Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/132

 118 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY god, and owes his mythical existence to a mere epithet (c/. atyes = ' springing ones ' = waves), was regarded as the father of Theseus. His mother was Aethra ('the bright, happy one ? ), daughter of Pittheus, king of Troe- zen. Before Aegeus left her on his return to Athens, he hid his sword and sandals under a heavy stone, with the charge that his son should be sent to him as soon as he could lift it. When grown to young manhood, Theseus, taking the sword and sandals for a countersign, so to speak, passed over the isthmus in search of his father. On the way he slew several robbers : the club-brandishing Periphetes ; the fir-bender, Sinis ; Sciron, who dwelt on a steep pass by the sea; the wrestler Cercyon; and the giant Damastes, who tortured strangers on a bed, and was there- fore called Polypemon ('hurter'), or Procrustes ('stretcher'). He also overcame the wild sow of Cromyon. 152. Meanwhile Aegeus had married the enchantress Medea. When Theseus arrived in Athens, she wanted to poison him ; but he was spared, his father recognizing him by the sword that he had brought. He now smote the gigantic Pallas and his mighty sons, who rose against Aegeus ; then he bound the Cretan bull, which had been released by Hercules and had ranged from Mycenae to Marathon. This adventure, however, is really only a later and secondary form of his contest with the bull- headed monster called the Minotaur, the story of which is usually told as follows : 153. Androgeos, a son of king Minos of Crete, had been slain by the Athenians. To atone for this murder they were compelled to send to Gnosus, every year for nine years, seven boys and seven girls to be devoured by the Minotaur, who was shut up in a labyrinth. Theseus vol-