Untitled Essay, Research Paper

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In Greek mythology, Theseus can truely be thought of as

the greatest Athenian hero.

He was the son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and Aethra, princess of Troezen,

and daughter of

Pittheus, king of Troezen.

Before Theseus was born his father Aegeus left Aethra

in Troezen of Argolis and

returned to Athens before he was born. But before he left king Aegeus put

his sword and his

pair of sandals under a large rock and said to Aethra that when Theseus was

old enough to lift

the heavy rock that Theseus should take the sword and sandals and come to

see him in

Athens.

At the age of 16 after being brought up in Troezen, Theseus

was finally able to lift the

heavy rock. Theseus with his long blond hair then took the sword and the

sandals and began

his journey to Athens to claim Aegeus as his father. The young Theseus made

his hazardous

journey by the coast road along the Isthmus, clearing the road of six villains,

murderers, and

monsters which inhabited the road. Theseus killed these villains by the same

method by which

they had murdered their own victims. Among the villains that Theseus killed,

were Sciron,

Sinis, Procrustes and Phaea.

Theseus arrived in Athens wearing a sword and a pair of

sandals that Aegeus had left

for him in Troezen. He was then greeted by his father Aegeus and his stepmother

Medea

who was a sorceress. But she was jealous of his influence over Aegeus so

Medea tried to kill

him by sending him to kill a wild bull. But Theseus succeeded and sacrificed

the bull to Apollo.

He then returned to Athens and was almost poisoned by Medea, but as soon

as Aegeus got

wind of her plot, he proclaimed Theseus his son and heir to the thrown and

banished Medea

from Athens and she escaped to what is now Asia.

According to legend, the people of Athens had to send

seven youths and seven

Maidens every year as a tribute to Minos, the king of Create, to be eaten

by the Minitor, who

was a terrible monster, half man and half bull.

Theseus decided to go as one of the youths and try to

kill the minitor. When he

reached Create, Ariadne, the beautiful daughter of Minos fell in love will

him and helped him

kill the Minitor by giving him a sword which he killed the Minitor with and

a ball of thread to

help him find his way out of the labyrinth in which the Minitor lived. Theseus

then left Create

with Ariadne but dumped her on the way back to Athens.

On his return from Create to Athens, however, in his hurry

to get home, he forgot to

hoist a white sail signaling his success against the Minotaur. So when Aegeus

saw a black

sail, he believed that his son was dead and was so sad that he threw himself

from a high

rocky cliff into the sea, which has ever since been known as the Aegean Sea

in his honor.

Theseus then became the King of Athens. And as king of

Athens, Theseus was wise

and generous, and united the many small communitties of the Attic plain into

a strong and

powerful nation and brought prosperity and civilization to the people.

But he kept his love of danger and adventure and during

a war with the Amazon

Women he abducted the Amazon Hippolyta, who bore him a son who was named

Hippolytus.

He took part in the Calydonian boar hunt and in the quest of the Argonauts

for the Golden

Fleece. He was a devoted friend of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae, whom

he accompanied to

the underworld to rescue the goddess Persephone. Both men were imprisoned

by the god

Hades for their rash deed, but Theseus was subsequently rescued by

Hercules.

Returning to Athens, Theseus found his kingdom in disarray, torn by rebellion

and corruption.

Unable to reestablish authority, he sent his children away and sailed to

the island of Skyros,

where Lycomedes, king of Skyros, murdered him by throwing him from a cliff

into the sea.

Later the Delphic oracle commanded the Athenians to gather Theseus’s bones

and bring them

back to Athens. The Athenians then paid him great honor by building him a

tomb dedicated to

the poor and helpless whom he had befriended.