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Encyclopaedia |
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Father of Adrastus who became King of Argos.
Son of Heracles and Auge who abandonned him. When he questioned the Delphic Oracle on his origins he was told to sail to Musia, where he found his mother married to King Teuthras who he then succeeded. He married Laodice, a daughter of Priam. He tried to stop the Greeks on their way to Troy, but they ravaged his country and he was wounded by Achilles assisted by Dionysus. An oracle told him that his wound could only be healed by those who had inflicted him, Achilles aided him as the Greeks had been told they could not take Troy without Telephus' help. He was cured and acted as guide for the Greeks.
Muse of choral dance and song, represented carrying a lyre and plectrum
Daughter of Uranus and Gaea, one of the twelve Titans. She was mother of Metis by Oceanus
King of Mysia. He was married to Auge and was succeeded by her son by Heracles Telephus.
I - One of the nine Muses, representing Comedy, often shown wearing a comic mask, a shepherd's staff or an ivy wreath.
II - One of the three Graces
Wife of Antenor, they escaped Troy with their children and ailed to the West Coast of the Adriatic, where they founded Venice and Padua.
Wife of Zethus who gave her name to Thebes.
Daughter of Uranus and Gaea, one of the twelve Titans representing Order. When Deucalion and Pyrrha prayed to her for the Earth to be repopulated, she advised them to throw the bones of mother earth behind them and they turned into people. She married Zeus and they were the parents of Horae and Moirae (The Fates).
The son of Æthra and King Ægeus of Athens, although he is also referred to as the son of Poseidon and Æthra raised her son secretly in Troezen, her father's kingdom. When he came of age he lifted a rock under which his father had hidden sandals and a sword which were heirlooms of Cecrops. He left for Athens and killed many monsters on his way there including Periphetes whose club he later carried.
When Theseus arrived in Athens, his father's new wife Medea tried to poison him so that her own son Medus could come to power. However Ægeus recognised the sword he had given his son and welcomed him home, while Medea and Medus fled. Theseus also dealt with the 50 sons of Pallas, Ægeus' brother removing all threat to his succession to the throne. He also captured and sacrificed to Athene the bull that Heracles had brought from Crete to Marathon.
He voluntarily went to Crete as one of the 7 men and 7 women who were sent as tribute to be devourered by the Minotaur.However Ariadne the daughter of the King fell in love with him and gave him a sword and ball of twine so he could find his way out of the labyrinth. He killed the Minotaur and escaped with the other Athenians and Ariadne, but he left her on the island of Naxos. However he forgot to raise the white flag as he sailed into Athens, and his father thinking him dead, threw himself into the sea, leaving Theseus as King of Athens.
Theseus invaded the land of the Amazons with Heracles and took Antiope back to Athens as his wife and she gave him a son - Hippolytus. (Some myths say he also took Antiope's sister Hippolyte and took her as his wife.) The Amazons attacked in revenge but Theseus defeated them inside Athens.
Theseus later married Ariadne's sister Phædra who bore him the sons Acamus and Demophon. However Phædra loved Hippolytus and he rejected her, she killed herself and falsely accused Hippolytus of causing it. Theseus prayed to Poseidon to punish his son, and Hippolytus was killed when his chariot horses were spooked by a sea monster sent by the god. (As told in Euripides' Hippolytus).
Theseus spent the next couple of years apparently becoming involved with various attempts to carry off women. He helped save Hippodameia from the Centaurs, then later took Helen who he concealed with his mother as she was too young to marry. He tried to take Persephone away from the underworld, but was captured by Hades and remained there until rescued by Heracles. His partner in most of these adventures was Pirithous, but he was left in the Underworld by Heracles.
When Theseus returned to Athen he was unable to keep control of his people as Menestheus stirred the unrest. He retired to Scyros where he was killed by King Lycomedes.
Daughter of Nereus and Doris, a sea nymph. Several gods wished to marry her, including Zeus, however Themisprophesied that Thetis' son would be greater than his father so she was given to Peleus. It was at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus that Eris was insulted by her lack of invitation and flung down the golden apple of discord. Thetis and Peleus had a son, Achilles, she dipped him in the River Styx, making him invulnerable everywhere except the heel by which she held him.
With the assistance of Briareus she rescued Zeus when Hera and the rest of the Olympians rebelled against him, she also cared for Hephaestus when he was thrown from Olympus.