Theseus

= media type="youtube" key="8qrZ1clEp-Y?fs=1" height="385" width="480"Theseus = Theseus was the king of athens. many artist painted him on vases. There is some confusion about who Theseus' parents are, some peoople say he is the son of Aegeus and Aethra, and others theseus is the son of Poseidon and Aethra. "Apollodoros and Hyginus say Aethra waded out to Sphairia after sleeping with Aegeus, and lay there with Poseidon." The next day, Aegeus, who was visiting Aethra at Troizen, left her and went back to his home city of Athens. As he left, he left sandals and a sword under a large rock; and should Aethra bear a male child, she was to send him to Athens to claim his birthright as soon as he was old enough to lift the rock and retrieve the items. Aethra gave birth to Theseus, and when he bacame of age he set off for Athens with the sword and sandals, on his way he defeated six murderous opponents along the way. When Theseus reached Athens, Medea, the wife of Aegeus, persuaded Aegeus to kill theseus because they did not recognize him. They made him attempt to capture the savage Marathonian Bull. Theseus does the unexpected and succeeds, so Medea tells Aegeus to give him poisoned wine. Aegeus recognizes Theseus' sword as he is about to drink and knocks the cup from his lips at the last second. According to Plutarch and Philochoros, on the way to Marathon, the island where the bull lived, to kill the bull, Theseus encountered a fierce storm and sought shelter in the hut of an old woman named Hecale. She promises to make a sacrifice to Zeus if Theseus comes back alive. He comes back, and finds her dead, and builds a deme(tomb stone) in her name. Some time after Theseus return to Athens, trouble stirs up and blood flows between the house of Aegeus in Athens and Minos, his brother in Crete. War begins and an oracle demands that payment be made to Minos. Minos demands that seven girls and seven young boys are to be sacrificed to the Minotar every nine years. Theseus one of the chosen victims and sails to Crete, promising to Aegeus that his ship's black flag would be replaced with a white flag if Theseus defeated the minotaur. In Crete, Minos molests one of the maidens and Theseus becomes angry and challenges him. Minos, son of Zeus asks Theseus to prove his heritage by retrieving a ring from the depths of the ocean. Theseus supposedly being the son of Poseidon succeeds. Ariadne, a young woman in Crete already married to Dionysus, falls in love with Theseus and helps him defeat the Minotaur. Ariadne then leaves Crete with Theseus, who abandons her on Dia. In returning to Athens Theseus forgets to switch the black sail with the white one. Aegeus, consequently, watching from afar believes his son is dead and hurls himself into the sea, named the 'Aegean Sea' after him. After Aegeus' death, Theseus must go up against Pallas for the throne. Theseus gets wind of a planned assassination against him and spoils the ambush, killing Pallas and gaining the throne. Theseus and a good friend of his by the name of Pirithous wanted to marry daughters of Zeus, and begin their quest by abducting Helen. Theseus wins a bet and gets Helen, but must accompany Pirithous to Hades to recover Persephone for him. There is much disagreement here about what happens in the underworld, but many traditions say only Theseus is the only one to come back to the normal world alive. Late in his life Theseus loses popularity in Athens and is exiled. He wanders to Scyrus where he is hurled off a cliff by Lycodemes. []

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