Theseus

**Theseus** is a hero from Greek myth. The son of Aethra and Aegeus or/and Poseidon, the founding hero of Athens, he features in many myths and *Miscellaneous Myths* videos.

## Miscellaneous Myths

### The Minotaur

Sometime after King Minos of Crete demanded Athens send him young men and women to be devoured by the Minotaur, Theseus decided to intervene. Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, saw him and fell in love with him immediately, so she gave him a ball of thread in order not to lose his way in the labyrinth. Theseus entered the maze, found the Minotaur in its center, and decapitated him, and with the help of Ariadne's clew, he was able to find his way back.

King Minos was livid with the death of the Minotaur, so Theseus took Ariadne and the other Athenians and escaped Crete. On Naxos however, Theseus abandoned a sleeping Ariadne for no reason, with later versions claiming it was a god who had forced him to.

Additionally, although not shown, he accidentally made his father Aegeus kill himself when he forgo to swap the black sails of his ship to white ones, making Aegeus believe he had been killed by the Minotaur.

### Hippolytus

After Hippolytus, Theseus' son by Hippolyta, rejects the advances of his stepmother and Theseus' wife Phaedra, she goes to Theseus and accuses Hippolytus of trying to rape her. Alternatively, she commits suicide and it's her suicide note that carries the accusation. In any version, Theseus is enraged, and asks his father Poseidon to punish his son for the crime of rape (prompting Poseidon to ask whether rape isn't a crime). Poseidon sends a sea monster to spook Hippolytus' horses, who drag him to his death.

### Aphrodite

In the Aphrodite video, the Hippolytus episode is briefly recounted once more, as an example of Aphrodite punishing those who reject love, her domain.

### Theseus and Pirithous

Theseus and his buddy Pirithous decided that both deserved a daughter of Zeus each as brides. Theseus chose (and abducted) Helen of Troy, who was only twelve at the time, so Theseus would have to wait several years to actually marry her.

Meanwhile, Pirithous chose Persephone. Theseus went with him to the Underworld to abduct the Queen of the Dead, where they met Hades, her husband. Hades invited them over for dinner, but as soon as they sat down, snakes tied Theseus and Pirithous to their seats, as Hades unleashed the Furies on them.

### Heracles

When Heracles kills Hippolyta in order to take her girdle, he apologizes to her, but she replies that it's OK, as she will have to be alive to marry Theseus later anyway.

For his last labour, Heracles was tasked to go to the Underworld and take Cerberus. There he found Theseus and Pirithous, still tied to their seats. He freed Theseus, though not Theseus' butt cheeks, which stayed there. When Heracles tried to free Pirithous as well, the earth shook, and Heracles took it as a sign that he should leave Pirithous there.

### Medea

In some versions, Theseus and his buddy Pirithous join Jason as Argonauts, while in others they're already stuck in Hades.

When Jason tries to persuade Medea to help him, he compares the two of them to Ariadne and Theseus.

After Medea escapes Corinth, having murdered her children, she goes to Athens where she marries Aegeus, but is soon driven away after she tries to poison Aegeus' son Theseus.

## Physical Appearance

Theseus has long hair and wears a red chiton.

## Appearances

Theseus and Pirithous

Heracles

Hippolytus

Aphrodite

The Minotaur

Medea

## Note

1. ↑ The idea of Theseus not ending up with Ariadne due to reasons beyond his power isn't however some sort of ret-con in order to make him look better; in the oldest surviving source we have, the *Odyssey*, it's said that Theseus took Ariadne to Athens and married her there, only for Artemis to kill her on Dionysus' witness. Versions where Theseus abandoned her all came afterwards.