HERO’S OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY - THESEUS

 

Once there was a heroic young boy named Theseus

Who was the only son of the king of Athens Aegeus

But was raised by the king of Troezen his grandfather

And also, by the princess Aethra his devoted mother

Just before Theseus was born king Aegeus left Troezen

But before he left, he placed beneath a boulder a token

Aegeus told Aethra that she must keep his identity secret

Until his son Theseus was old enough to understand it

His sword and sandals he had buried he told Aethra

Which his son must first lift off when he was older

 

Theseus grew into a strong and intelligent young man

And when he was sixteen, Aethra followed the plan

She took Theseus to the boulder and told him to lift it

Which if he did, she would tell him his father’s secret

Theseus wrapped his mighty arms around the boulder

And he lifted it and threw it away as if it were paper

Neath the stone he found the tokens left by his father

He was told to take the sword and sandals by Aethra

Then Aethra could reveal the truth to young Theseus

That he was the son of the King of Athens Aegeus

Theseus was prompted by a sense of his heroic destiny

And to meet his father he set out forthwith on a journey

 

Aethra and her father begged Theseus to go to by sea

To avoid bandits who frequented the road habitually

But Theseus was young and bold so went by overland

After a few miles he met a man with a club in his hand

He was a giant of a man and His name was Periphetes

And his club was bronze and would have suited Heracles

Periphetes was going to kill him that was quite clear

But Theseus stood before him and showed him no fear

He managed to persuade him to let him see the weapon

Once in his hands he hit Periphetes with the bludgeon

 

After killing Periphetes he went down the road further

And he met another giant called Sinis the pine bender

Sinis tricked passersby to help him with tree bending

Then he’d tie them between the trees before releasing

As the pines snapped upright it caused decapitation    

Spreading them over the landscape in every direction

When he tried to do the same thing to Theseus our hero

He tied Sinis between two bent pines and then let go

Then, not far from Athens, Theseus encountered Sciron

On the road along tall cliffs the brigand stood upon

To cross the cliffs, He demanded a toll from travelers

And he would kill with his axe any attempted defaulters

The toll he demanded seemed to be reasonably fair

And was simply to wash his feet in the tub he had there

Then while they were busy washing his feet thoroughly

He would kick the unsuspecting traveler into the sea

And down below the tall cliffs in watery isolation

A huge man-eating sea turtle waited in anticipation

So, Theseus sat down and started to wash Sciron's feet

He looked over the cliff and saw the turtle not replete

When Sciron's foot came at him, Theseus jerked aside

And hurled Sciron into the foaming sea off the cliff side

 

The next challenge for Theseus our intrepid adventurer

Came in the form of a man called Procrustes an evildoer

Procrustes kept a house by the roadside where he offers

Hospitality in the form of a hot meal to passing strangers

Then they were invited to take a night's rest it was said

What Procrustes called a night in his very special bed

If a guest inquired of him what was so special about it

They were told whoever slept in it the bed adjusted to fit

Once in bed the guest was either stretched if to small

Or had limbs hacked off if they were too long or tall

Theseus once again turned the tables on his adversary

Just By adjusting Procrustes to fit his own bed fatally

 

When he reached Athens, he was hailed by the Athenians

For he’d rid the highway of its highwaymen and brigands 

In his honor he was invited to the palace for a banquet

Theseus decided not to reveal his true identity just yet 

Serving as hostess was the Kings new wife queen Medea

Medea was a sorceress from Colchis who was very bitter

She had once loved Jason and helped him steal Golden Fleece

But Jason had spurned her when they returned to Greece

Her magic had already disclosed the identity of Theseus

But she kept this information from her husband Aegeus

She decided her personnel ambition Theseus was threatening

And her own son’s chances of ruling Athens as the king

So, Medea cleverly played on king Aegeus's insecurity

At the same time carefully concealing his true identity

She convinced the king Theseus hadn’t just come to dine

Medea persuaded Aegeus to serve him poisoned wine

Theseus paused just before drinking to carve his meat

As soon as Aegeus saw the sword, he was on his feet

The king knocked over the wine cup spilling the poison

Theseus and Aegeus were filled with joy at the reunion

Medea spat words at them as venomous as her poisons

Storming out she escaped in a chariot pulled by dragons

Theseus was now true heir to the kingdom of Athens

And Theseus and Aegeus were happy like old friends

But when the spring equinox came all Athens mourned

As a ship approached Athens with a black sail adorned

He begged Aegeus to tell him why Athenians were sad

Theseus went to the harbor fearing something very bad

He spoke to a sailor and asked him what was happening

Reluctantly the sailor spoke about the annual sacrificing

One day King Minos of Crete's eldest son Androgeus

Was accidentally been killed in Athens he told Theseus

Minos was very angry he attacked and defeated Athens

And demanded that the Athenians pay a yearly recompense

Seven young men and seven young women to even the score

Must each year be fed to the terrible monster the Minotaur

The Minotaur was a monster of half-bull and half-man

That lived in the center of a vast maze quite Labyrinthian

The beast had been born to king Minos's wife Pasiphae

As a punishment from Poseidon the great god of the sea

Theseus volunteered to go as one of the fourteen to Crete

To enter the Labyrinth and fight the Minotaur to defeat

King Aegeus was reluctant to let his only son Theseus go

But Theseus insisted he must prove to Athens he was a hero

He pledged when he’d faced Minotaur and won the fight

He would return turning the black sails to a brilliant white

 

