CL 28 - Classical Mythology

Lectures 21/22 - Theseus and the myths of Crete

Erechtheus
Cecrops
Pandion and Creusa
Theseus, Greek hero, son of Aethra and Aegeus (or Poseidon)
Aegeus, his father, the king of Athens
Aethra, daughter of Pittheus 

King Minos and his wife Pasiphae
Ariadne, daughter of King Minos
Daedalus, Minoan inventor
Icarus
Minotaur
Androgeus, Minos's son

Scylla
Amphitrite
Hippolyte, the Amazon queen (or Antiope)
Hippolytus, her son with Theseus, accused of raping Phaedra
Phaedra, Ariadne's sister, Theseus's wife
Pirithous, king of the Lapiths
Hippodamia
Caeneus
Dioscuri: Castor and Pollux (Polydeuces)
Menestheus

Troezen, Epidaurus, Isthmus, Megara, Eleusis
Saronic Gulf
Skyros
Knossos

THE LABORS:
Periphetes at Epidaurus
Sinis at the Isthmus
Crommyonion sow
Sciron at Megara
Cercyon at Eleusis
Procrustes 

procrustean

IMAGES

•   Interior: Labors of Theseus (counter - clockwise from the left handle): Sinis, Procrustes, wrestling with Cercyon, Crommyonian Sow and the witch Phaia / Crommyo, Sciron, contests with the Marathonian Bull [before King Pandion], recognition scene with Aegeus, and overcoming the Minotaur. In tondo: the Dioskouroi before an altar. Attic Red-figure kylix by the Penthesilea Painter, ca. 450. From grave 18c of Valle Pega (Spina). H. 30.2 cm, Diam. 56.6 cm. Simon, Erika. Die Griechischen Vasen. Hirmir Verlag, Munich: 1981. Plate 184
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• House of the Vettii painting of Pasiphae and Daedalus in the triclinium. Guida Archaeolgica di Pompei. Mondadori ed. 270
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• Theseus slaying the Minotaur. Stamnos by the Kleophrades Painter. British Museum. From Greek Mythology, Feliz Guirand 1963. p.98
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• Ariadne by J.W. Waterhouse. Ariadne reclines on a bench while Theseus's ship sails away from the island of Naxos. Her rescue is imminent with Dionysus's panthers "on the prowl." Oil on canvas, 36x59.5 in. 1898. Hobson, A. JW Waterhouse. Phaidon - Christies Limited, Oxford: 1989, plate 45, p 66.

   

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