Theseus (Mythology)

Theseus (UK: /ˈθiːsjuːs/, US: /ˈθiːsiəs/; Greek: Θησεύς [tʰɛːsěu̯s]) was a divine hero and the founder of Athens from Greek mythology. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. He is notable for killing the Minotaur, but also abandoning his wife, Ariadne on the island and marrying her sister, Phaedra. 
==Myths==
===Birth and early years===
===The Six Labours===
===Medea, the Marathonian Bull, Androgeus, and the Pallantides===
===Theseus and the Minotaur===
===Ship of Theseus ===
===Theseus and Pirithous ===
====Abduction of Persephone and encounter with Hades====
===Phaedra and Hippolytus===
===Other stories and death of Theseus===
==Powers and Abilities==
==In Other Media==
===Literature===
*Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus at Colonus features Theseus as a major character.
*Euripides' tragedy Hippolytus and Seneca's Phaedra revolve around the death of Theseus' son.
*In Geoffrey Chaucer's epic chivalric romance "The Knight's Tale", one of the Canterbury Tales, Theseus is the duke of Athens, husband of Ypolita, and protector of Emelye, Ypolita's sister, for whom the two knights of Thebes, Arcite and Palamon, do battle.
*Jakob Ayrer wrote the play Theseus (1618).
*Racine's Phèdre (1677) features Theseus as well as Hippolytus and the title character Phaedra.
*Theseus is a prominent character as the Duke of Athens in William Shakespeare's plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Hippolyta also appears in both plays.
*In the 1898 short novel The Story of Perseus and the Gorgon's Head the mythical story of Theseus is described.
* F. L. Lucas's epic poem Ariadne (1932) is an epic reworking of the Labyrinth myth: Aegle, one of the sacrificial maidens who accompany Theseus to Crete, is Theseus's sweetheart, the Minotaur is Minos himself in a bull-mask, and Ariadne, learning on Naxos of Theseus's earlier love for Aegle, decides to leave him for the Ideal [Dionysus].
*André Gide's Thésée (1946) is a fictional autobiography where the mythical hero of Athens, now elderly, narrates his life story from his carefree youth to his killing of the Minotaur.
*Mary Renault's The King Must Die (1958) is a dramatic retelling of the Theseus legend from his childhood in Troizen until the return from Crete to Athens. While fictional, it is generally faithful to the spirit and flavor of the best-known variations of the original story. The sequel is The Bull from the Sea (1962), about the hero's later career.
*Evangeline Walton's historical fiction novel The Sword Is Forged (1983) chronicles the story of Theseus and Antiope.
*Fran Ross' 1974 novel Oreo draws heavily from the Theseus myth.
*Stephen Dobyns wrote the poem Theseus within the Labyrinth (1986) which provides a retelling of the myth of Ariadne, Theseus and the Minotaur, in particular the feelings of Ariadne.
*In issue No. 12 of the Fright Night comic series, entitled Bull-Whipped, Theseus and the Minotaur are resurrected by the comic's Aunt Claudia Hinault, who is the reincarnation of Ariadne.
*Kir Bulychov's 1993 book An Attempt on Theseus' Life (Russian: Покушение на Тезея) is about a plot to assassinate a man during a virtual reality tour in which he lives through Theseus' life.
*Aleksey Ryabinin's book Theseus: The story of ancient gods, goddesses, kings, and warriors (2018) provides a retelling of the myths of Theseus, Aegeus, Minotaur, Ariadne, Pirithous and other personages of Greek mythology.
*Troy Denning's 1996 novel Pages of Pain features an amnesic Theseus fighting to recover his past while interacting with some of the more colorful beings of the Planescape universe.
*Steven Pressfield's novel Last of the Amazons (2002) attempts to situate Theseus's meeting and subsequent marriage to Antiope, as well as the ensuing war, in a historically plausible setting.
*Jorge Luis Borges presents a variation of the myth in a short story, "The House of Asterion" (Spanish: "La Casa de Asterión").
*British comedian Tony Robinson wrote a version of the Theseus story entitled Theseus: Super Hero.
* In Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, set in a very distant future, the protagonist reads a story which appears to blend the myth of Theseus with the story of Battle of Hampton Roads - presumably because of a confusion between the Minotaur and the USS Monitor. (In this version, the Theseus character is now a student's son.)
===Movies===
* Fictionalized versions of Theseus and the Minotaur appear in the 1960 Italian sword-and-sandal film Teseo contro il Minotauro and the 2006 horror film Minotaur.
*The film Immortals (2011), a unique and modernized adaptation of the legend, features Henry Cavill as Theseus in a battle to save humanity from the evil man-King Hyperion, who seeks to release imprisoned Titans to contest the Gods.
*Theseus appears as the main protagonist of the 2011 film, Immortals
===TV===
* Theseus appears in the The StoryTeller: Greek Myths episode "Theseus and the Minotaur."
*He also appears in Hercules, an animated series based off the Disney film. He is from the episode; "Hercules and the Grim Avenger". He was voiced by Eric Stoltz.
===Literature ===
*Theseus ghost appears to Nico in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth. The warrior tells him not to trust Minos. He looked about the same age as Percy which at that time was 14. They also mention that Theseus is the son of Poseidon and that Aegeus is his stepfather, thus making him Percy's half-brother. Percy also slayed the Minotaur. Theseus, like Percy, inherited their father's green eyes. In The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson also fought Procrustes and killed him the same way. He also appears in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods which is a retelling of Greek myths but with Percy Jackson's sarcasm.
===Video Games===
===Comics===
Category:Greek Mythology characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Immortals
Category:Live-action characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Immortals characters
Category:Protagonists