It can be tempting to look at myth and think of it in historical terms. There’s an amount of intuitive plausibility to their myths where it could be argued that it’s capturing an element of history and transmitting it through oral narratives. This could be seen in a great number of myths, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and the myth of Theseus included. But there is too much “other” going on in these myths to make them strictly historical. With the myth of Theseus, this “other” is too politically motivated for propaganda not to be part of its function. By analyzing the myth itself and how myth can be used as propaganda and applying that to this myth, it’s clear that the myth of Theseus is more than just an entertaining story, or a snapshot of history.
According to Plutarch’s Life of Theseus, the author is making a comparison between Theseus and Romulus, the founder of Rome (1). In it, Theseus is not born an Athenian, though he is the son of the Athenian king. When he reaches young adulthood, he must travel to Athens, but chooses to do so over the land instead of sea, which he’s told is safer. For he’s heard of the hero Heracles, and Theseus wishes to be as great a hero as he (6). On his way, he is credited with slaying Periphetes the club-bearer, Sinis the pine-bender, the Crommyonian sow, Sciron, Cercyon, and Demastes. In this way, he made the roads to Athens safer, cleared of banditry. But his most famous act is that of slaying the Cretan Minotaur. Athens was expected to provide seven young men and seven young women every nine years as sacrifices to the kingdom of Crete, where they’d be put into a labyrinth with the feared Minotaur. Should the Minotaur, a creature who is half-man, half-bull, be slain then Athens’ sacrifices would en...
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... myths are told and some of the history behind the city of Athens, it is certainly clear that there is more going on with why people told the myth of Theseus than just to convey historical information. Myths are entertaining to listen to, and an effective means to disseminate information. The information within them, however, may not be strictly true but the ideas conveyed are. For Theseus, setting him up as a national hero gave later politicians a means to smooth over some tricky political moves that may have upset the general populace and also a means to unite them into a central identity. For this reason, one of the main reasons the myth was told was for propagandist reasons, and not historical. Whether or not there was a disagreement between the Athenians and Cretans is a moot point; the important thing here is who the Athenians were, or who they aspired to be.
Theseus, The Great Athenian hero, was the son of Dianae and King Aegeus. Theseus had something that not many children at his age didn’t have, “he grew up strong far beyond others” (210). When he was young his father, King Aegeus, set a hollow sword and a pair of shoes and placed a great
Demosthenes began his series of orations, known to history as The Philippics, against Philip following the conquest by Philip of the Illyrians to the west of Macedonia and the Thracians to the north and east of Macedonia. The continued agitation of Demosthenes and the speed with which Philip was acquiring his empire spurred Athens, finally, into a disastrous alliance with Thebes in an uprising against Philip in 338 B.C.E., the result of which was the destruction of Thebes by Philip as example of consequence to all who would potentially rise against him. Athens, however, receiving treatment as ally and friend, was spared the consequence o...
All throughout Edith Hamilton’s rendition of Theseus’ story she displays example for all three parts of the characteristic from Theseus’ superior strength, the prime example from the story is when Theseus kills the sleeping Minotaur without any weapons and only his bare hands, an example of Theseus’ intelligence comes during his reign as the King of Athens, he’s described as a wise king who chose a more democratic rule to govern his people, and an example for Theseus’ courage lies in his selfless actions to volunteer himself as one of the sacrifices to enter the Labyrinth to face the Minotaur. Although Hamilton’s description of Theseus’ legacy speaks for itself, “Theseus was, of course, bravest of the brave as all heroes are, but unlike other heroes he was as compassionate as he was brave and a man of great intellect as well as bodily strength (Hamilton 166.)” Just in Hamilton’s quick summary of Theseus’ character is a testament that he doesn’t fit the role of an epic hero but he is the literal archetype which epic heroes strive to be. Theseus isn’t just superhumanly strong, like Hercules, or only incredibly courageous to the point it’d be stupid, like Perseus, Theseus is superior in strength, intelligence, and
Main Idea: The importance of Shakespeare, the Bible, and fairy tales is that they are all myths. Myth in this case doesn’t mean that they aren’t true, but rather that they are stories that seek to, as Foster puts it, “explain ourselves to ourselves.” Myths are important and are a part of a culture’s collective memory. Here, in Western culture, we are mostly associated with Ancient Greek civilization and the myths that lie there. We can see references to those myths in all sorts of literature.
