Theseus
Theseus was a famous king of Athens because of his many exploits. Many authors have written about Theseus because he was an very interesting man to write about. Some say Theseus was the son of Aegeus and Aethra, while others say he was the son of Poseidon and Aertha. At least they agree on who his mother was. According to Appolodoros and Hyginus, Aertha waded out to Sphairia after she slept with Aegus, and there she slept with Poseidon. The next day Aegeus (who had been visiting Aethra at Troizen) left to go back to his home in the city of Athens. Before he left, he placed a sword and sandals under a rock and said that if Aethra should bear a son, she was to send him to Athens when he was big enough to lift the rock and retrieve the items. Aethra gave birth to a son and when he was old enough, she sent him off to Athens with the sword and sandals. He met and destroyed 6 murderous adversaries along the way.
When Theseus reached Athens, the wife of Aegus, who was known as Medea, persuaded Aegus to kill Theseus as he was yet to be recognized. Theseus was commanded to capture the savage Marathonian Bull, thinking the bull would kill Theseus. Theseus accomplished the task so Medea told Aegus to give Theseus poison wine so he did but just as he was about to drink it, Aegus noticed his sword and knocked the wine from his hand.
As the story is told from Plutarch and Philochoros, when Theseus was on the way to Marathos to kill the bull, he ran into a fierce storm and had to take shelter in the hut of an old woman named Hecale. She told Theseus she would make a sacrifice to Zeus if he came back successfully from capturing the bull. When he came back, he found the old woman dead and he built a deme in her name. Later Theseus returned to Athens and found trouble stirring and blood flowing between Aegus, in Athens, and Minos (his brother), in Crete. War and drought followed and an oracle demanded that Minos be recompensated. Minos demanded that seven maidens and seven youths be sacrificed to Minotaur every nine years. Theseus was one to be sacrificed and he set sail for Crete. Theseus promised Aegus that his ship would fly a white flag instead of the black one it had, if he was successful. When he reached Crete, Theseus became angry when Minos molested one of the maidens, and he challenged him. Theseus boasted about being the son of Poseidon and Minos (son of Zeus) asks Theseus to prove it by retrieving a ring from the depths of the ocean. Theseus succeeded and brought back the ring.
On his return to Athens, Theseus forgot to change the black flag for a white one and Aegus believed his son was dead and he threw himself into the sea.
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