, a monstrous creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull. King Minos ordered Daedalus to design a prison for the Minotaur, so Daedalus built one of the most famous structures of Greek mythology, the Labyrinth. “The labyrinth was so skillfully designed that no one could escape from the maze” ("Daedalus." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2014)). King Minos forced the city of Athens to annually send 7 boys and 7 girls as tributes to Crete, so they could be given to the Minotaur as food. The king’s daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with one of these doomed tributes, named Theseus. In order to help them, Daedalus gave Theseus a ball of string so that he could tie the string to the entrance of the maze, kill the Minotaur, and follow the string back out. King Minos knew that Daedalus was behind the scheme, so he imprisoned both Daedalus and his son, Icarus, in the Labyrinth. Daedalus was too clever for the king, however, and he fashioned two pairs of wings out of feathers and wax for him and his son to fly out of

Theseus & Joseph: Hero Cycle Both Theseus and Joseph are archetyp classic heroes, whose lives and adventures become a template of the mythical hero cycle. The Hero cycle is a basic pattern used in many narratives. It includes the birth, gcall, crossing the threshold, a mentor, struggles and trials, the goal and the return. Joseph and Theseus, both fit in the hero cycle if you look at their stories.

Theseus’s first encounter with sacrifice is the slaying of the King Horse when he is only seven years old. He is terrified when he sees the King Horse slaughtered before his own eyes. Theseus describes his feelings as he sees the horse killed: “That blood seemed to tear the soul out of my breast, as if my own heart had shed it” (Renault 11). Although his mother assures him that the horse has been returned to Mother Dia, the earth goddess, Theseus still grieves for the horse as he saw it as his own brother. The Horse Sacrifice is an act of renewal for the people of Troizen, for long ago the King Horse led the Hellenes to the land near the

In the story about the Minotaur he was mistreated. He was the offspring of the Cretan Queen Pasiphae and a majestic bull. Due to the curse Posedion put on Minos by making his wife Pasiphae fall in love with his white bull. Daedalus and his son Icarus built a giant maze to hold the Minotaur close to Minos’ palace in Knossos. The Minotaur was considered a monster or a beast as other people would say.

of Theseus and more specifically the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth. The

Introduced as “a conqueror…greater” than any other “beneath the sun,” Thesëus, the wise and chivalrous lord Athens, is a merciful and noble duke (Chaucer 24). As a wise and noble leader, Thesëus, with a “heart of pity,” mends the ailments of his people, “ as he [is] a true knight.” (26).