Theseus Research Paper

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

The Minotaur, meaning Minos bull, was “a monster of dire appearance, having the body of a powerful man and the head of a bull” (Seltman 98). Against his newfound father’s request, Theseus leaves Athens in hopes of returning victorious against the bull-headed beast. In a heroic fashion, Theseus leaps over the next step in Campbell’s hero journey and never refuses his call to adventure. The next step to any hero’s journey is an encounter with a super natural aid, but Theseus’ story takes a moral mentor to gather resources needed for the rest of his journey (Robertson 269). Theseus encounters his unlikely mentor upon arriving to Crete; Minos daughter, Ariadne, instructs Theseus to take a ball of linen with him into the labyrinth in order to trace back his steps after defeating the Minotaur (Martin 129). Crossing the threshold, Theseus ties one end of his ball of linen to the front door and journeys into the unconquerable maze and towards the beast (129). Theseus passes through his first trial of navigating the labyrinth inwards with ease straight into danger. Walking

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

Relationships between gods and mortals are vital to Greek culture. Hippolytus, as strongly devoted as he is to the goddess Artemis, fails to show respect to the goddess of sexuality, Aphrodite. Aphrodite initially describes Hippolytus as, “an arrogant young man who should be punished for his contempt for [Aphrodite’s] world.” (Halleran, 274) His constant disrespect of the goddess results in Aphrodite’s scheme to ultimately get Hippolytus killed. Although Hippolytus has the support of the goddess Artemis, Aphrodite’s scheme to have Hippolytus killed ultimately triumphs, relating the play to Greek culture, implying the gods ultimately decide all mortals’ fate. Another god who impacts the life of Hippolytus is Poseidon, father of Theseus. Poseidon grants Theseus three wishes, and does Theseus well by fulfilling the curse Theseus wishes for his son; the curse of death. Evidently, Poseidon, although knowing Theseus may be making a decision he will regret, grants Theseus his wish, representing the strong relationship between Theseus and Poseidon. The relationships

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.

During the difficult journey Odysseus went through, he solely relied on his strong courage to get through the hard times. When Odysseus and his crew met the cyclopes, he was very intimidating, one because he was much larger than the humans and he could easily kill them all. “His hands reached out and seized two of them, and smashed them to the ground like puppies” Odysseus was surely frightened by this act but, he showed no fear and instead he made a plan to slay the “pitiless hearted” cyclopes.

He truly follows and believes in his sworn oath as a knight. For instance, at the beginning of the story he accepts the challenge from the widows and goes after creon to exact revenge. “So far as it should lie within his might, he would take vengeance on this tyrant King”. He couldn’t refuse them because he felt as if his control was being threatened and wanted to bring peace to the civil unrest. Another trait of Theseus is his ability to think before ruling. He doesn't simply spit out laws and consequences, but relates and connects to the situation, which allows him to find the best solution to these problems. Theseus’s main goal when solving his situation is to bring justice without threatening the protection of his kingdom . An example is shown when he allows Arcita and Palamon to fight for Emily, but under his supervision and circumstances. Theseus want to able to end the conflict between Arcita and Palamon, by letting them settle it out under his rules and supervision he is able to find a resolution to this disorder while still being able to maintain control. All of these examples support the parallel of Theseus to Jupiter. Chaucer even compares Theseus to a god on the morning of the battle. He writes, “ Throned in a window giving on a pleasance, Sat theseus like a god in panoply”. Chaucer recognizes Theseus’s actions and purpose and relates them to a figure of higher being. Although Theseus’s power to control is limited he does all in his ability to bring peace and order into his

Theseus also defeated the Minotaur with ease, and the Athenians celebrated him for it. The difference between the heroes is how they were celebrated. Lancelot had a feast was held in his honour. The feast lead to another line of story surrounding a highly sought after item presented to him, the Holy Grail. Theseus, alternatively, was celebrated by the fellow captives, and eventually

Theseus must face seven of the most terrorizing adversaries on his way to Athens. His first enemy was Periphetes, a vicious, dangerous man that used his club to murder his victims. Theseus, as a hero, defeated him by using the club against Periphetes and kill him. The young hero’s second enemy was Sinis, remarkably robust and ripped the victim in two by bending two pine trees down and tying the victim. Theseus’ third opponent was a giant sow who was terrorizing the countryside, and he killed it. The fourth adversary was Sciron who made his victims fall off the cliff while he forced them to clean his feet. When he kicked Theseus, Theseus went quickly to the other side and the power of Scion's kick made him all off the cliff. Theseus’ fifth opponent

Theseus is the child of Aegeus, Poseidon, and Aethra which is odd, having three parents but that is part of what it means to be a hero. Graves shows the birth of Theseus in “The Greek Myths” as such, "…Medea made him [Aegeus] swear a solemn oath that he would shelter her from all enemies if she ever sought refuge at Athens, and undertook in return to procure him a son by magic… Pittheus, therefore, grieving at her [Aethra] enforced virginity, and influenced by the spell which Medea was casting on all of them from afar, made Aegeus drunk and sent him to bed with Aethra… Later in the same

When he is there, he is almost sacrificed by being poisoned by Lady Medea, but the cup of poisoned wine is knocked away. “As my mouth touched it, I felt it plucked from my hands” (Renault 125). The reason he was going to be killed was to break the curse plaguing Athens that was brought upon by Aigeus’s grandfather. Aigeus weeps after Theseus discovers the king’s plan, but Theseus understands why he was supposed to die and feels that it is his duty to rule Athens to make up for the curse. Theseus inherits the curse, however, and his own son dies. However, the death of his son is the cause for the renewal of Athens and the lifting of the

A Black Figure Amphora attributed to the Antimenes painter (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) of c. 520 B.C. portrays a composite view of mythological scene between the fight of Theseus slaying a Minotaur, an anthropomorphic figure based on a half human, half bull creature that “devoured young Athenians.” According to the description of the work, “the monster lived in a labyrinth which was designed by a clever inventor Daedulus” who is standing on the left side, next to the Minotaur. Another viewer, on the right side, next to Theseus, is the Princess Ariadne “who helped Theseus escape the maze by following a ball of thread.” In reverse to that, the divine hero, Hercules is driving a chariot while holding a spear, facing him is a woman with curly

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

Thesëus mercifully agrees to to get vengeance on the tyrant Creon, who “[set] his dogs to eat” the women’s husbands instead of burying them. Theseus’ mercy did not reach so far, as he went to Thebes to fight and slay Creon “manfully, like knight, / [i]n open war” (26-27).