Transcript Theseus - Ms. Garrison

 Theseus: Great Athenian Hero
 Aegeus: Theseus’s father, ruler of Athens
 Minos: Powerful ruler of Crete, lost his only
son Androgeus
 Minotaur: Belonged to Minos, slayed by
Theseus
 Ariadne: Mino’s daughter who fell in love
with Theseus, helped him get his way out
with Golden Thread. She marries him but
dies on the return to Athens.
 Antiope/Hippolyta: From the Amazon, had a
kid with Theseus
 Hippolytus: Son of Theseus
 Pirithous: Theseus’s friend, adventurous,
got trapped in underworld.
 Phaedra: Ariadne’s sister, marries Theseus
Ariadne
 Theseus grew up with his mother, but his father was
Aegeus, King of Athens. Before Theseus was born, The
King placed his sword and shoes behind some stone.
Aegeus said that when his child grew strong enough to
move the stone, that then the child could search for
him. Aegeus would claim the child as his if the child
succeeded in finding him.
 Textual Evidence – “…so that when his mother
finally took him to the stone he lifted it with
no trouble at all” (209).
 Theseus was able to move the stone without
any difficulty.
 Theseus was offered a ship to
take to Athens but denied it
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because he thought of it as a
flight from danger and he wanted
to be great like his cousin

Hercules
 Made his way to Athens via roads
controlled by bandits
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 Theseus killed them just as they
had killed people
Sciron was thrown over a
precipice just as he had kicked
people into the sea
Sinis was killed just as he had
killed people: tied to 2 pine trees
bent to the ground and let go
Procrustes was placed upon an
iron bed and stretched/cut so
that he would fit; just as he had
done to people in the past
 Developed a great legacy in
Athens because of these events
 Theseus arrived known as an acknowledged hero.
 He was invited by King Aegeus (who was Theseus’ father but Aegeus didn’t
know) to a banquet.
 Medea the heroine of the golden fleece, and the wife of King Aegeus planned
to poison Theseus because they saw him as a threat to the king’s power.
 But Theseus drew his sword- the sword that King Aegeus had put under a
heavy stone.
 Aegeus immediately recognized the sword and knocked the
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cup with the poison in it out of Theseus’ hand.
Years before Theseus came to Athens a great misfortune
happened.
Minos the ruler of Crete lost his only son Androgeus.
Androgeus was visiting the Athenian king.
King Aegeus would send his guests to kill the bull, but the bull
would always kill the guests/youths.
Minos captured Athens and demanded that every 9 years they
send tributes made up of 7 maidens and 7 youths.
When the tributes got to Crete, they would be fed to the
Minotaur.
 “The minotaur was a monster, half
bull, half human, the offspring of
Mino’s wife Pasiphae and a
wonderfully beautiful bull”(211).
 “Poseidon had given this bull to
Mino’s in order that he should
sacrifice it to him, but Mino’s could
not bear to slay him”(211).
 “Poseidon had made Pasiphae fall
madly in love with it ”(211).
 Theseus offered himself in place of
the tributes.
 With Ariadne's help he used to
Golden thread to retraces his steps in
the Labyrinth. He came up to the
Minotaur when it was asleep. With
his own hands he “battered the
monster to death”(213).
 With the golden thread, he easily
found his way out.
 When taken to Crete, Minos' daughter,
Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus at first
sight and decided to help him if he would
marry her. She forced Daedalus to tell
Theseus how to get out.
 BUT 
After escaping the Labyrinth,
Theseus and Ariadne fled by ship. They
stopped at the island of Naxos, where
Theseus and Ariadne ended up being
separated. There are two stories on what
happened: one she was seasick, went
ashore, and was later found she dead; and
the other, Theseus abanded her and
Dionyus found her and comforted her.
 During his return “Both stories
agree that when he drew near
to Athens he (Theseus) forgot
to hoist the white sail” (213).
 Before he left for Crete,
Theseus told his father if he
lived he would change the
ships sail to white to signal to
his father he survived. But
because Aegeus saw the black
sail he threw himself off a cliff
into the sea, because he had
thought his son had died.
 Theseus then became King of
Athens
 “He told his father … he would have
the black sail which the ship with its
cargo of misery always carried
changed to a white one, so that
Aegeus could know long before it
came to land his son was safe”(212).
 King of Athens
 Let citizens vote
 Wise and disinterested king  All because of Theseus this
 “He did not want to rule
over the; he wanted people's
government where all would
be equal”(215).
 Organized a commonwealth
(an independent country or
community)
 Kept one office for himself:
Commander in Chief (hint:
loved war and was a good
warrior.)
happened : "Athens became,
of all earth's cities, the
happiest and most
prosperous, the only true
home of liberty, the one
place in the world where:
the people governed
themselves ”(215).
 Why? “Theseus led his army
against Thebes, conquered her and
forced her to allow them to be
buried but when he was a victor, he
did not return the evil to the
Thebans for the evil they had done”
(215).
 He was a just and fair knight
 Importance: Since he was
considered the perfect knight, lots
of people looked up to him as a
leader.
 Theseus had many other adventures because he loved the
dangers that came with them.
 Quest : Get Something
 “He (Theseus) was one of the men who sailed on the Argo to
find the Golden Fleece”(216).
 Task: Do something
 “He took part in the great Calydonian Hunt, when the King of
Calydon called upon the noblest in Greece to help him kill the
terrible boar which was laying waste his country”(216).
Amazons
 Theseus could not hold back
his love of danger to he
traveled to the country of the
Amazons, “the women
warriors ”(216).
