Theseus found Athens, and his father’s court, in disarray, with the king cohabiting with the sorceress Medea, who had promised to cure his lack of children. Coming to the borders of Megara, Theseus met Sciron, whom he threw down a cliff to his death, and killed another two people before reaching the city. Theseus went out of his way to meet the fearsome Crommyonian Sow, which he also killed.
He first killed Periphetes, who had wielded a large club at him impressed by this club, he took it and killed another opponent, Sinis, raped his daughter and made her pregnant.
Theseus sword and sandals series#
Like his hero, Theseus had a series of adventures on this journey. His inspiration for this was the adventures of Heracles. Wikimedia Commons.Īntonio Balestra’s Theseus Discovering his Father’s Sword (c 1725) makes Theseus look a little less enthusiastic to follow his mother’s directions.Īethra told her son to travel by sea to take the sword and sandals to his father in Athens, but he chose to travel overland instead. Antonio Balestra (1666–1740), Theseus Discovering his Father’s Sword (c 1725), oil on canvas, 287 x 159 cm, Private collection. Nicolas-Guy Brenet’s rather more sketchy Aethra Showing her Son Theseus the Place Where his Father had Hidden his Arms (1768) adds a river god for good measure, and has Aethra giving Theseus marching orders to go find his father. Nicolas-Guy Brenet (1728–1792), Aethra Showing her Son Theseus the Place Where his Father had Hidden his Arms (1768), oil on canvas, 50.2 × 59.7 cm, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA. They draw a marked contrast between the two actors: Theseus, destined to be a great hero, looks rough and brutish, while his mother Aethra wouldn’t look out of place standing in for the Madonna. In one of his rare collaborative paintings, Nicolas Poussin worked with Jean Lemaire to tell this fragment of the story in Theseus Recovering his Father’s Sword (c 1638). Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) and Jean Lemaire (1598–1659), Theseus Recovering his Father’s Sword (c 1638), oil on canvas, 98 x 134 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly, France. This shows the lad lifting a heavy pillar to reveal a pair of shoes and a sword. One of the earliest depictions of the young Theseus is Laurent de La Hyre’s Theseus And His Mother Aethra (1635-36). Laurent de La Hyre (1606–1656), Theseus And His Mother Aethra (1635-36), oil on canvas, 141 × 118.5 cm, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest, Hungary. Theseus moved the rock, found the sandals and sword, and then undertook an epic journey overland to visit his father in Athens. When Theseus was old enough, his mother Aethra showed him the rock, and gave him Aegeus’ instructions. If he succeeded, then he should take the sandals and sword as evidence of his paternity. He told Aethra that when his son grew up, she should tell him to move the rock, as a test. Theseus, who is presumed to have been conceived that night, was thus considered to have double paternity, by god and man, a common qualification for the heroes of myth.Īegeus returned to Athens, after burying his sword and sandals under a massive rock. She was instructed in a dream to leave Aegeus asleep, and to go to a nearby island, where she was also impregnated by the god Poseidon. His mortal father, Aegeus the king of a much smaller Athens, had been childless, but following the prophecy of the oracle at Delphi, the King of Troezen got him drunk and packed him off to bed with his daughter Aethra. Like Perseus, Theseus had complicated origins. Paolo da Visso (1431–1481) painted these three scenes from Boccaccio’s epic on the front of a cassone – the visual equivalent of Plutarch’s account of the adventures of Theseus. Paolo da Visso (1431–1481) Scenes from Boccaccio’s Teseida (date not known), front of a cassone, further details not known. In about 1340-41, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote a very long (almost 10,000 line) epic poem Teseida, or The Theseid, which in turn inspired The Knight’s Tale in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. We owe much to Plutarch for his lengthy biography comparing Theseus’ life with that of Romulus, founder of the city of Rome.įor a long time, the life of Theseus was as celebrated a series of myths as those of Heracles, Jason or Aeneas. He was also, like most classical heroes, fundamentally flawed. Sometimes considered the founder of the city of Athens, in myth and legend he was more accurately the person responsible for its early development and growth. Theseus was among the great heroes of the classical Greek world.