Theseus

In this paper I will attempt to examine cases of emotional appropriation and manipulation within a political context as portrayed in the classical myth of Theseus and the Labyrinth which, I propose, serves as a model for Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008-2010). I will engage in a comparative reading of the common ground these two narratives share through the theories of Louis Althusser, Guy Debord and Michel Foucault arguing that Collins rewrites the mythical Labyrinth, a symbol of political and divine power, as a panoptical technological dispositive which functions as a televised arena of multilayered interpellations and emotional manipulation. This new labyrinth utilizes the penetrative gaze of the camera in order to mould the emotions of its subjects and perpetuate its sovereignty. Moreover, I will explore how both Theseus and Katniss are placed in this labyrinthine structure of power and how they appropriate the tools of sovereignty in order to manipulate emotions so as to overthrow it. However, this victorious emergence from the labyrinth entails detrimental repercussions on both Katniss and Theseus, as they are eventually both alienated, marginalized and emotionally crippled. In short, I will attempt to read the classic and the modern text through a common, contemporary theoretical axis in order to underpin the sense of continuity from past to present regarding the issue of political manipulation of emotions.

André Gide was among the French intellectuals who, in the beginning of the 20 th century, attempted a completely new approach to the Greek myth. A typical example of his work is Thésée, a novel where he practically de-mystifies the ancient legend in order to project a different view of the hero and his deeds, to contest the ways in which the myth itself was perceived by the ancients and mostly by his contemporaries. In his work the main character stands before us alone, as a plain human being, deprived of his aura and glory; what is at stake here, though, is not so much the modernization of the myth but, rather, its rationalization. For Gide starts from a point of view that can be described at least as ironic-using cynicism and pragmatism throughout his novel-only to exalt the hero's human nature. Based on his firm philosophical beliefs, Gide appropriated a myth in order to create not just art but also a new mythology.

In Monster Anthropology: Ethnographic Explorations of Transforming Social Worlds through Monsters, edited by Yasmine Musharbash and Geir Henning Presterudstuen. Forthcoming from Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/monster-anthropology-9781350096257/. Discusses the cultural significance of stories about monsters lurking on roadways.

... | Ayuda. Thèsèe, le synoecisme et l''Angora d''Athènes. Autores: Jean-Marc Luce; Localización: Revue archéologique, ISSN 0035-0737, Nº 1, 1998 , pags. 3-32. © 2001-2010 Universidad de La Rioja · Todos los derechos reservados. XHTML 1.0; UTF‑8.

This paper attempts to analyse an in-yer-face play Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley in relation to the labyrinth metaphor and its correlation to the concepts of entrapment, being lost and thrown, search for authenticity and the possible exit from the labyrinth. The purpose of this analysis is to examine the relationship between the labyrinth metaphor and the myth of Theseus and the pyramid image which are demonstrated in the play. In that regard, Mercury Fur will be analysed within the framework of the labyrinth metaphor, its meaning in the play, and its connection to the other concepts. The first part of the paper introduces in-yer-face-theatre, Mercury Fur and the labyrinth metaphor, the second part provides an overview of the play and its thematic concerns, the third part exemplifies the labyrinth metaphor concerning the play, and the last part includes the conclusion.
Keywords: labyrinth metaphor, entrapment, lost and thrown being, authenticity of being, the
myth of Theseus.

Plutarch is universally acknowledged as an acclaimed biographer and philosopher; yet, one can also describe him as a historian, in the sense that he preserves considerable information and unique testimonia of both historical nature and political significance, whilst narrating the lives of eminent personalities of antiquity. The present paper explores Plutarch's role as a (political) historian, as he registers the phenomenon of democracy in ancient Athens, from its birth to its culmination (and beyond). To this end, selected passages from Plutarch's Lives are closely read, in an attempt to evince Plutarch's systematic engagement with the political history of Athens, from the mythical figure of Theseus down to Ephialtes, Pericles, and even Phocion. The analysis of these texts demonstrates the many, different ways in which Plutarch invaluably enriches our knowledge regarding the political history of the city of Athens.

In ancient Athens, the Panathenaia was the most important festival and it was celebrated in honour of Athena from the middle of the sixth century BC until the end of the fourth century AD. This in-depth study examines how this all-Athenian celebration was an occasion for constructing identities and how it affected those identities. Since not everyone took part in the same way, this differential participation articulated individuals' relationships both to the goddess and to the city so that the festival played an important role in negotiating what it meant to be Athenian (and non-Athenian). I apply theories of identity formation which were developed in the social sciences to the ancient Greek material and I bring together historical, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence to provide a better understanding both of this important occasion and of Athenian identities over the festival's long history.

Note that this book is now available in paper.