 Some say Hercules was with
Theseus on this adventure
and some say alone
 “…and brought away one of
them, whose name is given
sometimes Antiope,
sometimes Hippolyta”(216).
 “The Amazons came to rescue
her and invaded Attica, the
country around Athens…They
were finally defeated and no
other enemy entered Attica as
long as Theseus lived”(216).
 Pirithous wanted Persephone, wife of the god Hades , so
he traveled down to the Underworld with Theseus to get
her
 Hades knew of Pirithous’ intentions
 So when Theseus and Pirithous went to the underworld
Hades invited them to sit on the Chair of Forgetfulness.
Hercules only lifted Theseus from the chair.
 Textual Evidence – “whoever sat on it forgot
everything. His mind became a blank and
did not move”(218)
 One of Theseus’s flaws was when he banished his son,
Hippolytus, for allegedly killing his wife. In actuality
Phaedra killed herself for love of her stepson
Hippolytus, who he did not love her back.
 Textual Evidence – “Know all of you that my son laid
violent hands upon my wife”(221).
 The goddess Artemis confronted
Theseus and told him the truth
about what really happened.
Theseus realized that he was
wrong, and felt terrible about
what happened.
 The death of Theseus was very chance, and was not
explained in much detail in the text.
 “He was at the court of a friend, King Lycomedes, where
a few years later Achilles was to hide disguised as a girl
Some say that Theseus had gone there because Athens
had banished him. At all events, the King, his friend and
his host, killed him, we are not told why”(223).
 This is all we know on the death of Theseus
Archetypal Characters
 Theseus: Hero
 He is portayed as “ larger than life”. Theseus has outstanding
qualities like his bravery and he is willing to sacrifice himself for his
people and his society.
 Theseus: Sacrifical Victim
 Theseus is willing to sacrifice himself to the Minotuar opposed to
letting others die unjustly.
 Medea: Villian
 Medean is a villian because she planned to poison Theseus (the
hero) at the banquet.
 She knew who Theseus was.
 Medea wanted Theseas dead because as Queen she didn’t want
Aegeus to lose the throne.
Archetypal Character
 Hades: Trickster
 Hades is a god who played a trick on Theseus and
Pirithous when he deceived them to sit in the Chair of
Forgetfulness.
 Phaedra: Unfaithful Wife
 She fell in love with her stepson
Hippolytus (even though under
Aphrodite's curse).
Archetypal Settings
 Island
 “On the way there they put in at the island of Naxos”(213).
 The island represents isolation which is accurate because
Ariadne was left on the island by herself and also died
there
 Sea
 “where he had watched the sea with
straining eyes .. And he threw himself
down from rocky height into the sea”
Pg
(213).
 The sea represents chaos of the loss of
Ariadne and also the measure of time
because Theseus’s father would look
out the ocean waiting for his son.
Archetypal Symbols
 Colors
 Aphrodite essentially led
 Black ( From the ship’s sail ) Phaedra to kill herself
= Death
 White (From the ship’s sail)
= Life
 Supernatural Intervention
 The gods intervene many
times in this story. For god
and for bad
 Artemis helped Theseus
realize the truth
 Hades’s action left Pirithous
to stay in the Underworld
 Love Conquers All
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and she fell in love with
Love is what lead to Phaedra Theseus … she sent for
Daedalus and told him he
killing herself
“She is dying for love of you,” must show her a way to got
she said.” Give her life. Give out of the labyrinth”(212).
her love for love”(220).
Love is what let to Ariadne
aiding Theseus in killing the
Minotaur
“ Minos’s daughter Ariadne
was among the spectators
 The Wicked Stepmother
 Medea is essentially Theseus’s stepmother,
and she tries to poison him because she
knows who he is, and she didn’t want
Aegeus to lose power
 Rags to Riches/ Transformation
 Before Theseus removed the sword from the stone he was
just a young boy living with his mother, but once he lifted
the stone, he really did become the son of the Athenian
King.
 Courageous/Brave
 Textual Evidence – “And with his fists – he had no other
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weapon – he battered the monster to death”(213).
Self-Sacrificial
Textual Evidence – “At once Theseus came forward and
offered to be one of the victims”(212).
Kindness
Textual Evidence – “When he was a victor he did not return
evil to the Thebans for the evil they had done”(215).
 Wise
 Textual Evidence – Theseus became
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King of Athens the most wise and
disinterested King”(215).
“Protector of the Defenseless”
Textual Evidence - “…..In memory of one
who through his life had been the protector
of the defenseless”(223).
Devoted
“Theseus was devoted to him and always helped him out ”(217).
Determined
Textual Evidence – “…and the determination to be just as magnificent
himself”(209).
 Absentminded
 Textual Evidence – “A violent wind carried him out to sea and
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kept him there a long time on his return he found that
Adriadne had died and he was deeply effected”(213).
Hot Headed
Textual Evidence – “May I die in wretchedness if I am guilty…
“Dead she proves het truth… Go. You are banished from the
land”(221).
Forgetful
Textual Evidence – “Either his joy at the success of his voyage
put every thought out of his head, or his grief for Ariadne. The
black sail was seen by his father”(213).
MAIN POINT: Theseus was
still a great hero despite his
flaws. Through this myth he
learned life comes with
mistakes but not to let
those mistakes take over
your life .
 One of the major lessons in Rhesus's story is to Never
Give Up. Theseus accomplished many thing but not
without a struggle. If Theseus gave up killing the
Minotaur and getting the golden fleece, he wouldn’t be
the great hero that he is known as today.
• Another cultural value
expressed in this myth was
Love and Sacrifice. Theseus’s
love and willingness to
sacrifice has led to him being
known as “The Protector of
The Defenseless”.