1. Theseus Greek hero

2. His parents Born in Trozen, near Athens, Greece Aegeus fell in love with Aethra He put a sword and pair of shoes under a boulder “If my son can move it, send him to me”

3. Journey to Athens  Theseus grew up and moved the boulder easily  Traveled to Athens on land  Killed the bandit Periphetes (“club-bearer”) and took his club  Killed Sinis, the Bender of Pines  Killed Sciron by pushing him over a cliff  Killed Procrustes, who forced people to fit a bed

4. Arrival in Athens  Didn’t reveal himself to his father at first  Invited to dinner and drew his sword to carve meat  Aegeus recognized it immediately  Theseus captured the Cretan bull

5. Minotaur  Androgeous, son of Minos (king of Crete) was murdered in Athens  Gods cursed Athens until they made amends with Minos  Minos demanded 7 young men and 7 young women be sent to Crete every 9 years  Went into the labyrinth to be killed by the Minotaur (son of Pasiphae, Minos’ wife, and the Cretan bull)

6. Minotaur  Two tributes had been sent to Crete already, with black sails on the ship  Theseus volunteers (as tribute!)  Said he would sail with a white sail if he killed the Minotaur, but a black one if not

7. Ariadne  Daughter of Minos and Pasiphae  Fell in love with Theseus and vowed to help him  Gave him the ball of yarn to get out of the labyrinth  He vowed he would marry her in return

8. Ariadne  He killed the Minotaur with his bare hands  Escaped with the other tributes, taking Ariadne with him  Theseus abandons Ariadne on Naxos  Ariadne’s lament  Dionysus comes to her rescue

9.  Ariadne - John William Waterhouse  1898 - Private collection

10.  Ariadne in Naxos - Evelyn De Morgan  1877 - The De Morgan Foundation

11.  Bacchus and Ariadne  Titian  1522-3  National Gallery, London

12.  Bacchus and Ariadne - Le Lain Brothers  Ca. 1635 - Musee des beaux-arts d’Orleans

13. Back in Athens  Theseus forgot to fly white sails  Aegeus thought his son was dead so he threw himself into the sea  Aegean Sea  Theseus became king of Athens  Centralized government  Divided society into classes

14. Amazons  Gave Hercules refuge after he killed his family  Went with Hercules to see the Amazons  Married an Amazon named Antiope or Hippolyta  Had a son named Hippolytus

15. Lapiths vs. Centaurs  Lapiths are a group of people from Thessaly (northern Greece)  At King Peirithous, the centaurs got too drunk and tried to steal all the women  “civilization vs. barbarism”

16. Peirithous  Theseus and Peirithous were originally enemies, but became friends  Theseus kidnapped Helen  Peirithous wanted to kidnap Persephone  Hades invited them to sit down, but the chairs had invisible chains  Theseus was rescued by Hercules

17. Phaedra  Theseus last wife, sister of Ariadne  Hippolytus refused to worship Aphrodite  Aphrodite caused Phaedra to fall in love with Hippolytus  She decided to starve to death  Her nurse told Hippolytus of Phaedra’s feelings and he went on a tirade about women

18. Phaedra  Out of shame, Phaedra hanged herself  Left a note saying that Hippolytus had raped her  Theseus immediately sent Hippolytus out of the city and prayed to Poseidon to kill him  Poseidon sent waves that overwhelmed Hippolytus’ chariot

19. Hippolytus  Near death, Hippolytus was dragged back to Athens  Aphrodite appeared to Theseus to explain the misunderstanding  Hippolytus died in Theseus’ arms

20. Theseus’ death  Theseus was driven out of Athens  Went to Skyros  King Lycomedes pretended to have him as a guest, but then pushed him off of a cliff  Cimon, leader of the Athenians in the fifth century, brought Theseus’ bones back to Athens