Theseus
King Aegis of Athens was growing old. He desperately wanted a son to whom he could bequeath his vast kingdom. Desperate, the king went to the Oracle of Delphi to seek the god’s advice. The Oracle had a habit of giving cryptic advice, and this time was no different. The Oracle instructed the king to open his wine sack before arriving back in Athens. Confused, King Aegis visited the king of a neighboring city, Pittheus of Troezen, and repeated the prophecy to him. King Pittheus immediately understood the prophecy and offered his daughter Aethra to Aegis.
That night, as King Aegis was asleep, the goddess Athena spoke to Aethra in her dreams. Athena instructed the princess to go to the beach and make an offering to the gods. Aethra obliged and upon reaching the beach was greeted by the god Poseidon. After a few hours, Aethra slipped back into the palace unnoticed.
When King Aegis found out Aethra was pregnant, he was elated and immediately started planning out the logistics. “I must return to Athens to continue my business,” King Aegis told Aethra. “Keep this child hidden away. When he is of age, send him to Athens to assume his place on the throne.”
To ensure that the boy that would return was truly his son Theseus, Aegis placed his sword and sandals under a boulder. When Theseus was ready, he was to retrieve the items and meet him in Athens.
When Theseus became a young adult, Aethra could sense his restlessness and knew that keeping him confined on a farm would no longer work. She decided to tell him about his father which, even to Aethra, was still a mystery. Keeping things simple, she told him about the rock.
“Under that rock,” she explained, “is a sword with the emblem of the King of Athens. Present it to him and you shall become a king.”
Within the hour, Theseus was ready and bid farewell. It was a short but perilous journey to Athens. On the way, he disarmed Periphetes and used the club bearer’s own heavy iron club to crush him. He also encountered Cercyon, a savage wrestler who made a habit of challenging passersby to matches and was almost always victorious, killing his opponents in the process. That is, until Theseus came along who, despite his limited wrestling experience, subdued Cercyon in what was regarded as the first Greco-Roman wrestling match. Theseus also came across Sciron, a notorious bandit who ambushed Theseus and forced him to clean his feet. Sciron usually tried to kick his victims off the cliff and feed them to his gigantic turtle. Theseus, however, saw this coming and shifted his weight so that Sciron ended up kicking open air, became off balance, and got pushed off the cliff himself.
After enduring many more of these assaults, Theseus finally arrived in Athens. Old King Aegis’s sorcerer, Medea, had foreseen the arrival of Theseus; however, she did not tell the king that Theseus was his son. She lied to the king and claimed that the young man was a stranger with ill intentions to destroy his kingdom. King Aegis allowed Medea to brew a potion that would poison Theseus.
Theseus arrived at the palace and headed straight for the throne room, where he was immediately offered a glass of wine. As he raised his glass in a toast to good health, the sword under his tunic became exposed. Seeing this, the king immediately knocked the glass out of his hand and embraced the newly-arrived prince, but not before banishing Medea from his kingdom.
Athens and the island of Crete had a troublesome relationship and were perpetually on the brink of war. In order to keep the peace, Crete as the more dominant nation required Athens to send forth seven men and seven women every year to be sacrificed and fed to the Minotaur, which dwelled in Crete’s massive Labyrinth. When Theseus found out about this, he volunteered to be one of the men sacrificed. Of course, King Aegis disagreed but knew that Theseus would not change his mind.
“Please remember to sail home with a white flag if you survive,” he begged his son. “I could not bear to lose you.”
Theseus, along with the other 13 men and women, set off on their voyage.
Upon their landing in Crete, King Minos greeted them with festivities to butter them up. The king’s daughter Ariadne, however, had noticed Theseus and took an instant liking to him. That night, Ariadne crept into Theseus’s living quarters and woke him, handing him a ball of string.
“I have never seen such a confident man walk through those gates,” Ariadne marveled. “Tie this string to the gate at the start of the maze. The Minotaur lies at the center of the maze on a downward slope. The ball of string will roll directly to the Minotaur, where you can slay it. When you are done, follow the string back toward the gate. Good luck.”
The next morning, the Athenians woke to the sound of pounding drums. Guards hauled them toward the gate of the labyrinth and shoved them inside, as Cretan spectators cheered. The 13 others began to panic.
“Stay here by this gate and do not move,” Theseus directed the others confidently. “I will return soon enough with the head of the bull.”
Theseus unraveled the long string which he had covertly wrapped around his waist and carefully followed Ariadne’s instructions. After a long while, the string led him to a room jammed with carcasses and broken bones. At the center of the room, the Minotaur was sleeping contentedly.
Theseus snuck up behind the Minotaur and gripped its neck tightly. The Minotaur thrashed about, even throwing itself against the wall in an attempt to knock Theseus off its back. But Theseus held strong. After a long struggle, the bull became limp and collapsed to the ground, unconscious. With a swift movement, Theseus cracked its neck and peeled the head off of its body. Then he dragged the massive beast by its horns to the gate.
Declaring victory, Theseus banged on the gate and called for the guards to open up. Ariadne, who was waiting nearby, rushed to open the gate. The 14 Athenians poured out, with the bleeding head of the Minotaur in tow. Ariadne warned Theseus that if her father caught on, he would surely have them immediately slaughtered. The group raced back to the boat and set sail for Athens.
Theseus was annoyed with the young lady that kept following him around as he had no interest in her; upon reaching the nearest island, he cast her ashore and continued on his way. Drunk on his own success and busy partying with the other Athenians, Theseus forgot his promise to his father to put up the white flag. King Aegis, watching from the cliffs of Athens, spotted the boat with the black sail rising over the horizon. Overcome with despair, the king jumped off the cliff into the waters below, which later became renamed the Aegean Sea.