Transcript Theseus

Theseus
Athenian black figure kylix cup, c. 550 BCE
• How do earlier myths about Theseus in the
archaic period (8th to mid 5th c. BCE) differ
later myths (last quarter of mid 5th c. BCE
onward)?
• What might be a reason for these changes?
• How does Theseus compare with Heracles?
Earlier myths about Theseus
(archaic period, 8th-mid 6th c. BCE) in
Homeric poems, early lyric, art
• Abduction of women (Helen with Perithous,
Ariadne)
• Killing of monsters (fight against Centaurs with
Perithous, killing of Minotaur)
• Do not seem to have a specifically Athenian
context
Later myths about Theseus (last
quarter of 6th c. BCE and onward)
• Exploits of Theseus begin to be juxtaposed with those
of Heracles: what are some comparisons between
them and their labors?
• Myths about Theseus making world safer, civilizing,
killing of bandits, specifically on road between Troezen
(Peloponnese) and Athens (e.g. Sciron, Sinis the
Pinebender, Procrustes and his beds, Cercyon)
• Myths about protection of refugees and exiles
(Oedipus, Medea, Adrastus)
• Closely identified with Athens and Athenian identity
Map of Theseus’ labors in the Isthmus and Megarid (territory
between Peloponnese and Attica)
Heracles and Theseus and ethnic
connections
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Identification of Heracles and his descendants (Heraclids) with Dorian ethnos
(“tribe, group”), found mainly in Peloponnese.
Gradual identification of Theseus with Athens and the Athenians (ethnic Ionians),
myth crediting him with unification of villages and towns of Attica into Athenian
state and role in festival of Synoikismos (“living together”, “unification”): see
Plutarch reading (Anthology, pp. 376-377)
myths showing him simultaneously as ideal monarch and proto-democratic leader,
claimed by tyrants (Peisistratids), oligarchs, and democrats (cf. figure of Lincoln).
See also Plutarch reading (Anthology, pp. 376-377)
Myths showing him as protector of refugees (e.g. Oedipus from Thebes, a city that
was a major opponent of the Athenians, esp. in Peloponnesian War)
Bones of Theseus “found” on island of Scyros in 476 BCE, brought to Athens and
buried as hero with hero cult
Increasing hostilities between Dorian Peloponnesian league (mainly Sparta) and
Athenians and their allies in the 5th c. BCE, culminating in Peloponnesian War (431404 BCE) means Heracles and Theseus become increasingly identified with
Peloponnesian and Athenian identities.
Ancestry of three main Greek ethnic
groups
• Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, eponymous
ancestor of the Hellenes (Greeks)
• Has three sons:
• Xouthos, grandfather of Ion, eponymous ancestor
of Ionian Greeks (of which Athenians are a part)
• Doros, eponymous ancestor of the Dorian Greeks
(mainly Peloponnesians, including Spartans)
• Aiolos/Aeolus, eponymous ancestor of the
Aeolian Greeks (including Boeotians, Thessalians,
Aeolians)
Lincoln claimed by the left. Details from the mural “The Struggle Against Racial
Discrimination” by Pablo O’Higgins (1945), now hanging outside Kane 220. Note figure of
Lincoln on left, paired with figure in lower right wearing Communist party emblem of
hammer and sickle
Lincoln claimed by the right.
Birth of Theseus
• King Aegeus of Athens, son of Pandion II, and lack of
son and heir.
• Consultation of Delphic oracle and the reply: “The
projecting mouth of the wineskin, O best of men,
loose not until you come to the Athenians’ peak.”
• Interpretation of the oracle and the kunodesmê
(“dog-knot”)
• Night at Pittheus’ in Troezen, encounter with P’s
daughter, Aethra, double impregnation by Aegeus
and Poseidon (cf. Heracles).
Wineskins
The kunodesmê
Theseus cont’d
• Burial of sword and sandals under stone by Aegeus.
• Coming of age of Theseus, journey to Athens via the
Isthmus and the six labors:
• 1. Periphetes of the iron club (Epidaurus)
• 2. Sinis pityokamptês (“pine-bender”) (Isthmus of
Corinth)
• 3. Crommyonian Sow
• 4. Sc(e)iron the footwasher, flesh-eating turtle
(Megara)
• 5. Cercyon the wrestler (Eleusis)
• 6. Procrustes [“the one who beats or hammers out”]
(called Damastes [“the subduer”] or Polypemon [“the
one who inflicts much pain”] in Apollodorus) and his
bed(s).
