Foundation stories

• Foundation stories link human cities with the gods, and allowed the populace to be proud of something and unified the people
• foundation stories passed down via oral tradition for many years, there were different versions of the same stories. they were also written down by historians or found in art and buildings
• Naming of Athens

  • found by king Crecrops he wanted a god to patronise his city
  • held a competition, best gift from the two gods (Athena, Poseidon) would win
  • poseidon struck his trident into the ground and out came a seawater spring - pretty represented the sea, however was unusable
  • Athene planted an olive tree useful/represented ingenuity and cleverness
  • Athene's gift deemed more appropriate so she won
• on his way to Athens Theseus had to defeat bandits in order to grow his reputation
• Labour 1 Theseus vs Periphetes

  • son of hephaestus - lame in one leg and had one eye he robbed travellers and killed them with a bronze club theseus kills him
  • not on kylix
  • club = heracles
  • breaking xenia by killing strangers so theseus is good
  • is 'other' and therefor monstrous
  • son of god makes theseus sound better
• Labour 2 Theseus vs Sinis

  • Asks people to help him bend pine trees then lets go catapulting them
  • unnecessary creative murder and robbery - becoming less human and more cruel
  • asking people for xenia and exploiting that = bad
• labour 3 Theseus vs The Sow of Crommyon

  • theseus kills the sow
  • sow apparently mother of calydonian boar
  • makes theseus look heracles like as he is slaying beasts
  • could be an old women
• labour 4 Theseus vs Skiron

  • asks people to wash his feet then pushes them off a cliff to feed to a sea turtle
  • flips xenia on its head
  • comic as he dies to his own turtle
• labour 5 Kerkyon

  • challenged people to a wrestling match the loser was killed. Theseus beat him and dashed him against the floor
  • turning a civilised game to kill people = bad xenia
• labour 6 Procrustes

  • invite people to his home and into a small bed. would then procede to fit them into the bed by chopping off body parts
  • breaking xenia showing a blatant disregard for zeus's rule
• Marathonian Bull

  • Medea tasks Theseus to kill the Marathonian bull which was the Bull Heracles had to capture. he defeats it and returns to Medea who tries to poison him and so turns into a dragon and flies away
  • links to heracles shows hes great
• Minotaur

  on bottom of kylix shows his final most impressive deed and cements his legacy with athens
• kylix pictures on the outside as it was more used for decoration
• symbolism of Theseus's Tasks

  • bandits = bad xenia
  • theseus is shown as clever as he outwitw them
  • heroic and pious for enforcing zeus's law
  • sow + marathonian bull show mastery over beats links to heracles
  • minotaur his best deed shows a combination of skills. mythological beast elevates his own heroism
• Theseus forgot to change his sails from black whihc symbolised his death so his father king aegeus threw him self into the sea and died. Theseus was now king.

  Ariadne had helped theseus escape the labyrinth however he had left her oont he island of naxos showing a crueller side to him
• to reunite athens theseus went to all the towns and made them pledge their allegiance to athens. he destroyed all their town hall and councils and build a grand one in athens. to reunite all religions he held the panathenaic games giving all athenians a chance to participate
• Theseus introduced an early form of democracy and unified athens
• Theseus was buried in the heart of the city where his tomb was used as a sanctuary to slaves and poor men as theseus had dedicated his life to helping such men. made a demigod after being sited as a ghost at a battle
• Latinus Slivius - established several colonies known as the ancient latins

  Tiberinus silvinus - drowned in the river and so gave it the name Tiber

  Romulus Silvius struck by lightning and killed

  Aventinus Silvius - buried in a hill now in rome called the aventine hull

  Amulius Silvius - drove his brother Numitor out of the Crown and mad Rhea a vestal virgin and locked her in a tower