Athens, defeated in war by Crete, was forced to send seven young men and seven young women to King Minos every year, to be fed to the Minotaur, a monster half man and half bull kept in a labyrinth beneath the palace at Knossos. Theseus volunteered to go among them and end the tribute. Minos's daughter Ariadne fell in love with him and gave him a ball of thread to unwind as he entered the maze, so he could find his way back out after killing the Minotaur.
A Founder's Career
Before Crete, Theseus made his name clearing the road from Troezen to Athens of bandits and monsters, matching each of them with their own method of killing (Procrustes on his own bed, Sinis with his own bent pine trees). As king of Athens, later tradition credits him with unifying Attica's scattered villages into a single city-state, a political achievement layered onto the older monster-slaying legend.
A Fading Reputation
Theseus's later life is marked by poor decisions: he abandons Ariadne on the island of Naxos after she helps him escape Crete, and forgets to change his ship's sails from black to white on the voyage home, causing his father Aegeus to believe him dead and throw himself into the sea (the source of the name Aegean). His final years, according to Plutarch, end in exile and obscurity on the island of Skyros.
A dual-paternity story: Aegeus and Poseidon both lay with his mother Aethra on the same night, so Theseus is claimed as both a king's son and a god's son.
Key Deeds
•Cleared the road from Troezen to Athens of bandits, killing each with his own method
•Killed the Minotaur in the Cretan labyrinth with Ariadne's thread
•Abandoned Ariadne on Naxos on the voyage home
•Caused his father Aegeus's death by forgetting to change his ship's sails
•Unified the villages of Attica into the city-state of Athens (later tradition)
Fate
According to Plutarch's Life of Theseus, he was exiled to the island of Skyros in his old age and killed there, thrown from a cliff by King Lycomedes.
Primary Sources
Historical texts and references
“Theseus slew the Minotaur with blows of his fists, for Ariadne had given him a thread, and by winding it back he found the way out of the labyrinth.”
“Lycomedes, either fearing Theseus's growing standing among his people or as a favor to Menestheus, led him up to the heights of the island under pretense of showing him the land, and cast him down.”
