Theseus was so prolific a Greek hero that there was a proverbial expression in 5th century Athens, "Theseus had a hand in it." Plutarch mentions this in his biography of Theseus:
...[O]thers say that he accompanied Jason to Colchis and Meleager to the slaying of the Calydonian boar, and that hence it came to be a proverb, Not without Theseus; that he himself, however, without aid of any one, performed many glorious exploits, and that from him began the saying, He is a second Hercules.
The hero Theseus, in addition to being an Athenian king, is associated with helping the weak in their struggle against oppression. On his journey from Troezen to Athens, Theseus fought mainly human villains who troubled travelers. Later, there was a temple known as the Theseion, to which, it is thought, slaves and probably laborers could go to seek the right of asylum.
