THESEUS
According to Greek legend, the hero Theseus, the son of Aegeus, king of Athens,
was born and brought up in a distant land. His mother did not send him to Athens until
he was a young man able to lift a stone under which his father had put a sword and a
pair of sandals. When Theseus arrived in Athens after many adventures, he found the
city in deep mourning. It was again time to send to Minos, king of Crete, the yearly tribute
of seven youths and seven maidens to be devoured by the Minotaur. This was a terrible
monster, half-human and half-bull. Theseus offered himself as one of the victims, hoping
that he would be able to slay the monster. When he reached Crete, Ariadne, the beautiful
daughter of the king, fell in love with him. She aided him by giving him a sword, with
which he killed the Minotaur, and a ball of thread, with which he was able to find his way
out of the winding labyrinth where the monster was kept. Theseus had promised his
father that if he succeeded in his quest, he would hoist white sails on his ship when he
returned; it had black sails when he left. He forgot his promise. King Aegeus, seeing the
dark sails, thought his son was dead and jumped into the sea. The sea has since been
called the Aegean in his honour. Theseus then became king of the Athenians. He united
the village communities of the plain of Attica into a strong and powerful nation. Theseus
was killed by treachery during a revolt of the Athenians. Later his memory was held in
great reverence. At the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, many of the Athenians believed
they saw his spirit leading them against the Persians. After the Persian Wars, the oracle
at Delphi ordered the Athenians to find the grave of Theseus on the island of Skyros,
where he had been killed, and to bring his bones back to Athens. The oracle's
instructions were obeyed. In 469 BC, the supposed remains of Theseus were carried
back to Athens. The tomb of the great hero became a place of refuge for the poor and
oppressed people of the city.
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