Theseus (Yunanca: Θησεύς) Atina'nın efsanevi kralı. Annesinin Ethra (Aithra), babasının Egeus (Aigeus) ya da Poseidon olduğu söylenir.
Kendisine örnek olarak Herakles'i seçmiş, onun gibi kahraman ve güçlü olmak istemiş, bunu büyük bir oranda gerçekleştirmiştir. Theseus, aynı Herakles, Perseus ve Kadmos gibi zamanının yenilmez savaşçılarından birisidir. Herakles nasıl Dor zamanının kahramanıysa, Theseus,İon zamanının kahramanıdır ve Herakles'in ölümünden sonra görülen en büyük kahramanlardan birisidir.
Efsaneye göre, Atina'nın kadim krallarından Egeus, çeşitli kadınlarla evlenmesine rağmen çocuk sahibi olamaz. Sonunda Troezen kralının kızı Ethra ile evlenir. Ethra, Egeus'tan, bir söylentiye göre ise yüzerken birlikte olduğu Poseidon'dan hamile kalır. Egeus çocuğun doğmasını beklemeden Atina'ya döner, ancak gitmeden önce sandaletini ve kılıcını dev bir kayanın altına bırakır ve Aethra'ya çocuğun büyüdüğünde kayayı kaldırıp emanetlerini alabileceğini, böylece hanedana mensup olduğunu ispatlayabileceğini söyler.
Theseus, Troezen'de dedesinin yanında büyüdü. Yıllar geçtikçe güçlenip yürekleniyordu. Birgün, efsanevi kahraman Herakles, Theseus'un dedesinin sarayına konuk olmuştu. Herakles sırtındaki, Nemea aslanına ait ok işlemez, kılıç kesmez postunu yere atmıştı. Herkes postun korkunçluğundan kaçtı, yalnız Theseus, kılıcı ile posta saldırdı ve saldırdığının aslan değil de post olduğunu anlayınca çok güldü.
Theseus, 16 yaşına gelince annesi onu kılıçla sandalların saklı olduğu kayanın yanına götürdü. Theseus dev kayayı kaldırıp, altındaki sandallarla kılıcı buldu. Böylece kral olduğunu öğrendi. Hemen Atina'ya gitmek istedi. Annesi ve dedesi ona kara yolunun canavar ve haydutlarla dolu olduğunu söyleyerek, deniz yolundan gitmesini sağlamaya çalıştılar. Ne var ki Theseus, tehlikenin üstüne gitmekten zevk alan bir yiğitti.
Yola koyuldu. Yol boyunca insanları kırıp geçiren, insanlığı dehşete salan bir sürü canavarı öldürdü, hırsızı, katili hakladı ve Atina'ya babasının ülkesine vardı. Gelgelelim o sıralar kral Aigeus, büyücü Medea'nın etkisi altındaydı. Medea, geleceği görme gücü olan bir büyücüydü ve bu gencin tahta göz dikeceğini sezerek, onu zehirlemeye karar verdi. Ancak yemekte Theseus, etini kesmek için kılıcını çıkarınca Aigeus, onun öz oğlu olduğunu anladı.
Medea'nın saraydan kovulmasıyla ortalık süt liman olmadı. Çünkü, Aigeus'un kardeşi Pallas'ın elli oğlu Theseus'u öldürmek için pusu üstüne pusu kurdular. Theseus, hepsini teker teker öldürdü. Bu suçundan arınmak için, bir yıl ülkesinden uzak yaşadı.
Girit kralı Minos'a yenilen Atinalılıar, barış anlaşması gereğince dokuz yılda bir, Minotor adlı öküz başlı canavara yedi genç kız ve erkeği kurban etmek zorundadır. Theseus, canavarla savaşmaya gönüllü olur. Babasına eğer muzaffer olursa dönüşte beyaz bir yelken açacağını söyler.
O sıralarda Atina'da adı batası bir töre yürürlükteydi. Her yıl, ülkenin en seçkin yedi delikanlısıyla, en güzel yedi kızı Girit'in ünlü Labirentinde Minotaurus adlı yarısı boğa, yarısı insan canavara kurban ediliyordu. Theseus, ülkesine ikinci gelişinde bu töreye son vermeyi kafasına koydu. Bu töreye son vermenin tek yolu, Minotaurus'u ortadan kaldırmaktı. Düşüncesini babasına açtı. Aigeus: "Yapma, etme, oğlum." dediyse de oğluna söz geçiremedi. Sonunda oğluna şöyle yalvardı: "Bak oğlum, sonunda ölüm olduğunu bilsen bile yolundan dönmeyeceğini biliyorum. Gemine kara bir bayrak çektireceğim. Eğer sen de Minotaurus'a yem olursan, kara bayrağı indirmesinler. Yok eğer o canavarı öldürebilirsen, kara bayrağı indirip ak bayrak çek ki, gemini enginde gördüğümde olup bitenleri anlaya bileyim."
