Theseus

Aegeus and Aethra

Aegeus, King of Athens went to Troezen where he met the princess Aethra. They conceived a child but Aegeus left Athens before the child was born. However, he left a golden sword and a pair of sandals under a rock and told Aethra that if she had a son who could lift the rock and retrieve them he should come to Athens as heir to the throne.

Aethra had a son, Theseus. When Theseus was sixteen he was able to recover the sword and sandals and went off to Athens. He decided to take the more difficult coastal route to the city to free the road from various villains who terrorised it.

Theseus and the Minotaur

Theseus finally reached Athens and lived happily with his father.

However, the king of Crete, Minos, had once waged war on Athens and refused to make peace until the Athenians agreed to send him seven young men and seven girls every year. These were to be devoured by the Minotaur, a monster with the body of a giant and the head of a bull. Minos kept him in a huge maze called the Labyrinth. underneath his palace at Knossos, designed by the famous inventor Daedalus.

Theseus decided to kill the monster and therefore volunteered to be one of the seven young men. As he left Athens, he promised Aegeus that he would change the sails of his ship from black to white as a sign of victory so that Aegeus would know if his son had been successful as soon as the ship came into view.

Theseus’ journey home

When they arrived at Crete the King’s daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus and decided to help him. She gave him a sword and a ball of thread which he unravelled as he went through the Labyrinth. Theseus found the Minotaur and killed him after a struggle. He successfully retraced his route back through the Labyrinth using the thread. He then fled back to his ship with Ariadne and the other Athenians.

On their journey home they stopped for the night at the island of Naxos. The next day they set sail but deliberately left Ariadne behind. She was eventually found by Bacchus, (god of wine), who made her his wife. As the ship came closer to Athens, Theseus forgot his arrangement with his father about the sails. Aegeus, seeing the black sails, thought that Theseus was dead and killed himself by throwing himself into the sea. To this day the sea is known as the Aegean Sea.