Great Greek Myths 05 – Theseus: The Ravages of Oversight

Theseus was the fruit of dual paternity: Aegeus King of Athens slept with Aethra when she had just been raped by Poseidon, God of the Sea. Theseus, who grew into a strong, brave young man, therefore had a double lineage – both divine and royal. But Theseus’ great courage did not stop him from neglecting his duties. Carried along by his victory, he committed a few irreversible oversights.

Young handsome man of royal blood was on his way to Athens to meet a father he had never met: King Aegeus, He was on his way to claim his right to the throne. His mother had recently told him the circumstances of his birth,

Theseus, great hero of Attic legend, son of Aegeus, king of Athens, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen (in Argolis), or of the sea god, Poseidon, and Aethra.

Aegeus thought that he had no heirs, and he went to Delphi to consult with the oracle:Pythia, a woman who orally expressed the will of the gods. But theseus was raised in safety. Aegeus left his sword and sandals as tokens by which he would recognize his son when he later saw him.

Pythia of the Oracle of Delphi.

 

Do not release the wineskin until you reach people of athens

on the way back home, he stopped at troezen, where King Pittheus ruled. He was clairvoyantm and he understood the words of the oracle, but he did not tell aegeus. Instead, he had a great banquet for his guest. He got Aegeus drunk and snuck his own daughter into Aegeus’s bed. that was how thesuesus was conceived. Pittheus did that because his dauthter Aethra had been raped by Poseidon, Poseidon was older brother of z. He carried a trident. He was the god of storms and earthquakes. He was known as the earth shaker, He incarnated danger and violence,

The goddess Athena had taken Aethra to Poseidon’s bed, The goddess of war and the god of strorms did not like each other, but Athena wanted peace and delivered Aethra as a token of peace,

Beasue of this trickery Theseus was the son of both the King Aegeus and the god Poseidon, Because of that, Theseus had supernatural strength,

Theseus could either said around Greece and reach Athens more safely, or he could pass through the isthmus at Corinth, This was the more dangerous route, Monsters had spread terror there for years, Theseus encountered one foe after another. His greatest defeat was that of a bandit Procrustes. He had the sword and sandals of his father and was recognized as heir,

At that time, The Minotaur was terrorizing Minos,

The minotaur was born out of an illicit relationship with the King’s wife and a white bull. Because she had not followed Poseidon’s instructions to sacrifice the white bull, Poseideon had the bull rape the woman. Hence, the Minotaur.

King Minos trapped the Minotaur in a labyrinth, but the beast needed feeding, Minos demanded and annual human sacrifice to feed the Minotaur, Theseus was determined to end the reign of terror that followed, and he volunteered to travel to Crete to face the Minotaur. Aegeus did not want his son to take on this mission, but since thesus refused to back down, Aegeus make Theseus promise that he would sail under the black sail of mourning. If he succeeded in his mission, he would return under white sail. Every day, the old Aegeus climbed to the highest hil, looking for the return of his son.

When Thesus got to Crete, his was paraded in front of King Minos, where he was smitten by the King’s daughter. Ariadne, in Greek mythology, daughter of Pasiphae and the Cretan king Minos. She fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur, a beast half bull and half man that Minos kept in the Labyrinth.Aug 16, 2022

Getting into the labyrinth  was easy, but getting back out was nearly impossible.

Daedalus
Daedalus, (Greek: “Skillfully Wrought”) mythical Greek inventor, architect, and sculptor who was said to have built, among other things, the paradigmatic Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete.Jul 18, 2022

Daedalus told Ariadne to keep a trace of Theseus’s route. She gave Theseus a ball of thread.

Theseus defeated the Minotaur and retraced his steps out of the labyrinth. He freed other Athenians and all returned to Athens,

But Poseidon was angry and unleashed a great storm on the travelers,

Athena ordered Theseus to leave Ariadne behind and flee to safety. Athena was also goddess of reason.

But ariadne was consoled by dionyssus. Athena saw to that,

Because he had left Ariadne, he returned with a black sail and his father thought that Theseus was dead. Aegeus threw himself into the sea b=whichassumed the name Aegean Sea,

Thesus was crowned king and he launched democracy. He had learned that being distracted and forgetting you promises is not the path to succes.

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