Kral böyle dedi, dediği gibi kara bayrak çektirdiği gemideki oğlunu ve öteki on üç genci uğurladı.
Theseus ve arkadaşlarının kara bayraklı ak gemisi o zamanki adı "Arkhipelagos" olan Ege'de martı gibi süzülüp, bir süre sonra görünmez oldu. Theseus'un teknesi günlerce süren yolculuğun sonunda Girit'e vardı. Kral Minos kurbanlık konuklarını güzelce ağırladı. Her ne ki, olduysa, bu ara oldu. Kral Minos'la, Kraliçe Pasife'nin biricik ve dünya güzeli Ariadne Theseus'u gördü ve iki genç göz göze gelir gelmez birbirlerine vuruldular. Bu kez de, Ariadne çalıştı Theseus'u ölüm yolculuğundan döndürmeye. Ama delikanlının kararı karardı. Bunu üzerine Ariadne, ona şöyle dedi: "Labirente giripde sağ çıkmak olası değildir. Herşeyden önce Minotaurus denilen baş belası hiçbir kurbanını sağ komamıştır. Hem onu öldürsen bile, labirent öylesine karışıktır ki, geri çıkma olanağı yoktur. İyisi mi, sana bir makara iplik vereyim. İpliği döke döke ilerle labirentin arap saçından beter dehlizlerinde. Minotaurus'u öldürmeyi barabilirsen, serdiğin ipliği izleye izleye bul çıkış yolunu."
Öyle yaptı korkusuz Theseus. Ariadne'nin ipliğini yere bıraka bıraka ilerledi. Sonunda vardı Minotauros'un bulunduğu bölmeye. Minos'un boğası insan bedenli, boğa başlı azgın canavardı. Theseus, zorlu bir savaştan sonra Minotauros'u öldürdü. Ariadne'nin ipliğini izleyerek, binbir dolambaçlı, binbir yanıltmalı yollar içinde buldu çıkış yolunu. Böylece Theseus, tanrısal sanatçı Fethiye'li Daidalos'un yaptığı labirente girip sağ çıkan ilk insan oldu. Üstelik böylece, her yıl bu canavara on dört genç kurban edilmesi töresini de yıkmış oldu.
Kral Minos'un kızı Ariadne, Theseus'a aşık olur ve Minotor'un içinde bulunduğu labirentten çıkabilmesi için ona bir ip yumağı verir. Theseus, Minotor'u çıplak elleriyle öldürür, Atinalı gençleri kurtarır ve ip yumağını kullanarak labirentten çıkmayı başarır. Ariadne'yi de yanına alıp Atina'ya yelken açar ancak Nakşa adasında mola verdiklerinde onu adada "unutur".
Theseus, Prenses Ariadne'yi de gemisine alarak, dönüş yoluna koyuldu. Theseus zafer sarhoşluğu içinde ülkesine dönerken, gemisindeki kara bayrağı indirip, yerine ak bayrağı çekmeyi unuttu. Kıyıdaki en yüksek burçtan oğlunun yolunu gözlemekte olan Aigeus, kara bayrağı görür görmez oğlunun başına bir felaket geldiğini sanarak, kendisini burçtan denize atıp paramparça oldu. Bu söylenceden ötürü, o günden sonra bu denize "Aigeus'un denizi" dendi. Bu ad, zamanla en güzel biçimini buldu ve “Ege Denizi” oldu.
Babasının trajik ölümünden sonra Theseus, Atina kralı olur ve Amazonlar'ın kraliçesi Antiope ile evlendir. Bu evlilikten oğlu Hippolitus dünyaya gelir. Ancak eşi bir savaşta Theseus ile birlikte savaşırken ölür. Bunun üzerine Theseus, Ariadne'ın kızkardeşi Faidra ile evlenir. Faidra, Hippolitus'a zalimce davranacaktır.
Efsaneye göre Theseus, Atina'dan ayrılarak hayatının son yıllarını Skiros adasında huzur içinde geçirir.
Theus'un Gemisi Paradoksu
Plutark'ın aktardığı Yunan efsanesine göre, Girit'ten muzaffer dönen Theseus'un gemisi Atina'da hatıra olarak uzun süre muhafaza edilir. Zamanla geminin tahtaları çürüdükçe yenileriyle değiştirilir. Öyle ki, bir gün geminin değiştirilmedik hiçbir parçası kalmaz. Bu durumda gemi hala Theseus'un gemisi sayılır mı, yoksa başka bir gemi haline mi gelmiştir? Gemi, antik filozoflar için tartışma konusu olur.
