Myth Monday - The Deeds of Theseus

When Theseus' earthly father left Theseus' mother, he left a sword and sandals under a rock, and instructions that when Theseus was able to lift the rock, he was to go seek his father in Athens. When Theseus grew to manhood, he unearthed the sword and sandals. Theseus knew the road from Troezen was more dangerous that the sea route to Athens, but he thought he could use that to his advantage. He would perform deeds of valor that would build his kleos 'fame, glory' [technical term to learn].

Kylix Photo CC Wikipedia User Twospoonfuls

The kylix shows the deeds of Theseus for which he is best known. There are 7 shown. Five occurred en route to Athens [see Map], two after. The Minotaur is one of the post-arrival ones and is shown in the center (see Theseus Returns From Crete). Running clockwise from center top, the remaining 6 are:

1. Cercyon - At Eleusis*
2. Procrustes - Between Eleusis and Athens
3. Sciron - On the Cliffs of Sciron
4. The Bull of Marathon (after arrival in Athens)
5. Sinis - Isthmus of Corinth
6. The Sow of Crommyon - Crommyon was Between Megara and Corinth

Plutarch describes these feats and one late addition (killing Periphetes at Epidaurus) in his biography of Theseus:

VIII. And so in the first place, in Epidauria, when Periphetes, who used a club as his weapon and on this account was called Club-bearer, laid hold of him and tried to stop his progress, he grappled with him and slew him. And being pleased with the club, he took it and made it his weapon and continued to use it, just as Heracles did with the lion's skin. That hero wore the skin to prove how great a wild beast he had mastered, and so Theseus carried the club to show that although it had been vanquished by him, in his own hands it was invincible.

[2] On the Isthmus, too, he slew Sinis the Pine-bender in the very manner in which many men had been destroyed by himself, and he did this without practice or even acquaintance with the monster's device, but showing that valor is superior to all device and practice. Now Sinis had a very beautiful and stately daughter, named Perigune. This daughter took to flight when her father was killed, and Theseus went about in search of her. But she had gone off into a place which abounded greatly in shrubs and rushes and wild asparagus, and with exceeding innocence and childish simplicity was supplicating these plants, as if they understood her, and vowing that if they would hide and save her, she would never trample them down nor burn them. [3] When, however, Theseus called upon her and gave her a pledge that he would treat her honorably and do her no wrong, she came forth, and after consorting with Theseus, bore him Melanippus, and afterwards lived with Deioneus, son of Eurytus the Oechalian, to whom Theseus gave her. From Melanippus the son of Theseus, Ioxus was born, who took part with Ornytus in leading a colony into Caria whence it is ancestral usage with the Ioxids, men and women, not to burn either the asparagus-thorn or the rush, but to revere and honor them.

IX. Now the Crommyonian sow, which they called Phaea, was no insignificant creature, but fierce and hard to master. This sow he went out of his way to encounter and slay, that he might not be thought to perform all his exploits under compulsion, and at the same time because he thought that while the brave man ought to attack villainous men only in self defence, he should seek occasion to risk his life in battle with the nobler beasts. However, some say that Phaea was a female robber, a woman of murderous and unbridled spirit, who dwelt in Crommyon, was called Sow because of her life and manners, and was afterwards slain by Theseus.

X. He also slew Sciron on the borders of Megara, by hurling him down the cliffs. Sciron robbed the passers by, according to the prevalent tradition; but as some say, he would insolently and wantonly thrust out his feet to strangers and bid them wash them, and then, while they were washing them, kick them off into the sea. [2] Megarian writers, however, taking issue with current report, and, as Simonides16 expresses it, "waging war with antiquity," say that Sciron was neither a violent man nor a robber, but a chastiser of robbers, and a kinsman and friend of good and just men. For Aeacus, they say, is regarded as the most righteous of Hellenes, and Cychreus the Salaminian has divine honors at Athens, and the virtues of Peleus and Telamon are known to all men. [3] Well, then, Sciron was a son-in-law of Cychreus, father-in-law of Aeacus, and grandfather of Peleus and Telamon, who were the sons of Endeis, daughter of Sciron and Chariclo. It is not likely, then, they say, that the best of men made family alliances with the basest, receiving and giving the greatest and most valuable pledges. It was not, they say, when Theseus first journeyed to Athens, but afterwards, that he captured Eleusis from the Megarians, having circumvented Diocles its ruler, and slew Sciron. Such, then, are the contradictions in which these matters are involved.

XI. In Eleusis, moreover, he out-wrestled Cercyon the Arcadian and killed him and going on a little farther, at Erineus, he killed Damastes, surnamed Procrustes, by compelling him to make his own body fit his bed, as he had been wont to do with those of strangers.

Plutarch. Lives Vol. I. Translated by Perrin, Bernadotte. Loeb Classical Library Volume 46. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.

*Reference for locations: Classical Mythology, by Mark P. O. Morford and Robert J. Lenardon.

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