Poseidon and Theseus, as shown on an Athenian storage jar dating from about 470 BC. Theseus had two fathers, Aegeus King of Athens and Poseidon, making him both mortal and god, a lineage fit for a hero and founder of the city of Athens in her greatness.
Part 1 of 6
AEGEUS, king of Athens,* being twice married, and having no children, was so desirous of an heir to his throne that he made a pilgrimage to Delphi in order to consult the oracle.* But the response being ambiguous, he repaired to Troezen to consult his wise friend Pittheus, who reigned over that city, by whose advice he contracted a secret marriage with his friend’s daughter Aethra.
After passing some time with his bride, Aegeus prepared to take his departure for his own dominions; but before doing so he led Aethra to the sea-shore, where, after depositing his sword and sandals under a huge rock, he thus addressed her: “Should the gods bless our union with a son, do not reveal to him the name and rank of his father until he is old enough to possess the strength requisite for moving this stone. Then send him to my palace at Athens bearing these tokens of his identity.”*
For the names used in this story, the peculiarly English (rather than Greek) spelling and pronunciation recommended by Berens has been retained, for example Aegeus = EE-juice. Aegeus lends his name to the Aegean Sea.
Delphi lies some 75 miles northwest of Athens, along a mountainous route following the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth. The response was ambiguous, writes Berens, which was far from unusual for the Oracle: she preferred the blame for any disappointments to lie with her client.
For a map showing the route taken by Theseus and the locations of the six deadly foes he met along the way, visit Theseus’s Labours at Wikimedia Commons. The map shows in addition the location of Theseus’s encounter with the Minotaur. See Theseus and the Minotaur.
Précis
After Aegeus, King of Athens, had married Aethra in secret he returned home, leaving his sandals and sword behind under a massive rock along with instructions that, should Aethra bear him a son, the boy must one day put aside the rock, gather up the sword and sandals, and present them at Athens in token of his parentage. (58 / 60 words)
Part Two
This scene by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) shows Theseus sliding aside the stone left for him by his father, to reveal the sword and sandals that will be a token of his parentage.
A SON was born to Aethra, whom she called Theseus, and who was carefully trained and educated by his grandfather Pittheus.* When he had developed into a strong and manly youth his mother conducted him to the spot where the rock had been placed by Aegeus, and at her command he rolled away the stone, and took possession of the sword and sandals which had lain there for sixteen years, and which she now desired him to convey to his father Aegeus, king of Athens.
His mother and grandfather were anxious that the youth should travel by the safe sea route, the road between Troezen and Athens being at this time infested with robbers of great ferocity and enormous strength. But feeling within himself the spirit of a hero, Theseus resolved to emulate the deeds of Heracles, with whose fame all Greece resounded, and therefore chose the more dangerous journey by land, as calculated to afford him an opportunity of distinguishing himself by feats of valour.*
King of Troezen, a city in Argolis on the eastern side of the Peloponnese, across the Saronic Gulf from Athens.
Précis
Aethra did indeed bear Aegeus a son, and when he was sixteen he gathered up the sandals and sword and set out for Athens, shunning the sea and choosing instead the perilous route by land (for it was infested with monsters and thieves) so that he could prove himself a hero in the mould of Heracles himself. (57 / 60 words)
Part Three
Theseus and Sinnis, painted into a cup (kylix) by the ancient Greek artist known as the ‘Elpinikos Painter’ in about 490-480 BC. Sinnis despatched his miserable victims by springing them from a supple tree. With Procrustes and Sciron, Theseus made the punishment fit the crime by subjecting them to the tortures they inflicted on others; but with Sinis he played it more conventionally: he simply crushed him with a mighty club of iron, which he had just liberated from Periphetes.
His first adventure occurred at Epidaurus, where he met Periphetes, a son of Hephaestus, who was armed with an iron club, with which he killed all travellers. Having received from his grandfather a full description of this savage, Theseus at once recognized him, and rushing upon him with his sword, succeeded after a desperate encounter in killing him. He appropriated the club as a trophy of his victory, and proceeded on his journey without hinderance until he arrived at the Isthmus of Corinth.
Here the people warned him to beware of Sinnis the robber, who forced all travellers to bend with him one of the branches of a tall pine-tree. Having dragged it to the ground, the cruel Sinnis suddenly released his hold, whereupon the bough rebounding high up into the air, the unfortunate victim was dashed to the ground and killed. When Theseus beheld Sinnis advancing towards him he steadily awaited his approach; then seizing his powerful club, he killed the inhuman wretch with one blow.
Précis
The first obstacle to Theseus’s journey was a bandit named Periphetes, but the young hero wrestled his iron club from him and slew him. Next came another would-be robber, Sinnis, who amused himself by catapulting unwary travellers to their death from the springing branch of a pine tree. But Theseus was ready for him, and despatched him with Periphetes’s club. (60 / 60 words)
Part Four
The old Corinth to Athens road hugs the Kakia Skala cliffs beside the Saronic Gulf, at the place where legend says Theseus overcame the bandit Sciron, throwing him down into the sea as Sciron had thrown so many other unhappy travellers. Here, we are looking east towards Athens, along Theseus’s route. Up above, the new Olympia Odos connecting Athens to Patras on the far west of Greece dashes into a tunnel; between the two roads is a new railway line, at this point buried inside a long tunnel.