Aristo'ya göre bir varlığı tanımlayan dört neden vardır. Şekilsel neden ya da şekil, bir varlığın görünüşü, tasarımıdır. Maddesel neden, maddesidir. Aristo'ya göre bir şeyin neliğini şekilsel neden tanımlar, dolayısıyla Theseus'un gemisi, aynı gemi olarak kalmıştır, zira şekli değişmemiştir. Aristo'nun diğer bir nedeni nihai neden ya da maksattır. Theseus'un gemisinin tahtaları değişse de maksadı (Theseus'u taşımak) değişmemiştir, hala aynı gemidir. Son olarak etkin neden bir şeyin kim tarafından ve nasıl yapıldığıyla ilgilidir. Örneğin, bir geminin hangi tür ustalarla, ne tür aletlerle yapıldığı. Theseus'un gemisini ilk yapan ustalar ve onların aletleri, gemiyi onaranlarla aynı olduğu için, bu neden açısından da gemi aynı kalmıştır.
Isaac Asimov'un 1986'da yazdığı Vakıf ve Dünya romanında robot R. Daneel Olivaw, binlerce yıllık ömrü boyunca tüm parçalarının zamanla değiştiğini, öyle ki değişmedik hiçbir parçası kalamadığını söyler. Bu örnek, Theseus'un gemisi paradoksunun insanlara (veya zeki varlıklara) da uygulanabilmesi açısından önem taşır.
Theseus was a king of Athens famous for many exploits, and appearing in works by many authors and on countless vases. There is some confusion about Theseus' parentage, some say he is the son of Aegeus and Aethra, and others the son of Poseidon and Aethra. Apollodoros and Hyginus say Aethra waded out to Sphairia after sleeping with Aegeus, and lay there with Poseidon.
The next day, Aegeus, who had been visiting Aethra at Troizen, left for his home city of Athens. As he left, he left sandals and a sword under a large rock; should Aethra bear a male child, she was to send him to Athens to claim his birthright as soon as he was old enough to lift the rock and retrieve the items.
Aethra gave birth to Theseus, who came of age and set off for Athens with the sword and sandals, encountering and defeating six murderous adversaries along the way. When Theseus reached Athens, Medea, the wife of Aegeus, persuaded Aegeus to kill the as of yet unrecognized Theseus by having him attempt to capture the savage Marathonian Bull. Theseus does the unexpected and succeeds, so Medea tells Aegeus to give him poisoned wine. Aegeus recognizes Theseus' sword as he is about to drink and knocks the goblet from his lips at the last second.
According to Plutarch and Philochoros, on the way to Marathon to kill the bull, Theseus encounters a fierce storm and seeks shelter in the hut of an old woman named Hecale. She promises to make a sacrifice to Zeus if Theseus comes back successful. He comes back, finds her dead, and builds a deme in her name. Some time after Theseus return to Athens, trouble stirs and blood flows between the houses of Aegeus in Athens and Minos, his brother in Crete.
War and drought ensues and an oracle demands that recompense be made to Minos. Minos demands that seven maidens and seven youths are to be sacrificed to the Minotaur every nine years. Theseus is among the chosen victims and sails off to Crete, promising to Aegeus that his ship's black flag would be replaced with a white flag if Theseus is victorious. In Crete, Minos molests one of the maidens and Theseus becomes angry and challenges him, boasting of his parentage by Poseidon. Minos, son of Zeus is amused and asks Theseus to prove his heritage by retrieving a ring from the depths of the ocean. Theseus being a son of Poseidon succeeds.
Ariadne, a young woman in Crete already betrothed to Dionysus, falls in love with Theseus and helps him defeat the Minotaur. Ariadne then leaves Crete with Theseus, who abandons her on Dia (at Athena's behest, according to Pherekydes).
In returning to Athens Theseus forgets to switch the black sail with the white one. Aegeus, consequently, watching from afar believes his son is dead and hurls himself into the sea, named the 'Aegean' after him. After Aegeus' death, Theseus must contend against Pallas for the throne. Theseus gets wind of a planned assassination against him and spoils the ambush, killing Pallas and gaining the throne.
Theseus and a good friend of his by the name of Pirithous wanted to marry daughters of Zeus, and begin their quest by abducting Helen. Theseus wins a bet and gets Helen, but must accompany Pirithous to Hades to recover Persephone for him. There is much disagreement here about what happens in Hades, but many traditions say only Theseus makes it back out.
