Dear Friends of ancient mythology! Theseus is undoubtless the most famous hero of Athens. As much more it was pitiful that I had no coin of Theseus in my collection. But all of his coins are rare and sought after. Some years before I was outbid on CNG by a sum of which I could only dream. The more happy I am that now I could add a Theseus coin to my collection. Coin No. 1 Bithynia, Nikaia, Commodus, AD 177-192 AE 17, 3.71g, 16.93mm, 210° Obv.: AV.Λ.KOMOΔOC - ANTΩNINOC laureate head r. Rev.: ΘHC - E - A - NIKAIEIC Youthful, unbearded head of Theseus r., head covered with lion's scalp, knotted under chin Ref.: Rec. Gen. I/3, 274, pl. LXXIV, 12; RPC online temp no. 6026 (Paris Bibliotheque Nationale no. 630); not in Weise rare, about VF, sligtly excentric (Yes, there are more coins of Nikaia than the boring standard types!) Note: ΘHCEA NIKAIEIC: ΘHCEA is accusativus, so it means "the Nikaians (honouring) Theseus" Mythology: King Aigeus of Athens was unable to get children, although he was married twice. From fear that his brother could take his kingdom he turned to the oracle of Delphi and got - as usually - a dark answer: "Don't untie the foot of the wineskin until you are in Athens". On the way back he came to Troizen to king Pittheus, the wisest man of his time. And really Pittheus understood the sentence, which says that Aigeus should not drink wine until he came back to Athens. By chance Pittheus was owner of the best Greek wine. He inebriated Aigeus and laid his daughter Aithra to Aigeus into the bed. When Aigeus recognized that Aithra was pregnant, he hid his sword and his shoes under a big rock and told Aithra to lead Theseus - when he was grown up - to this rock that he should raise the rock and take the sword and the shoes. Then she should send him to Athens. So Theseus was educated in Troizen by his grandfather Pittheus, who propagated that his true father was Poseidon. Already in early years Theseus attracted attention by his courage. Once when Herakles was in Troizen and put down his lion's skin all other children ran away from fear. But Theseus, no more than 7 years old, went straight up to the lion's skin with a weapon suggesting that it was a real lion (Pausanias). When Theseus was 16 years old his mother led him to the rock which he raised easily. He took sword and shoes and started his way to Athens. His grandfather and his mother recommended to go by ship because the country roads were too dangerous because of the predators. But Theseus wanted to emulate the deeds of Herakles and equally gain honour. First of all he defeated Periphetes near Epidauros, whose iron club he took as his new weapon. On the Isthmus he conquered Sinis, whose daughter Perigone fell in love with him, then the Crommyonian Sow Phaia, at Megara Skiron, then Kerkyron and Prokrustes, father of Sinis (called Damastes sometimes). Thereby he punished all the predators in the same way they have killed their victims (so-called principle of talion): Periphetes with the iron club he slew with his own club. Sinis, called Pityokamptes (= he who bends firs), tied his victims to downwards bent firs, so that they were ruptured when the treetops shot up. And exactly the same way he died by the hand of Theseus. Skiron was pushed off the Skironian Rocks, the steep slopes of the Onia mountains at the Isthmus of Corinth. Kerkyron, the wrestler, was strangled. Prokrustes, a giant and son of Poseidon, who made trouble in the vicinity of Eleusis, put travellers on a bed and chopped arms and legs if they were too long, or pulled apart their joints when they are too short. And so died Prokrustes now himself (Diodor). Then Theseus came to Athens. At this time his father Aigeus was married with Medeia. In fear that Theseus could challenge her own son for his heir to the throne she sent him against the Marathonian Bull who caused heavy harm to the Athenians. This was the very bull whom Herakles in his seventh labour has brought from Crete. Theseus could conquer him and sacrificed him. When Theseus came well back to Athens, Medeia advised Aigeus to kill the foreign guest by poison. But when Theseus portioned the meat with his sword Aigeus recognized it as his own sword and saw that he was his son Theseus. He was welcomed cordially and a big feast was celebrated. Medeia was sent to exile. But the sons of Pallas, the brother of Aigeus, were in fear for their future reign in Athens and turned against Theseus. In a bloody fight he defeated Pallas and his 50 sons and killed them all. Athens was tributary to Crete. When Minos claimed once more - as all 9 years - 7 youths and 7 virgins, turmoil occured in Athens because Aigeus alone was unconcerned. But Aigeus was the guilty one for this tributary