Theseus

Theseus was a king of Athens and one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology. His descendants are called Thesides. After the Parian Chronicle was the beginning of his royal rule in Athens for 1259/58 BC. Chr ..

== Resume ==

There are two variants of the origin of Theseus. After the first and most accepted, Theseus is a son of the Athenian king Aigeus and his wife Aithra. After a second version, he is a son of Poseidon.

According to Plutarch, the athenian king Aigeus was childless and went to Delphi to question the oracle. He received the answer that he should "not solve the protruding end of a wineskin" until he returned to Athens. Aigeus did not understand the prophecy and he went to Troizen to the wise king Pittheus.

Pittheus understood the oracle and made Aigeus sleep with a girl. Later, Aigeus learned that the girl was Pittheu's daughter Aithra. Assuming that she was pregnant with him, he hid a sword and a pair of sandals under a heavy stone. If a son should be born to Aithra, should let him, if he is strong enough, roll the stone aside and come to Athens with the things deposited thereon. Thereupon Aigeus left Troizen.

Aithra actually became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Whether this immediately received the name Theseus , and what it meant, was reported differently. Some say the name derives from Thesauros (ancient Greek Θησαυρός = repository) and refer to the deposited things. Others said that he first received the name (ancient Greek Θέσις = adoption) when he was recognized by Aigeus as his son.

Theseus was also considered the son of Poseidon, and his name could refer to his divine descent (ancient Greek Θεός = God). He was raised by his grandfather Pittheus, and his guard and teacher became Konnidas. Who his true father was, was kept secret by Aithra and Pittheus. As a teenager, Theseus went to Delphi and sacrificed, as was customary at that time, part of his hair. Therefore, a place there has have been called Theseia. The tonsure, in which only the front hair was shaved, was called after Theseus thesis.

When Theseus was strong enough to roll away the stone, which Aigeus had laid on the beach at his birth, Aithra revealed to him that Aegeus was his father, and that he had hidden objects for him. He should take these as a badge and travel on the safe sea route to his father to Athens. Theseus rolled the stone aside, took sword and sandals and planned to take the dangerous land route.

Now, similar to Herakles on the journey to Athens, a series of heroic deeds follows:

* Killing of the club-bearer Periphetes in Epidauros.

* Killing the spruce bender Sinis at the Isthmus of Corinth

* Killer of the Crommyonian Sow or of Phaia (Greek Φαιά, "the gray one")

* Killer of the robber Skiron on the border with Megara

* In Eleusis he killed Kerkyon, a son of the god of the sea, Poseidon ( or Hephaestus),  who stalks hikers to kill them in wrestling.

* In Erineos he defeated the giant Prokrustes (Greek Προκρούστης "Stretcher").

Then he was cleansed of bloodshed at the river Kephissos by the Phytalidai. In Athens, Medea, who had fled from Corinth to Athens, tried to poison him at a feast with Akonite from the arson of Kerberos. When Theseus uses the sword to cut the meat, Aigeus recognizes it again and repels the cup of poison. Medea then succeeded to flee in fog. Aigeus thereafter officially recognized Theseus as his son and successor before the town hall meeting.

* As a legendary hero, Theseus is associated with other heroic deeds:

* When Theseus was 50 years old, he came with Peirithoos to Sparta and abducted the twelve-year-old Helena from the temple of Artemis Orthia.

* Liberation of the Antigone

* Killer of the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, leaving her behind

* Killing the marathon bull.

Theseus  kidnapped and married the Amazon Antiope (or Hippolyte) to Athens and fathered with her Hippolytos.  When Theseus returned to Athens he was expelled by Menestheus. He therefore went to the island of Skyros. There he found the death by King Lycomedes, who let him fall from a rock to his death. His bones were later brought to Athens.

== Esoteric sight ==

Theseus as a foundling and later hero has similarities to Heracles. The cleaning from the blood may refer to step 12 of the path. At last he marries the amazon Hippolyte (step 15 of the path), and he leaves Ariadne in Naxos, where Dionysos depicts her. This is  reminiscent of Moses, who dies on the mountain Horeb  and leaves  Aaron ('the enlightened') the further leadership. The deadly fall from the rock is reminiscent of the tarot card 16. The spiritualized astral body of the adept has now become obsolete for further development, and Dionysus marries as Rebis with Ariadne, who participates thereby in the immortality.


== Literature ==

  • Hermann Steuding: Theseus. In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. Band 5, Leipzig 1924, Sp. 678–760
  • Hans Herter: Theseus. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Supplementband XIII, Stuttgart 1973, Sp. 1045–1238.
  •  Animal Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek World, Sarah Hitch, Ian Rutherford , S. 118
  •  Plutarch : Life of Theseus

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