His mother placed a pair of shoes and a sword so that when he was old enough and strong he would be sent to Athens. Once he started to grow up and go through maturity he could push the rock to aside, grabbed the sword and put on the shoes and began his long journey to Athens. Later when Minos beats the Athens they had a punishment that every nine years they had to send seven boys and girls into the labyrinth with the Minotaur. Theseus offers himself and if he lives he will change his black sail to a white one so on his return to Aegeus so they will know if he is alive.
Themistocles had an insight into the world that was hard to duplicate. He managed to precisely the right thing at precisely the right time, and by doing this, he assured the security of Greece. His cunning and charisma were
It is an universal acknowledge that Theseus is a Greek hero, mentioned in myths by people. Which he volunteered to be a tribute and sacrifice to the Minotaur, in order to kill the Minotaur . At the end he successfully slew it with Ariadne's help who fell in love with him and promised to marry him.
As a general rule, Women throughout history have not been highly regarded. This was especially true of the women in ancient Greece. In fact, “women were,” as Foley States in her article “Sex and State in ancient Greece,” “universally legal minors; citizen women participated at best indirectly in the political and intellectual life of the city” (31). This is the society in which the original Theseus was created, so it stands to reason that all of the major heroes passed down from that society would in fact be male. He...
From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche.
Both these debates have a background question at hand, whether or not the speakers were presenting their opinions out of honest opinion for the well-being of Athens or self-interest. Out of the four speakers two (Nicias and Diodotus) honestly cared for the future of Athens and did not act on the slightest bit for their self-interest. Cleon also cared about the well-being of Athens but merely gave out the immoral and haste answer to a problem that obviously needed more thought to it. Alcibiades stands alone on this one, being the only one to have acted out of self-interest who only spoke to protect his name and gain a few points of honor here and there. Within the same book Thucydides presents two debates that ask the same question of the speakers where the answer apparently depends on the debate and the text.
In Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles commends the ergon of Athenian heroes, which has placed them in the realm of logos, while directing the Athenians to follow these ideals of logos. The maintenance and continued success of Athens' political establishment relies on the prevalence of polis, rationality and discourse over family, emotion and reckless action. However, the indiscriminate turns of fate and fortune, often place logos in opposition with the base, primal nature of ergon. Both Thucydides and Sophocles recognize that when logos conflicts with the unexpected ergon, the preservation of rationality and unanimity among the citizens of the polis depend on the leadership of a single honest leader. In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides presents Pericles as a man of logos, whom Athens needs to achieve its full potential as an empire and later to rescue her from disaster. Likewise, Sophocles presents Theseus, in Oedipus Colonus, as the perfect successor of Pericles, who returns Athens to its former glory before the end of the war. In these two examples, we see that the dominance of logos over ergon within a polis lies in the ability and logos of the city’s current leader.
Theseus was a very important Greek hero who combined strength, power and wisdom. He was also the mythical founder of Athens, Greece. In comparison to Oedipus, they were very much similar. Theseus and Oedipus were both faced with hardships as adolescents and adulthood as well and they were both unknowingly born into royalty. Not only is Theseus a hero in his own realm of mythology, but he is also a hero in this story. From the moment he learned of Oedipus and Antigone’s presence, he had been nothing less than kind and
Mythology is critical to Greek people’s everyday life, just like how religion is in our modern day age. Everyday events, such as a thunderstorm, can be linked to a god or goddess. For example, when an earthquake would happen, it would be Poseidon crashing his tritan on the ground. People’s lives revolved around the whole ideology and it served as a way to explain the unexplained and to help them in times of need. All of the stories of these great gods and goddesses were passed down generation through generation, each time becoming more extreme and distorted.
The myth Theseus and the Minotaur’s thematic statement is, taking risks can be unknown and the outcome can be mysterious,
Theseus steps in and overrules the law. Even though Egeus lost, the men dominated to get their way.