Aethra reveals to Theseus the hiding place of the sword and sandals of Aegeus
Map of Theseus’ labors in the Isthmus and Megarid (territory
between Peloponnese and Attica)
Theseus’ Isthmian
labours. In the centre,
Th. and the Minotaur.
Instead of Periphetes
and the iron club, this
version has Th. and the
bull of Marathon (which
in some versions is the
Cretan bull that
Heracles captured and
let go)
Theseus in Athens
• Evil stepmother Medea (see Jason and the
Argonauts, later), new wife of Aegeus.
• Labor of Marathonian bull (in some versions
the Cretan bull captured by Heracles, escapes
again)
• Attempted poisoning and final recognition by
Aegeus through sword.
• Minotaur episode
Minotaur myth
• Rape of Europa, d. of Agenor, by Zeus in bull form.
• Minos, son of Europa, and rivalry for the throne,
Poseidon and the bull from the sea.
• Pasiphae, w. of Minos, and her passion for the bull,
device of Athenian exile Daedalus (Gr. daidalos
“intricate, cunning”), construction of the labyrinth.
• Death of Minos’ son Androgeos in Athens and the
imposition of tribute.
Europa abducted by Zeus in the
form of a bull. Clockwise:
Roman wall painting, Greek relief
from archaic period, Titian (16th
c.)
clockwise: Bronze age fresco
from Knossos showing bullleaping, coin from Roman
period showing labyrinth of
Knossos, Roman mosaic
showing labyrinth with
Theseus and Minotaur at
centre.
Aerial View of the bronze-age Mycenaean palace at
Knossos (1600-1200 BCE), Crete
L: Roman wall painting, Daedalus instructs Pasiphae in use of cow decoy. R:
Athenian red figure vase painting shows P. and baby Minotaur
Theseus and Minotaur
• Tribute demanded by Minos: seven young men and
seven unmarried girls [parthenoi] from the Athenians
• Theseus’ dive and the wreath of Amphitritê as
recounted by Bacchylides (Anthology, pp. 69-72) and
context of poem (choral dance on Delos)
• Slaying of Minotaur with help of Ariadne and
elopement to island of Naxos/Dia
• Question of abandonment by Theseus: alternate
versions and marriage to Dionysus.
• Return to Athens via Delos (island of Apollo) and the
Crane Dance (geranos).
• Theseus’ grief (or forgetfulness?), the sail, and the
death of Aegeus.
Theseus and Minotaur
Ariadne on Naxos (1). L: Athenian red figure lekythos, c. 460 BCE. Athena, Theseus, Ariadne.
Small winged figure of Hypnos (“Sleep”) on Ariadne’s head. R: Theseus, Athena, Dionysus,
Ariadne
Theseus is summoned away from Ariadne by Hermes.
Hypnos (sleep) watches over Ariadne. Burgeoning vine
indicates presence of Dionysus. Athenian red figure
kylix, c. 490 BCE
Ariadne on Naxos (2)
L: Pompeian wall painting, before 79 CE. R: Ariadne and the retinue of Bacchus
(Dionysus). Oil painting by Titian, 1525 CE
l. Possible depiction of Crane Dance on 7th c. BC storage
vessel r. Modern Greek dance tsakonikos, said by some to
be remnant of Crane Dance.
Elements of initiation paradigm in
Theseus and Minotaur myth?
• Theseus travels to far
land.
• Overcomes death and
monster.
• Has amorous
adventure.
• Returns as king
• Initiate driven from
home
• Undergoes mock death
• Undergoes sexual
experience
• Return of initiate to
society as adult
Theseus’ Return
• Theseus and Antiope, subsequent Amazonomachy and
invasion of Athens.
• Subsequent hero cult attached to Amazon graves.
• Theseus and Hippolytus, Phaedra
• Theseus and Pirithous, battle of Lapiths and Centaurs
(centauromachy), abduction of Helen (note connection
with Trojan War myth cycle) by Theseus and Persephone
by Pirithous. Encounter with Heracles in the underworld.
• Exile and death of Theseus on Skyros. Motif of the
lawgiver-hero (cf. Lycurgus of Sparta)
• Theseus as Athenian hero and founder of synoikismos,
major festivals.
• Theseus as hero of both Peisitratid (family of tyrants)
regime and democracy, Cimon and the bones of Theseus
Clockwise: Abduction of Antiope, centaurs at marriage of
Pirithous, ditto, Theseus assisted in the underworld by Heracles