Chapter Fifteen, Lecture Two

Theseus

The Begetting of Theseus

The Begetting of Theseus

• Aegeus, a king of Athens, had no sons

• Delphi: do not open the wine skins until you return home

• At Troezen, Pittheus understands the prophecy

• Sends his daughter Aethra

• Poseidon also gets involved

The Begetting of Theseus

• The sword and the sandal

The Labors of Theseus

1. Periphetes, the Clubber

2. Sinis, the Pinebender

3. Cormmyonian sow

4. Sciron

5. Circyon

6. Procrustes

Arrival at Athens

• Under a spell cast by Medea, Aegeus doesn’t realize that this is his son

• Aegeus sends him out to kill a bull on the plains of Marathon

• Then she tries to poison him, but Aegeus recognizes his own sword in time – Medea flees

Theseus and Antiopê

Theseus and Antiopê

• On his way back from his adventure in Crete with the Minotaur (Chapter 16), Theseus forgets to change the ship’s flag to white

• Aegeus drowns himself in the sea (Aegean Sea)

Theseus and Antiopê

• Athens is “founded” again with Theseus’s wise reforms– Synoicism– Festival: Panathenaia– social reforms: classes– assembly

Theseus and Antiopê

• Goes off in search of more adventure– Abducts the Queen of the Amazons: Hippolyta

or Antiopê

• Leads to an Amazonomachy in Athens– The Areopagus

The Amazons

The Amazons

• Mythic homeland is north of the Black Sea (southern modern-day Russia)– a mazos ?– constructed the temple to Artemis at

Ephesus?

• A purely myth invention– the world turned upside down

The Amazons

• Contrary to the ideal for the Athenian woman– Always defeated by Greek heroes

• Given political significance after the Battle of Marathon– The Amazonomachy identified with the

Athenian victory over the Persians

Theseus and Hippolytus

Theseus and Hippolytus

• Remarries to Phaedra, a daughter of Minos

• Their son is Hippolytus

• Story told by Euripides in his Hippolytus

• Hippolytus worships only Artemis and neglects Aphrodite

• Aphrodite makes Phaedra, his mother-in-law, lust after him

Theseus and Hippolytus

• The slave intermediary

• Hippolytus curses women, but vows not to tell anyone

• Phaedra kills herself, but leaves behind a note for Theseus

• Theseus orders Poseidon to kill Hippolytus

The Folktale of “Potiphar’s Wife”

Folktale of “Potiphar’s Wife

• Story of the Two Brothers– Anubis (not the god)– Bata

• Joseph and Potiphar’s wife

• Bellerophon and the wife of King Proteus

Exploits of Theseus and Pirithoüs

Exploits of Theseus and Pirithoüs

• The Battle of the Centaurs and the Lapiths (at Perithoüs’s wedding to a Hippodamia)

• Caeneus (formerly Caenis)

• The two now seek appropriate wives

Exploits of Theseus and Pirithoüs

• Theseus tries for Helen, but she is too young and is sent away for safekeeping

• The two visit the underworld for Pirithoüs’s choice: Persephonê

• They are trapped but Theseus is eventually rescued by Heracles

Death of Theseus

Death of Theseus

• Lost favor of the people of Athens and expelled by Menestheus of Athens

• Fled to Scyros, King Lycomedes

• Killed by the king

Myth and Propaganda

Myth and Propaganda

• Theseus originally a minor figure

• Becomes more important with the rise of Athens beginning in the 6th century– Theseïs

• Expansion and popularization begins with Pisistratus– Uses Theseus to glorify his own

accomplishments for the city

Myth and Propaganda

• After the Pisistratid dynasty fell from popularity, Theseus remade again– To a hero of democracy and the defender of

freedom

• Cimon (son of Miltiades) – Modeled some of his career leading the

Athenian rise to empire after Theseus– The “bones” of Theseus; new festivals to

Theseus; leader of Ionian Greeks against Sparta

End