Please, consider that this is not the final version, and it still may contain uncorrected errors. The book deals with three interrelated subjects. The first is the representations of Greek heroes, mainly Theseus and Heracles, on Greek and local Thracian artefacts of the Classical era. The chiselled and gilt imagery on the luxury silverware creations, mostly found in Thracian and Scythian tombs, served as vehicle of the Athenian state ideology and the aesthetic and philosophical quests of that time. This brings us to the silver toreutics in Athens, a long and heated debate, of which the book dresses a balance and reassesses the evidence. The last part is dedicated to the instrumentalization of toreutics by the Athenian gift-diplomacy in its effort to establish a political alliance, and to achieve economic control on the rich precious metal, timber, manpower, and grain resources of the Thracian lands.

While the old gymnasia (Academy, Lyceum, Kynosarges) were
situated outside the walls of Athens, two new gymnasia were
built in the city’s heart soon after 229 BC: the Diogeneion and
the Ptolemaion. This paper discusses the history, architecture
and function of these two gymnasia, reviewing both literary
and epigraphic evidence and the archaeological remains in the
area of their probable location. These complexes had a remarkable
urbanistic impact, introducing a touch of modernity into
the chaotic and old-fashioned centre of the town. While their
exact location is still debated, they established a firm topographical
and ideological connection with the older city-centre
(‘Old Agora’) and served the headquarters of ephebic training
and education throughout the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

This article wishes to exam the removal of Orestes’ relics from Tegea to Sparta and Theseus’ from Skyros to Athens. It is notable to see how two acts with religious connotations could serve in parallel several goals such as political interests and dominant rights along with religious sentiment. The present study also discusses the role of Dephi in these stories and if the bone-movers would gain political advantage from the Oracle. The aim of this paper is to make evident the role each incident played in the concurrent politics of each city, the political significance of heroic relics and the advantage which the bone movers gained from their act.

Avanzada yala composición delas Vida Paralelas
1
, Plutarco decide exponer abiertamente su
método de trabajo y sus objetivos. Lo hace en la Vidade Teseo, donde admitelas dificultades
que conlleva la tarea historiográfica, especialmenteenloque concierneasu campo de estudio
y a los criterios de selección de fuentes. De este modo, presenta al lector una discusión teórica
de gran peso en latradición  historiográficade la Antigüedad
2
. El origendel planteoesla
conflictiva relaciónentremito e historia; dado que muchos  hechos del pasado se ven
contaminadoscon relatos fantasiosos, es necesario,según Plutarco, despojar al relato detodo
elemento mítico y apelar, en cambio, ala razón (λόγος), circunscribiéndose alos parámetros
de la verosimilitud (τὸ  εἰκός). No obstanteestaafirmación,la biografía estará  basada
forzosamenteen narraciones mitológicas, pues tratará, precisamente, deun personaje
enraizado enla leyenda. Con el objeto de indagar acerca de laproblemática previamente
planteada, analizaremosel tratamiento del mito a lo largo de la Vida de Teseoy la
construcción,a partir de allí, de un relatoverosímil y ajustadoal λόγος.

Scholars have assumed for a long time that Plutarch, writing from the mid first century to early second century AD, held a wholly negative view of democracy, and especially the radical Athenian variant. These scholars have not looked, however, at how and in which contexts Plutarch actually used the word δημοκρατία in his Parallel Lives and Moralia, and what sorts of institutions and ideals he attached to δημοκρατία as an actual, practiced form of government. Plutarch did not exclusively identify δημοκρατία with Athens, nor did he exclusively identify it with the famous radical form of democracy that Athens practiced in parts of the 5th and 4th century BC. When Plutarch discussed or characterized δημοκρατίαι, he did so in a broader sense than has been previously acknowledged, to discuss multiple different states, including non-Greek states, from very different periods of time and space, nor did he always speak negatively of δημοκρατία.

Prav tako, Sosij Senekion, kot zemljepisci stlačijo stvari, ki so se izmaknile njihovemu poznanju, na skrajne robove kart ter v razlago pripišejo »od tod naprej so puščave, brez vode in polne divjih zveri«, ali »neznano močvirje« ali »skitski mraz« ali »zaledenelo morje«, tako bi sam pri pisanju Vzporednih življenjepisov zdaj, ko sem prestopil meje časa, dostopnega razumnemu dokazovanju in dosegljivega na dejstvih utemeljeni zgodovini, o starejših rečeh lahko mirno rekel: »Od tod naprej so čudesa in zgodbe, kjer se pasejo pesniki in pisci mitov in kjer ni ne verodostojnosti ne jasnosti.« Toda ko sem izdal svoj spis o zakonodajalcu Likurgu in kralju Numi, se mi je zazdelo, da bi ne bilo nesmiselno povzpeti se še do Romula, ko sem z zgodovino že prišel v bližino njegovih časov, in ko sem gledal,

kdo s takšnim možem (kot pravi Ajshil) se bo spoprijel?
Kdo sodi obenj? Kdo je zanesljiv?

se je zazdelo, da se ustanovitelj lepih in opevanih Aten lahko primerja in kosa z očetom nepremagljivega in slovečega Rima. Nemara mi torej uspe, da z razumom očistim povest in ji dam podobo zgodovine; kjer pa trmasto prezira to, kar je še verjetnega, in ne sprejema mešanja s tem, kar se spodobi, bom molil za naklonjene bralce, ki starodavne pripovedi sprejemajo s prizanesljivostjo.