which was the atonement for the murder of Andregonos, son of Minos and Pasiphae. Theseus decided to go as leader of the young people with them to Crete. He succeeded in killing the Minotaur in his labyrinth, with help by Ariadne, daughter of Minos. She has fallen in love with Theseus and gave him a ball of wool by which he found his way out off the labyrinth again. So was Athens freed from this terrible tributary. This is probably the most famous story of Theseus. On his way back he had to leave Ariadne on the island of Naxos where Dionysos attended to her. Theseus stopped at Delos where he donated to Apollo the statue of Venus which he has got from Ariadne thereby deleting the memory of his unhappy love. On Delos he invented with the saved young people a dance in memory of the labyrinth of Knossos. This dance was called Geranos, the dance of the cranes. Some are thinking that this was the dance of Ariadne teached her by Daidalos. This dance was performed in Athens for a long time. In honour of Apollo Theseus invented games, where for the first time a palm branch was donated to the winner as sign for his victory (Plutarch). Theseus was sailing on to Athens. But in sorrow of the loss of Ariadne he forgot to change the black sail with a white one as sign of the happy outcome, as agreed. So his father Aigeus suggested that Theseus too was perished in Crete and throw himself from a cliff into the sea. In honour the sea was called after him "Aegean Sea". As his successor Theseus became king of Athens. His political most important success was to unify all over Attica dispersed Athenians in Athens (so-called synoikism). He was founder of the Isthmian Games and was the first who has struck coins, with the depiction of a bull on them. Together with Herakles he undertook a campaign against the Amazons and took home the Amazon Hippolyte as his wife. Then the Amazons subsequently invaded Attica and Theseus had to make peace with them with the mediation of his wife. According to others he destroyed the Amazons at the Areopag where his wife met her death. After that he married Phaidra known by her incestuous love to her step-son Hippolytos. After recognizing that her love was unreturned, she defamed him at Theseus and committed suicide. Together with Adrastos he went to war against the Thebans and achieved that the fallen of the last war were allowed to bury in honour. At the wedding of his friend Peirithoos, king of the Lapiths, he fought together with him against the Centaurs, and finally made friendship with them. After that he and Peirithoos went to Sparta and robbed the young Helena. The attempt to rob for Perithoos Persephone from the Hades failed. Peirithoos was thrown to Kerberos and Theseus was fixed to a underworld rock. This opportunity was used by the Spartan Dioscuri to free their sister Helena. Herakles later could release Theseus from the Hades. It is reported that Theseus has participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar and also in the Journey of the Argonauts (Hygin. Fab.; Plutarch) In the first time Theseus has ruled in Athens as law-abiding king. But later on he began to rule more abitrary and the Athenians began to hate him. When he was fixed in the Hades they used the opportunity to enthrone Menistheus as new king. When Theseus after his release came to Athens and saw that it was in foreign hands he fled to Lykomedes on the island of Skyros. Now it is possible that he claimed from Lykomedes support against the Athenians, or that Lykomedes feared the courage and strength of Theseus, or that Lylomedes wanted to do Menistheus in Athens a pleasure, in any case he led Theseus on a high mountain and pushed him into the depth. So Theseus died. Some said that Theseus has tried to seduce the wife of Lykomedes. The Athenians have Lykomedes charged with murder and executed. At this time the Athenians didn't bother much about the fate of Theseus. But then the spirit of Theseus should have been seen at the battle of Marathon, leading the Greek army against the Persians. Thereupon the oracle ordered to bring back his bones from Skyros to Athens. That occured under Kimon about 475 BC. And from then on Theseus was venerated as great hero and on each 8th day of a month offers were made to him, especially in the month of Pyanepsion, which is October/November. A Theseion was built in honour, where the today preserved temple probably is the Hephaisteion. Nevertheless some argue that he as punishment for the rape of Persephone by Peirithoos had to sit eternally on a glowing rock (Vergil Aen. VI). Theseus has had several wifes and many love affairs by which he has numerous children. His legal wife was the Amzon Hippolyte (or Antiope). By her