Theseus does two noteworthy patriotic acts to Thebes, accepting Oedipus at Kolonus, and helping Adrastus bury the Seven, fallen in the struggle for the throne of Thebes. Late in his life Theseus loses popularity in Athens and is exiled. He wanders to Scyrus where he is hurled off a cliff by Lycodemes.
Birth and Tokens
When King Aegeus 1 of Athens came to Troezen, King Pittheus (son of Pelops 1) made him drunk and caused him to lie with his daughter Aethra 2. A child was then conceived, but of uncertain father, since on the same night also Poseidon loved her. On leaving for Athens, Aegeus 1, who ignored that the god had been with the woman, told Aethra 2 that if she gave birth to a male child, she should rear him without telling who his father was. He then left a sword and sandals under a rock, saying that when his son could roll away the rock and take them up, she would send him to Athens. Aethra 2, not knowing herself who the father of her child was, did as instructed, and when Theseus was grown up, she showed him the rock, and he, pushing it away, took the sandals and the sword, and left for Athens.
Cleaning the way while travelling
On his way to Athens, Theseus cleansed the way of malefactors, making them suffer the same death that they inflicted on others. First he slew Periphetes 2, an evildoer who carried a club with which he dispatched the passers-by. Then he met Sinis, the man who used to force the passers-by to keep bending pine-trees until they were tossed up by them and perished. Employing this same method, Theseus sent Sinis to the next world, and when the criminal was dead, he ravished his daughter Perigune.
Guided by his mother Theseus finds the sword and the sandals.
4536: La Hyre Laurent de, 1606-1656: Thésée retrouvant les armes de son père. Musée des beaux arts, Caen.
Thereafter Theseus met the Crommyonian Sow, offspring of Typhon, a fierce and hard to master beast that had killed many humans. This Sow, which had been bred by Phaea, gave birth to the notorious boar that was later killed by the CALYDONIAN HUNTERS, as some say. But others assert that Phaea was a female robber and murderer dwelling in Crommyon (a city between Megara and Corinth), who was called Sow because of her life and manners.
Sciron was yet another bandit, whom Theseus met on his way to Athens. His inclination was to compel passers-by to wash his feet, and while they washed, he kicked them into the sea to be the prey of a huge turtle beneath. Him Theseus seized by the feet and threw into the sea. Then he met Cercyon 1, who compelled passers-by to wrestle, and in wrestling Theseus lifted him up and dashed him to the ground. Having him out of the way, Theseus ravished his daughter, like he had previously done with Perigune.
Strange ways to make adjustments
Then Theseus met Procrustes (also called Damastes and Polypemon), who offered hospitality to the passers-by, and laid the short men on a big bed and hammered them, to make them fit in the bed, but the tall men he laid on a little bed and sawed off the portions of their bodies that projected beyond it. Theseus felt that he had to punish this folly, and he killed Procrustes.
Meeting with Medea
When after these encounters Theseus finally arrived to Athens, he found his alleged father Aegeus 1 wedded to Medea, the woman who committed several crimes in Hellas, having come from Colchis with Jason and the ARGONAUTS. And if this were so, then they are mistaken who affirm that Theseus is to be counted among the ARGONAUTS, since in that case the Colchian witch and Theseus would have known one another already. But as others say, Theseus had never met her before coming to Athens.
Medea, who had a child with Aegeus 1, disliked the newcomer, and sensing that he posed a threat, she accused Theseus of being a traitor, and her husband, still not knowing that Theseus was his son, sent him to tame the Marathonian Bull. When Theseus had killed, or at least mastered the beast, Medea, who by then had reached great achievements in the field of criminality (having killed her brother, the king of Iolcus, and her own children by Jason) decided to get rid of the young man as well by means of poison. But when Theseus was about to drink the potion that Medea had prepared, Aegeus 1 recognised the sword, and dashed the cup from his hands in the last moment. This is how father and son knew who they were, and having learned the truth, the king sent Medea into exile, a circumstance not at all unknown to her.
At this time, the Athenians, who had been at war with King Minos 2 of Crete, were forced by him to send every year seven youths and seven young women as a tribute to the Minotaur. Theseus was numbered among those who were to be sent as the third tribute to the beast. But when he came to Crete, Minos 2's daughter Ariadne fell in love with him, and having obtained the secret to the Labyrinth from its constructor Daedalus, she disclosed the way out to Theseus. In the last part of the Labyrinth, Theseus found the Minotaur and killed him, and since he had been instructed by Ariadne, who had offered to help him if he would agree to carry her away to Athens and have her to wife, he found his way out. They both fled from Crete, but on arriving to Naxos (one of the Cyclades islands) Theseus deserted her.
