At birth Theseus an unknown father. His mother , Aethra , was friendly with both Poseidon and Aegeus (Hunt 3-6). Before Theseus was born Aegeus said to Aethra . ” If we are to have a son , when he is grown have him take my sword and sandals from under this boulder to me ,” then he was off to Athens. Theseus was born in a small town called Troezen and grew up there, in a normal way. When Theseus was old enough Aethra took Theseus to the boulder where the sandals and sword were and told him what Aegeus had said. Theseus lifted the giant boulder with ease and immediately wanted to go to Athens.
He insisted on going by land even though it is much more dangerous for there are thieves and he did not want to heed his mothers warnings. So he was off to Athens on foot to meet his father. On the journey Theseus met many thieves and out whited every one of them from asking to see there nice weapons and using them agents the thieves to seeing what they were trying to do to him and using that to hurt or usually kill them. Either way Theseus showed courage and wisdom in his quick thinking that would make him a great hero that would be remembered for many years to come.
The first day in Athens Theseus started looking for Aegeus castle but what he did not know was that Aegeus was ,at the time, under the power of a sorcerer by the name of Medea. She could see the power in him from afar and saw that he would take her power so she told Aegeus to kill him. At this time either Aegeus nor Theseus knew that they were related. Media told Aegeus to invite Theseus to a party or ball coming in the near feature and to poison his drink. Aegeus poisoned his drink and gave it to Theseus. Just before Theseus drank the wine Aegeus dashed the glass to the ground for he had just recognized his sword.
Aegeus and Theseus became good friends and lived together for a time. One day Theseus saw ships with black sails coming and heard that there were taking 20 people to the labyrinth where they would be killed by a monster called the Minitor. Theseus had to stop this annual occurrence and went on the boat and promised if he lived to change the sails from black to white to tell Aegeus that Theseus was alive. Theseus went on the ship to the labyrinth in Crete and met Ariadne , who he fell in love with immediately, who gave him a ball of silk for which to get out of the maze.
Theseus got all of the others to follow him and finally found and killed the Minitor by himself. He then followed the silk back out. He loved Ariadne and took her home with him. On the way Dionysis said that he was already to be wed with Ariadne and took her with him. Theseus was so sad that he forgot to change the sails. Aegeus saw the black sails from atop a high cliff while watching for his son and jumped into the sea below him killing himself in what is now called the Aegean sea.