\b0 Attic hero, son of King Aegeus of Athens. He was born at Troezen where, for a night, Aegeus had lain with Aethra,
TheseusÆ mother. At the age of sixteen, he set off on foot for Athens and, on his way, cleared the region of the Strait of \b \cf4 \ATXht10329 Corinth\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 of monsters and brigands. Recognized by his father and proclaimed his heir, he foiled
an attack by the sorceress \b \cf4 \ATXht11306 Medea\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , who had married his father, and then killed the fierce \b \cf4 \ATXht307 Cretan bull\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 that Heracles had left to run free on the plain of Marathon. His most famous expl
oit was the killing of the \b \cf4 \ATXht11317 Minotaur\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 with the help of \b \cf4 \ATXht10137 Ariadne\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . In subsequent adventures, whose chronological sequence is extremely uncertain, he abducted a series of divine female f
igures or heroines. One of these was \b \cf4 \ATXht10808 Helen\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , whom Theseus carried off from \b \cf4 \ATXht11914 Sparta\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 with the aid of his friend Peirithous. This prompted \b \cf4 \ATXht10308 Castor\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 an
d \b \cf4 \ATXht11629 Pollux\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , the victimÆs brothers, to wage war on Athens. To reward Peirithous, who had decided to abduct \b \cf4 \ATXht11617 Persephone\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , he descended into the kingdom of the dead, but was kept prisoner
by \b \cf4 \ATXht1 Hades\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . He was unable to get out until rescued by \b \cf4 \ATXht10811 Heracles\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . A revolt forced him to flee Athens and take refuge on Skyros, where he was treacherously thrown into the sea from a cliff
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\b \i \cf4 \ATXht1045 The Myth of Theseus and Ariadne