As well as being the heir of king Aegeus and his only son

Theseus also believed himself to be the son of Poseidon

When the black sailed ship landed the captives at Crete

King Minos stood on the dock there to meet and greet

Minos demanded introductions from all the Athenians

When it came to Theseus to give his name to the Cretan

He announced he was prince of Athens and son of Poseidon

Minos said “If you’re prince of Athens you’re Aegeus’s son”

“To prove you are son of Poseidon fetch my golden ring"

Minos threw his ring into the sea as Theseus was praying

After his prayer to the god Poseidon he dived into the sea

Below the surface he was found by Thetis a Watery deity

The nymph Thetis gave him the ring and a golden crown

Theseus surfaced holding both items aloft before the town

It was shortly after Theseus had climbed out of the water

When he met Princess Ariadne King Minos’s daughter

And princess Ariadne fell in love with him at first sight

So much that she gave him a clue for his impending fight

 

The Labyrinth was a complex maze that awaited Theseus

Cleverly and intricately contrived by its builder Daedalus

Once thrown inside, a victim could never find the way back

Eventually meeting death after a savage Minotaur attack

The clew Ariadne gave Theseus was a ball of silk thread

To tie at the entrance and unwind it as he went ahead

Then once Theseus had fought and killed the Minotaur

He could follow it back to where it was tied to the door

Theseus was dropped into the maze with his companions

He tied the string off and told them follow his directions

He led them to the Labyrinth’s center to find the Minotaur

When they got there a sleeping monster was what they saw

Theseus jumped on it and ripped of one of its huge horns

Then he poked at the Minotaur pricking it hide like thorns

Theseus then ran back, and he threw the horn like a javelin

The horn ripped into the great monster’s neck and stuck in

The Minotaur charged at Theseus but halfway fell dead

Everyone cheered and he led them back using the thread

 

After sinking Minos’s ships Theseus eloped with Ariadne

With fellow Athenians on black-sailed ship the went to sea

One night on the black-sailed ship came the god Dionysus

He wanted princess Ariadne for himself he told Theseus

Dionysus ordered Theseus to abandon her on Naxos Island

Theseus had little choice but to obey the god’s command

He reluctantly obeyed the god Dionysus and abandoned her 

Sailing away from Naxos he was so sad to leave her there

He forgot to change the ships sails from black to white 

Which was to be the signal to say they had won the fight

King Aegeus sat watching and waiting on a promontory

But when he saw the black sails, he jumped into the sea

That fatal stretch of sea is forever named after the Athenian

And to this very day the sea is still known as the Aegean

 

After his father’s death Theseus became king of Athens

But this did not mean that his days of adventuring ends

He could not be contented with hunting the dear or boars

So, he accompanied Heracles on one of his twelve labors

To steal the girdle from the Amazon queen Hippolyte

Which in the end they didn’t give up without a fight

A great battle ensued between the amazons and heroes

Many amazons lay dead amongst the spears and arrows

Heracles made off with Hippoytes belt for Eurystheus

And the Amazon princess Antiope was taken by Theseus

 

During The ancient times of Theseus it was customary

Around the Aegean for Greek nobles to embark in piracy

Theseus received word that one pirate had set the eyes on

The royal Athenian herds on the seaside plain at Marathon

When he apprehended the pirate, he was about to strike

But as King and pirate eyed each other they were too alike

The two men had taken an instant liking to one another

And although they were strangers, they felt like brothers

The pirate was of the royal house of the Thessalian Lapiths

And conceding defeat he said his name was Peirithous

He named a punishment for the Thessalians’s misdeed

His plan was to take Helen of Sparta, Peirithous agreed

 

The planned abduction both men were bound to enjoy

Helen of Sparta would one day become Helen of Troy

At the time of the abduction Helen was only thirteen

So, he decided until she was old enough to be his queen

She would be left in the safekeeping of his mother Aethra

But her hero twin brothers Castor and Pollux rescued her

In return for his help with Helen he had to assist Peirithous

With a very perilous adventure which worried king Theseus

Peirithous wanted to abduct Persephone, the wife of Hades

He was king of the underworld and capable of great fury

So, they set off to the underworld to steal Persephone away

And went straight to the throne of Hades without delay

Peirithous boldly stated his intent to the king of the dead

Claiming Persephone would be happier with him instead

Hades immediately feigned consent and tricked the two

Into sitting at a bench where they became stuck like glue

Hades then loosed upon the two heroes a flock of torments

They came in the form of furies and venomous serpents

As well as the slavering fangs of the hellhound Cerberus

Not to mention the infamous tantalizing water of Tartarus

When Heracles was on his twelfth labor he found Theseus

And he released him be he would not release Peirithous

 

Theseus had all the qualities of a great Athenian hero

Strength and courage but intelligence and wisdom also

His early adventures benefited the Athens and region

And he forged the feuding warlords into a federation

He led Athens's army on victorious campaigns of war

He gained a reputation for helping the oppressed and poor

Escaped slaves who took refuge at his altar in that age

Could not under any circumstance be returned to bondage

In middle age wisdom deserted him making bad decisions

Theseus began to go on ever more foolish expeditions

His efforts to produce an heir led to even more problems

Athenians grew tired and he died exiled from Athens's

 

His body did not come home such was the consensus

Generations past with little thought given to Theseus

Until the Persian wars Athenian soldiers began to see

Theseus and believed him the reason for their victories

Athenian general Cimon was told by the Oracle at Delphi

To find Theseus's bones and build a tomb and sanctuary

So finally, they returned to Athens the great Athenian hero

In a magnificent tomb and sanctuary for the people to go