PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Theseus And the Legends of Attica
The Early Kings and Their Legends
One of the Early Kings of Attica is Cecrops, the earliest Athenian King. Who was said to have been autochthonous, which means sprung from the earth, and that his lower half was serpent shaped. He originally named Attica, Cecropia after himself. It was during his reign that Poseidon and Athena competed over possession of Attica, Poseidon remained an important god in Athens, and his worship on the Acropolis was closely related to that of Athen.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
Another one of the early kings in Attica was Erichthonius. He too was partly shaped like a serpent. Also, as -chthon- in his name indicates he was sprung up from the Earth; Erichthonius formed from the fallen semen of Hephaestus when he tried to violate Athena. Erichthonius was locked in a chest which was given to the daughters of Cecrops, Pandrosos, Auglauros, and Herse, or as stated in some versions just to Pandrosos. Athena forbade them to look inside the chest, but they disobeyed and opened the chest. What they saw inside drove them crazy and they threw themselves off of the Acropolis., legends say that they saw either a pair of snakes or Erichthonius with his snake like body. In the end Athena took Erichthonius and brought him up herself. As king he was credited with instituting the annual festival of the Panathenaea and the wooden statue of Athena on the Acropolis.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
Yet another one of the early kings was Erechtheus, who was the grandson of Erichthonius, both are forms of Poseidon. Athena prophesized that after Erichtheus died he would be worshiped at Athens with his own cult site, under the title “Poseidon-Erechtheus”.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
Another one of the early kings was Cephalus. He was husband to Procris, daughter of Erechtheus. He was loved by the goddess Eos who tempted him to make trial of Procris’ faithfulness. In disguise he attempted to seduce her and as he succeeded, he revealed himself, Procris Fled and joined Artemis, who gave Procris Laelaps, a hound that always caught its quarry and a javelin that never missed its mark. Procris and Cephalus reconciled, Procris returned home and took her magical gifts with her. The hound was turned into marble along with its prey, when Cephalus was hunting near Thebes. The javelin was used to kill Procris in a hunting accident. The story of Cephalus and Procris is told by Ovid in Metamorphoses.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
Yet another king was Pandion, the successor of Erichthonius. Pandion is famous in legend chiefly for his daughters Philomela and Procne. The Thracian king Tereus helped Padion in a war against Thebes and was rewarded with the hand of Procne, who he took back to Thrace. Procne bore a son to Tereus, Itys. Philomela went to Thrace to visit her sister and was attacked by Tereus, who violated her, cut her tongue out, and locked her in a remote building deep in the forest. Procne took revenge by murdering their son Itys. The story of these events is told in Orvid’s story Metamorphoses. In the Greek version of the story, it is the nightingale (Procne) that mourns for her dead son, while the tongueless swallow (Philomela) tries to tell her story by her incoherent chatter. The Latin authors, changed the names, making Philomela the nightingale and Procne the swallow.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
The Ion of Euripides
It is said that Pandion was succeeded as king by Erechtheus. Creusa was the only daughter of Erechtheus not to be sacrificed before the battle against Eumolpus. Creusa is the heroine of Euripides’ play Ion. Creusa was loved by Apollo and bore him a son, Ion, who she exposed out of fear of her father. Hermes saved Ion as requested by Apollo, Ion was taken to Delphi where he was brought up as a temple servant and became treasurer of the sanctuary. Creusa was made the wife of Xuthus as his reward for aiding Erechtheus in defeating the Chalcodontids of Euboea. After being childless for years, Xuthus and Creusa consulted the Delphic oracle as to how they might have children; Xuthus was told to greet the first person on his way out as his son, the person was Ion. Creusa did not know that this was her son, she thought he was a bastard son of Xuthus. Creusa was going to kill Ion, but Athena intervened, and mother and son recognized eachother. Ion went on to be the ancestor of the four Iconic tribes. Ion’s descendants colonized part of Asia Minor’s coast and the islands, thereafter called Ionia.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
Another daughter of Erechtheus was Orithyia. Orithyia was loved by Boreas, the North wind. He carried her off to Thrace as she was playing by the river Ilissus. Orithyia became the mother of the winged heroes Zetes and Calais, and of Cleopatra and Chione. Zetes and Calais were prominent in the Argonauts’ expedition. Cleopatra was married to Phineus, she was said to have caused the blindness of her stepsons and then made false accusations that they attempted to seduce her. Chione became the mother of Eumolpus, by Poseidon.