Passing through the woody district of Crommyon Theseus next slew a wild and dangerous sow which had long ravaged the country. He then continued his journey and approached the borders of Megara, where, on a narrow path overhanging the sea, dwelt the wicked Scyron, another terror to travellers. It was his custom to compel all strangers who passed his abode to wash his feet, during which operation he kicked them over the rock into the sea. Theseus boldly attacked the giant, overcame him, and then flung his body over the cliff where so many of his victims had perished.
Theseus now journeyed on to Eleusis, where he found another adversary in the person of King Cercyon, who forced all comers to wrestle with him, and killed those whom he vanquished; but Theseus overcame the mighty wrestler and slew him.
Précis
Theseus’s third task was to rid the Crommyon forest of a vicious sow, and his fourth to foil another prankster, Scyron, who kicked travellers into the sea when they were not looking. The sow was duly slain, and Scyron was pitched after his miserable victims into the sea. Even the champion wrestler Cercyon was unable to halt the hero’s progress. (60 / 60 words)
Part Five
Procrustes. “Now then, you fellows; I mean to fit you all to my little bed!”
Chorus. “Oh lor-r!!”
This cartoon by John Tenniel (illustrator for Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ books) appeared in ‘Punch’ Volume 101, September 19, 1891. The Trades Unions Congress had been debating the motion “It is impossible to establish universal uniformity of hours without inflicting very serious injury to workers.” The adjective ‘Procrustean’ is used to mean a one-size-fits-all solution: Edgar Allan Poe’s private detective Auguste Dupin applied it in ‘The Purloined Letter’ (1844) to unimaginative policework.
Near Eleusis, on the banks of the river Cephissus, Theseus met with a new adventure. Here lived the giant Damastes, called Procrustes or the Stretcher,* who had two iron beds, one being long and the other short, into which he forced all strangers. In the short one he placed the tall men, whose limbs he cut to the size of the bed, whilst to the short ones he assigned the large bed, stretching them out to fit it; and thus he left his victims to expire in the most cruel torments. Theseus freed the country from this inhuman monster by serving him as he had done his unfortunate victims.
The hero now continued his journey, and at length reached Athens without meeting with any further adventures. When he arrived at his destination he found his father a helpless tool in the hands of the sorceress Medea, whom he had married after her departure from Corinth.*
* From the nickname of this giant we derive the adjective ‘Procrustean’, meaning one-size-fits-all. Anyone interested in public policy will find this word extremely useful. “Nothing has become clearer to me during this investigation,” wrote Sir Joshua Fitch for the Newcastle Commission of 1859, examining the state of education in the country, “than the fact that any sweeping or Procrustean measure will do great injustice.”
* Medea had been living in Corinth with her first husband, Jason, captain of the Argonauts. But Jason had jilted her, so after she had murdered her rival, slain her own children and driven Jason to suicide, Medea quitted Corinth and at length came to Athens. There she entangled Aegeus in her net of sorcery, and after she had induced him to forget Aethra, he made her his (fourth) wife.
Précis
The sixth challenge awaiting Theseus was Procrustes, the ogre who amused himself by racking small men until they fitted a large bed and hacking tall men until they fitted a small one. With grim justice Theseus fitted the giant to the small bed, and then completed his journey to Athens thinking every obstacle had been overcome. (56 / 60 words)
Part Six
A marble statue of Medea by American sculptor William Wetmore Story (1819-1895). Medea was daughter of King Æëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe, and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. She attached herself to Jason, captain of the Argonauts, and used her knowledge of sorcery (as a priestess of Hecate) to help him in his great quest for the Golden Fleece; but he jilted her in favour of a younger love. In revenge, Medea first murdered her rival and then also her own three children, driving Jason to suicide. Later she married Aegeus, but the coming of another rival, a stepson named Theseus, stung her into murder once again.
Knowing, by means of her supernatural powers, that Theseus was the king’s son, and fearing that her influence might be weakened by his presence, she poisoned the mind of the old king against the stranger, whom she represented as being a spy. It was accordingly arranged that Theseus should be invited to a banquet, and a strong poison mixed with his wine.
Now Theseus had resolved to reveal himself at this feast to the father whom he yearned to embrace. Before tasting the wine he put his plan into execution, and drew out his sword so that the eyes of the king might rest upon it. When Aegeus beheld once more the well-known weapon which he had so often wielded, he knew that it was his son who stood before him. He warmly embraced him, presented him as his heir to his courtiers and subjects, and then, no longer able to endure the sight of Medea, he banished her for ever from his dominions.
Précis
On his arrival in Athens, Theseus found that his father had been snared by a new wife, the sorceress Medea. She, fearing for her power, sought to poison the boy, but before her plans could mature Theseus had presented his tokens of parentage; and after publicly recognising his son, Aegeus banished Medea from the land forever. (56 / 60 words)
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