he has the son Hippolytos (or Demophoon). After her death he married Phaidra, sister of Ariadne, who bore him Demophoon and Athamas. After her he is said to have married Periboia, mother of Ajax. From Perigone, daughter of Sinis, he has Melanippos, from Ariadne Oenopion and Staphyloos. From Helena, who is said to have been his wife too, he has Iphigenia. Love affairs he has further with Aigle, daughter of Panopeos, and others. From Hesiod there was a poem about the descent into hell of Theseus. Tragedies existed from Sophokles and Euripides. They all, like the Theseis from Kodros, are lost. I have added: (1) The picture of the relief on which Theseus raises the rock under which the sword and the sandals of his father are located. Behind him his mother Aithra (Terracotta Campana Relief, 100 BC - AD 100; found in Cerveteri, today in the British Museum) (2) The picture of an extremely rare coin of Commodus from Troizen with the same motif: Coin No. 2: Argolis, Troizen, Commodus, AD 177-192 AE 22, 8.85g Obv.: M AVP..KOMODOC.. laureate head of Commodus r. Rev.: TPOIZH - NIΩN Theseus, nude, stg. r., raising the rock near Troizen, underneath sword and sandals of his father Aigeus Ref.: BCD Peloponnesos 1341; Borrell in NC 1844, 3 Pedigree: ex coll. BCD ex CNG Electronic Auction 81, Lot 2890 (3) A picture of this motif from Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), showing how the Classicistic Baroque saw this scene. Background: The mythology of Theseus over the years and centuries was embroidered more and more. Especially many older myths were incorporated so that Theseus could keep pace with the myths of Herakles. Therefore we have many parts which are differing considerably or were inconsistent with one another. But that is true for many Greek mythologies as we have already seen. The version which I have represented above comes mainly from Plutarch and is therefore a very late version. The mythology itself is much older. Already Homer knows Theseus. In his Ilias appears the Battle of the Centaurs (Il. I, 265) and the rape of Helena (Il., III, 144). The tale of Ariadne and the decent into hell we find in his Odyssee (Od. XI, 321ff., resp. Od. XI, 631), though some suggest that these are later Athenian insertions. Hippolytos was originally a Troizenian demon figure, the battle with Pallas a local form of the Gigantomachia. May be that Theseus was a pan-Hellenic Hero, who possibly is arisen from different hero figures. Since curiously enough the oldest evidence, e.g. shrines, don't come from Athens. The Athenians, who have recognized this too, have explained it so, that Theseus in gratitude for the rescue from hell has leave them to Herakles! An increase of Theseus depictions occurs actually not before the last century of the 6th century BC. At this time the mythology was enhanced by the deeds of his youth. It is believed that in this time the lost (hypothetical?) Theseis has been originated. It is remarkable that now from the old wild fighter arose the protagonist of the Athenian law. So a large part of his heroic deeds are rather young and comes from the time in which political disturbances dominated Athens, in which tyrants and aristocrats were fighting against another to assume power (Fürstenberg). The depicted conflicts surely had a political importance. Skiron originally was a Megaritic local hero who scarcely unintentionally was degraded to a common brigand, because the Peisistratids have had a high interest in the Megaris (Herter, in Pauly). Similar was the case of the Eleusinian Kerkyron who was added to the cycle of Theseus not before the death of Hippias. After the fall of the tyrants Theseus rose up to the Athenian national hero. The aristocrats who were ruling now wanted to link to the heroic past of the Mycenaean era. But always Theseus remained the hero of the polis, not the hero of a political party (Parker). Wether the voyage to Crete and the killing of the Minotaur is a hint to the end of the old Mycenaean supremacy is possible, but should be seen only carefully (Roscher) Theseus and Herakles: On my coin Theseus is wearing a lion's scalp on his head. It is clear that he should be seen as Athenian Herakles. And so the mythology of Theseus was parallelized too to the mythology of Herakles: He is wearing a club (from Periphetes). He defeated several brigands on his way to Athens. He kills the Krommyonian sow. He conquered the Marathonian bull. Together with Herakles he fought against the Amazons. Together with Herakles he fought against the Centaurs. He joints like Herakles the Voyage of the Argonauts. Like Herakles he decends to hell. There was a canon of the 7 deeds of Theseus as a parallel to the 12 labours of Herakles. But