THE'SEUS, one of the most celebrated personages of the Greek heroic age. The leg end of his career is differently told, but be is usually said to have been the son of 2Egeus, king of Athens, by hthra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. He was brought up at the court of his maternal grandfather, and, on reaching manhood, proceeded to his father's residence at Athens. On his way thither he performed several famous exploits, such as the destruction of Periphetes, Sinis, Dims., the Krommyonian sow, Skiron, Kerkyon, and the fell robber Proerustes. See PROCRUSTES. After his arrival Medea sought to poison him, but her plot failed. 2Egeus recognized his sou, and Medea and the sons of Pallas were banished. The next feats of Theseus were the capture of the Marathonian bull, and the deliverance of Athens from its dreadful tribute of youths and maidens to the Cretan Minotaur (q.v.), in which lie was assisted by the Cretan princess, Ariadne (q.v.). On his return to Athens his father tEgeus destroyed himself, and The seus succeeded to the throne. In his new capacity of ruler, he displayed no less wisdom than he had formerly shown To him the legend ascribes the consolidation of the 12 petty commonwealths of Attica into one state, an event that certainly did occur at some period of Attic history, which was commemorated by the festival of the Byncekia. Theseus also reorganized the Athenaic festival, and re-named it the Pan Athenaic, founded the Isthmian games, and -many other institutions; but soon after the craving for his old stirring life returned, and having laid down his authority, he set out along with Heracles in quest of new adventures. They fought the Amazons, and The
seus carried off their queen, Antiope or Hippolyte, by whom lie had a son. After the death of Antiope, he married Phtedra. The legend makes him take part in the Argo expedition by a ludicrous anachronism, join in the Calydonian hunt, help Peirithous and the Lapithm against the Centaurs, and assist in the attempt to rescue Persephone from the lower world (which led to a long imprisonment there, from which he was delivered by Heracles). Returning to Athens, he found that the minds of the people had been prejudiced against him during his absence, and as he could not re-estab lish his authority, he withdrew to Skyros, where he was treacherously destroyed by king Lycomedes. What grain of historical fact may lie in the myth of Theseus, it is hard to say. One of the most brilliant figures of the heroic age, reminding us, by his valor, wisdom, and generous love of the fair sex, of a knight of chivalry, we are loath to yield him up as a victim to the ravenous maw of criticism; yet all that can be said for his historic reality is. that so finished and admirable a prince is more likely to have been a legendary tradition of some real hero of primeval times, than a mere creature of poetic imagination.