The labours of Theseus, and his arrival at Athens
lAithra bore to Aigeus a son, Theseus.* When he was fully
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grown, he pushed back the rock, recovered the sandals and the sword,* and hurried on foot to Athens; and he cleared the road,* which was beset by evildoers. First, in Epidauros he killed Periphetes, son of Hephaistos and Anticleia, who was referred to as Corynetes* [or the Club-Man] because of the club that he carried; for being weak on his feet, he carried an iron club, and used it to kill passers-by. Theseus seized the club from Periphetes and carried it himself ever after. 2Secondly, he killed Sinis, son of Polypemon and Sylea, daughter of Corinthos. Sinis was referred to as Pityocamptes [or the Pine-Bender]; for living on the Isthmus of Corinth, he forced passers-by to bend pine trees to the ground and hold them down, and when they were too weak to do so, they were hurled into the air* by the trees to meet with a miserable death. Theseus killed him in that very manner.
EPITOME
1Thirdly, he killed at Crommyon the sow known as Phaia,
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which was named after the old woman who had reared it; some say that it was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. 2Fourthly he killed Sceiron the Corinthian, a son of Pelops, or, according to some, of Poseidon. Sceiron occupied the rocks in the Megarid which are named the Sceironian Rocks because of him, and forced passers-by to wash his feet; and as they did so, he would kick them into the deep to become the prey of a giant turtle. 3But Theseus grasped Sceiron by the feet and flung him [into the sea]. Fifthly, in Eleusis, he killed Cercyon, son of Branchos and a nymph, Argiope. Cercyon forced passers-by to wrestle with him, and killed them during the fight. Theseus raised him into the air and dashed him to the ground. 4Sixthly, he killed Damastes, whom some call Polypemon.* He had a house by the roadside and made up two beds, one small and the other large. Offering hospitality to passers-by, he would place short men on the large bed and beat them out with hammers to make them the same length as the bed, but tall men he would place on the small bed, and saw off the parts of their bodies that projected beyond it.
So in this way, Theseus cleared the road, and arrived in Athens. 5But Medea, who was married to Aigeus at the time, schemed against him* and persuaded Aigeus to beware of him, alleging that he was a conspirator. Aigeus, failing to recognize him as his son, was afraid, and sent him out against the bull of Marathon* in the expectation that he would be destroyed by it. 6When Theseus had killed the beast, Aigeus offered him some poison that he had received from Medea that very day. But as Theseus was about to drink the potion, he presented the sword to his father, and when Aigeus recognized it, he knocked the cup out of his hands. After he had been recognized by his father and informed of the plot, Theseus drove Medea from the land.
Theseus, Ariadne, and the killing of the Minotaur
7When the third tribute was sent to the Minotaur,* he was included on the list, or, according to some, he offered himself as a volunteer. As the ship had a black sail, Aigeus ordered his son to raise white sails on it if he came back alive. 8When Theseus arrived in Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, fell in love with him and promised to assist him if he would agree to take her away to Athens and have her as his wife. When Theseus agreed on oath to do so, she asked Daidalos to reveal how it was possible to escape from the Labyrinth. 9On his advice, she gave Theseus a thread as he entered. He attached it to the door and played it out as he went in; and discovering the Minotaur in the innermost part of the Labyrinth, he killed it with blows from his fists, and then made his way out again by pulling back on the thread. [On the journey back,] he arrived at Naxos by night with Ariadne and the children.* There Dionysos fell in love with Ariadne* and carried her off; and taking her to Lemnos, he had intercourse with her, fathering Thoas, Staphylos, Oinopion, and Peparethos.
10In his grief for Ariadne, Theseus forgot to spread white sails on his ship as he put into port. And when Aigeus saw from the Acropolis that the ship had a black sail, he thought that Theseus had died, and threw himself down to his death. 11Theseus then succeeded him as king of Athens, and killed the sons of Pallas,* who were fifty in number; and in the same way, all who tried to rebel were killed by him, and he held sole power.
Excursus: Daidalos and Icaros, and the death of Minos
12When Minos learned that Theseus and his companions had escaped, he enclosed Daidalos—who was to blame for it—in the Labyrinth, together with his son Icaros (who had been borne to him by Naucrate, a slave of Minos). But Daidalos constructed wings for himself and his son; and as his son took flight, he warned him not to fly too high, for fear that the glue would be melted by the sun and the wings would come loose, nor to fly too close to the sea, for fear that they would come loose because of the moisture. 13But Icaros disregarded his father’s instructions and in his elation soared higher and higher; and when the glue melted, he plunged into the sea which is named the Icarian Sea* because of him, and perished. [Daidalos for his part escaped safely to Camicos in Sicily.]
14Minos went in pursuit of Daidalos, and to every land that he visited on his search, he brought a spiral shell and proclaimed that he would give a large reward to the man who could draw a thread through it, thinking that by this means he would be able to discover Daidalos. Arriving at Camicos in Sicily, he visited the court of Cocalos, with whom Daidalos was hiding, and displayed the shell. Cocalos took the shell, promising that he would thread it, and gave it to Daidalos. 15Daidalos attached a thread to an ant, pierced a hole in the shell, and let the ant make its way through. When Minos received it back with the thread drawn through, he realized that Daidalos was staying with Cocalos and demanded at once that he be handed over. Cocalos promised to surrender him, and offered Minos his hospitality. But Minos was killed in his bath by the daughters of Cocalos; according to some, he died when boiling water was poured over him.
Theseus and the Amazons; Phaedra and Hippolytos
16Theseus accompanied Heracles on his expedition against the Amazons,* and he abducted Antiope, or according to some, Melanippe, or according to Simonides, Hippolyte. It was for that reason that the Amazons marched against Athens* and after they had pitched camp by the Areiopagos,* they were defeated by Theseus and the Athenians. Although he had a son, Hippolytos, by the Amazon, 17he afterwards accepted Phaedra, daughter of Minos, as a wife from Deucalion,* put ting an end to their previous hostility. During the wedding celebrations, the Amazon who had been formerly married to him arrived fully armed with her fellow Amazons, and was on the point of killing the guests; but they closed the doors with all speed, and killed her. Or, according to some, she was killed in battle by Theseus.