0819: Theseus and Ariadne. Sculpture by Adamo Tadolini, 1788-1868. Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna.
Forgets the sails
Theseus had agreed with his father that he, when approaching Athens on his return from Crete, would spread white sails on his ship. But this detail he forgot, and Aegeus 1, seeing from the Acropolis the ship with a black sail, thought that his son had died, and in despair cast himself down and perished.
On his father's death, Theseus was declared successor to the throne of Athens. But the fifty sons of Pallas 5 (the Pallantides), nobles of Attica, would not accept it, and they went to war. It was a certain Leos, who reported to Theseus the designs of the Pallantides and the ambush they had prepared against him. Theseus then fell suddenly upon the party lying in ambush, and slew them all. After the violent repression of the revolting faction, Theseus married Phaedra (also daughter of Minos 2) with whom he retired to Troezen in voluntary exile.
It was about this time that Theseus made his his expedition against the AMAZONS, having a son Hippolytus 4 with one of the captives. But after his expedition the AMAZONS attacked Athens, and having organised their forces about the Areopagus, were vanquished by Theseus. Others say that when Theseus was celebrating his marriage to Phaedra, the Amazon that had before been married to him, mother of his son, appeared in arms with other AMAZONS, and threatened to kill the wedding guests who, having quickly closed the doors, killed her.
The AMAZONS attacked Athens and were vanquished by Theseus.
0112: Amazonentriptychon 1887. Mittelstück: Amazonenjagd. Adolf von Hildebrand 1847-1921. Neue Pinakotek, München.
Phaedra bore two children to Theseus, but she also fell in love with the son that Theseus had by the Amazon. However, Hippolytus 4, hating all women, fled from her, and Phaedra, fearing that he might accuse her to his father, falsely charged her stepson with an assault. Theseus believed her, and in anger prayed to Poseidon that Hippolytus 4 might perish; and so, when the young man was driving his chariot beside the sea, the god, listening to Theseus' curse, sent up a bull from the surf that frightened the horses and dashed the chariot to pieces, and Hippolytus 4, entangled in the reins, was dragged to death. To this some have added that Hippolytus 4, after having being raised from the dead by Asclepius, became king in Italy under the name of Virbius 1. In any case, when Phaedra's passion was made public, she hanged herself.
After this domestic tragedy, Theseus and Pirithous, friends and brothers in arms (for they had fought together in the battle between the CENTAURS and the LAPITHS), decided that it would suit them perfectly to marry daughters of Zeus.
This is why Theseus, with Pirithous' help, carried off Helen from Sparta for himself, when she was twelve years old. For this outrage, the DIOSCURI (brothers of Helen) ravaged Attica, and Theseus' mother was taken as a prisoner, and ended up in Troy as Helen's maid until her grandsons rescued her after the Trojan War. Pirithous had his own choice: he thought that Persephone would suit him as wife. So both friends descended to Hades in order to fetch her. But having been caught in the Underworld, they sat in the Chair of Oblivion until Heracles 1 came to Hades and rescued both, or perhaps only Theseus.
Other rumours on the abduction of Helen
Some have said that Theseus was fifty years old when he abducted Helen, who was not, they say, of marriageable age. But those who care about Theseus' reputation have said that the girl was carried off by the Messenian brothers Idas 2 and Lynceus 1, the enemies of the DIOSCURI, and that Theseus just watched over her on their account and refused to surrender her to her brothers, the DIOSCURI. Others affirm that Theseus did not carry off Helen, but that her father Tyndareus entrusted her to him, for fear of Enarophorus, son of Hippocoon 2, who sought to take Helen by force while she still was a child. Yet Theseus and his accomplice Pirithous are still believed to have gone to Sparta, seizing Helen as she was dancing in a temple of Artemis. When they came out of Peloponnesus and felt out of danger, they cast lots for the girl and Theseus won. But as she was still too young, he conveyed her to Aphidnae and kept her there in complete secrecy.
Coup d'état, Exile and Death
When the DIOSCURI came from Sparta to get Helen back, they obtained a military vitory and gave the sovereignty of Athens to Menestheus 1, a member of the Athenian Royal House. Theseus then, forced to go into exile, came to Scyros (the island in the Aegean Sea northeast of Euboea), which was under the rule of King Lycomedes 1. It was in this island that Theseus died, perhaps killed by the king, said to have thrown his guest down an abyss, or for having simply slipped by himself and fallen down while walking in high places after supper, as was his custom.
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