The Early Kings and Their Legends
The Confused Genealogy of the Kings of Athens
According to Apollodorus, Erchtheus was succeeded by his son Cecrops. Then, Cecrops was succeeded by his son Pandion. Pandion was driven out of Attica by his uncle Metion and fled to Megara. Pandion became father of four sons: Aegeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus. The four brothers recovered the throne at Athens and shared power, Aegeus was the oldest and was in effect sovereign. Nisus returned to Megara as its king.
Theseus
Aegeus, just like Erechtheus is another form of Poseidon—which is indicated by the Aegean Sea, also by the tradition of saying Poseidon being Theseus’ father instead of saying Aegeus is.
Aegeus was threatened by the opposition of his brother Pallas. Since he was childless, he went to the Delphic oracle, which told him, “Not to undo the wineskin’s mouth until he got home.” Aegeus was perplexed by the riddle, so he asked Pittheus, king of Troezen, who was his host on his journey, for advice. Pittheus understood the oracle and made Aegeus drunk and gave him his daughter Aethra to lie with; when Aegeus left Troezen he told Athra that if their child was a boy she must raise him without saying who his father was, she was to send the boy to Athens when he was old enough to lift a rock by himself, under which Aegeus would leave a sword and a pair of sandals by which he would identify his son. In time she bore a son who was raised under the instructions Aegeus had given.
Theseus’s Six Labors While Traveling from Troezen to Athens
The adventures of Theseus fall into well-defined groups, in which the first contains six deeds he performed while traveling to Athens from Trozen. Theseus took the land route in order to expose himself to more dangerous adventures. Theseus’ six labors include killing the brigand Periphetes, a son of Hephaestus, killing the robber Sinis called Pityocamptes, he killed a monstrous sow near the village of Crommyon, he killed the brigand Sciron, he defeated Cercyon in a wrestling match to the death, and he killed the brigand Procrustes.
Theseus Is Recognized by Aegeus
The arrival of Theseus in Athens is described in the Drama Dithyramb by Bacchylides of Ceos. When Theseus arrived in Athens Medea, the wife of Aegeus was the first to recognize him as son of Aegeus. Medea had expected their son Meus to succeed Aegeus. Medea attempted to manipulate Aegeus into poisoning Theseus; however, when Theseus used the blade, he had recovered from underneath the rock to carve his meat Aegeus recognized the blade and prevented Theseus from being poisoned, Aegeus then recognized Theseus publicly as his son and successor. Pallas, brother of Aegeus, and his sons planned to overthrow Aegeus, they resorted to violence when Theseus was recognized; Theseus killed all the members of one of the two groups that they divided into.
The Bull of Marathon
Theseus’ next labor was to catch the Bull of Marathon, which was said to be the one Heracles brought from Crete. He succeeded and sacrificed it to Apollo Delphinius.
The Minotaur
Androgeos, Son of the Cretan king Minos, had been killed in Attica due to jealousy he caused by winning all the contests at the Panathenaic games. Vengeful Minos set out against Athens and Megara, after Megara was attacked Athens made a treaty, in which everyone or nine years (differs in stories) seven Athenian youths and seven daughters of noble families should be sent to Crete as tribute. They were then locked in the Labyrinth and devoured by the Minotaur. Theseus volunteered to go. It is said that Theseus was gifted a purple robe and a wreath. When Theseus arrived in Crete the daughter of Minos Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a thread which allowed him to trace his steps back out of the Labyrinth. Using the thread Theseus killed the Minotaur and emerged unharmed.