there are differences too: Everytime he is depicted much youthfuller than the bearded Herakles. His hairs should have been short anterior and long posterior. This hairstyle was called Theseis. Even his club was narrower and more diminutive. Always Theseus acts much more considered than the choleric Herakles. So he made peace with the Amazons and with the Centaurs. And then he is venerated as founder of the Athenian democracy. Of Herakles we don't know any political activities. Originally Herakles was the divine hero of the Doric Spartans. Theseus in contrast is the Ionic-Attic hero (and was never a god!). The difference between Dorians and Ionians was felt too by the Athenians and emphasised, especially in the Peloponnesian Wars. Why this coin of Theseua from Nikaia? Plutarch (Vita Theseus, 26) cites a report from Demosthenes Menekrates in whose History of the City of Nikaia, that Theseus with Antiope on board has stayed with his ship some time in this region, as proof that Nikaia was founded by Theseus. The Nikaians wanted to affirm their Attic-Ionic origin. Waddington in contrast suggests that the singular propagation of a herakleslike Theseus in this case can be explained more easily by the veneration of Herakles by Commodus. So Theseus is not found as ktistes in the long inscription of the gate of Lefke. History of Art: While only few is leftover from the epic poetry, the situation in the vase painting is much better. Here the deeds of Theseus are praised manifoldly. We see how Minos throws his ring into the sea to test Theseus. On a bowl of Onesimos Theseus is in the companion with Athene at Amphitrite (495 BC, today in the Louvre/Paris).On an amphora of Taleides he stabs the Minotaur (about 530 BC, Metropolian Museum of Art,New York). On a wall painting in Pompeii is depicted that the saved children were kissing him hands and feet. A wall painting from Herculaneum shows the awakening Ariadne on the beach of Naxos, pointing to Theseus who is sailing away (British Museum). On the famous Francois-Vase of Kleitos the return of the children is celebrated (about 570 BC, Museo Archeologico, Firenze). The entire deeds of Theseus (the whole Theseus canon) is found on the picture inside of the bowl of the Kodros painter (British Museum). And then the deeds of Theseus are depicted on the reliefs of the metopes of the treasury house of the Athenians in Delphi and of the temple of Hephaistos (the so-called Theseion) on the agora in Athens, where they are confronted with the labours of Herakles. Sometimes the famous statue of the Diadumenos from Polykleitos is called Theseus, but in error. Even in later times Theseus was the subject for artists. It is known that Bocaccio has written an epos about Theseus, which then became a rather sentimal love story (I myself have not read it). Shakespeare's "Midsommer's Night" is about the wedding of Theseus and Ariadne too. Andre Gide has written in 1946 his narration "Thesee" about the possibilities of human self-fulfilment. Paintings with motives from the Theseus myth we know from Carpaccio ("Hippolytos before Theseus", before 1525, Paris), Rubens ("Battle of Amazons", about 1615, München) or Nicolas Poussin "Theseus discovers the weapons of his father", about 1630-35, Chantilly). From Antonio Canova exists a statue "Theseus slays a Centaur", 1804-1819 (today in Wien). I have attached: (1) a pic of the wonderful wall painting from Herculaneum which I have mentioned above. (2) a pic of the so-called temple of Theseus at the agora in Athens, which actually is the Hephaisteion. It is considered as the best preserved Greek ancient temple. Sources: (1) Homer, Ilias (2) Homer, Odyssee (3) Apollodor, Bibliotheke (4) Pausanias, Voyage in Greece (5) Plutarch, Theseus (and Romulus) (6) Hyginus, Fabulae (7) Ovid, Metamorphoses (8) Vergil, Aeneis Secondary Literature: (1) Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon, Facsimile (2) Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher, online (3) Robert von Ranke-Graves, Griechische Mythologie, rororo (4) Der Kleine Pauly (5) Paul Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen, Band II: Die Heroen-Geschichten, dtv (6) Aghion/Barbillon/Lissarrague, Lexikon der antiken Götter und Heroen in der Kunst, Reclam (7) Michael Fürstenberg, Theseus als Nationalheld der Athener, Studienarbeit 2003 (8) Hans Herter, Theseus (in Paulys Realenzyklopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaften, Supplementband XIII) (9) Robert Parker, Athenian Religion. A History, Oxford 1996 (10) Henry J. Walker, Theseus and Athens, Oxford 1995 Online: (1) Wikipedia (2) www.theoi.com: (3) www.theoi.com/Text/PlutarchTheseus.html (4) www.theoi.com/Ther/Minotauros.html Best regards