The Athenian recovery of Theseus’ bones from Scyros is known through a number of literary accounts spanning several centuries. The tradition dates the recovery to the early fifth century and connects it to the Athenian statesman Cimon. Modern reconstructions tend to rely on the combination of different (and possibly conflicting) sources. An analysis of the evidence, however, shows that the story was built up over several centuries, as the various layers of the tradition date to different historical and cultural contexts: its core probably dates to the fourth century. Evidence for any fifth-century element is so scant that most of the story may be safely detached from its alleged historical context.

Nos proponemos en este trabajo el estudio de la caracterización y tratamiento de los personajes monstruosos a los que se debe enfrentar Teseo en la Vida de Plutarco. Entendemos que los encuentros con dichos personajes representan parte fundamental en el entramado narrativo y, especialmente, en la conformación heroica de Teseo planteada por Plutarco.

Cheikh Zouède est un village localisé sur la côte ouest du Sinaï, entre Rafah (19 km au sud) et El' Arîche et quelques dizaines de kilomètres de Gaza (54 km au S.-O. de Gaza et 144 km de Jérusalem). Il est identifié avec Bitulion, une ville épiscopale au VIe siècle dont l'histoire remonte à l'époque sémitique avec quelques fondations. A l'époque ptolémaïque existe un bourg, Bytyl, témoigné par la céramique rhodienne (amphores estampillées).
La fouille de 1913 n'était qu'un dégagement rapide des vestiges archéologiques sans méthode au sens actuel du terme. La mosaïque figurative (4,75 x 3 m), très bien conservée, occupe la partie Est d'une grande pièce rectangulaire (7,25 x 6,60 m). A l'ouest de cette mosaïque est juxtaposé un panneau géométrique (1, 72 x 1,65 m). Ces deux mosaïques polychromes contrastent avec le sol monochrome en tesselles blanche.
Le visiteur se trouvait d'abord en face d'une longue inscription, le panneau central déroulé en deux registres figurait un thiase dionysiaque, enfin le dernier illustrait le mythe de Phèdre et d'Hippolyte accompagné au-dessus d'une inscription et couronné d'une autre.
L’auteur analyse trois inscriptions et trois images figurées du point de vue du vocabulaire utilises, de  l’iconographie ainsi que de l’iconologie en suivant leurs apparitions depuis la tragédie grecque jusqu’ à l’époque tardive.
Nous nous demandons si l'inscription contre le Mauvais Œil et l'Envie est placée intentionnellement près du mythe de Phèdre et d'Hippolyte. Il fait allusion aux conséquences destructrices d'un regard maléfique, malheur à celui qui tenterait d'entrer avec de semblables intentions. l'hypothèse nous semble défendable. Nous connaissons toute une série d'inscriptions exprimant l'idée : « Que l'on souhaite du bien ou du mal, il sera rendu au double ».
Dionysos et Héraclès sont associés dans les écrits théologiques de Julien. Le premier veille que la vie ait un sens et le deuxième est un dieu <<gardien>> et <<protecteur>> du monde. Ces caractéristiques attribuées à Dionysos et à Héraclès expliquent leur présence sur cette mosaïque.
Il serait tout à fait justifié de comparer le programme de la mosaïque de Cheikh Zouède avec celui de la villa gauloise de Vinon en Narbonnaise interprétée d'une façon excellente par Henri Lavagne. Nous voyons aussi quelques parallèles avec des inscriptions saluant le visiteur (HAIREI) et l’avertissant (KAISU) en même temps. C'est le cas de la maison de Dionysos à Néa Paphos qui a fait l’objet d’une très bonne étude de Ch. Kondelon. Les mosaïques du vestibule de la maison du Mauvais Œil ont également le pouvoir protecteur comme Doro Levi l’a justement expliqué.
Ce pavement du Sinaï d'une vaste propriété nous laisse penser que ses habitants devaient être hellénisées et profondément païens. Ils se servent de la mythologie pour décorer leur demeure et se protègent contre l'intrusion des forces maléfiques. Le propriétaire est un homme cultivé et le filokalos. Le choix des sujets mythologiques pour représenter des idées qui sont exprimées sur d'autres mosaïques d'une façon beaucoup moins sophistiquée témoigne de son goût raffiné. La date de l'exécution de la mosaïque reste discutable, malgré quelques analogies iconographiques et stylistiques suggérant plutôt la période entre les premières moitiés du IVe et du Ve siècles ( sur la datation et le style de la mosaïque cf. M. T. Olszewski, La mosaïque de style naïf de Cheikh Zouède au Sinaï , Archeologia (Warsaw) 53, 2002, pp. 45–61, pls III+VI).

Critical engagements with the topic of humour and laughter and literary–historical enactments of their social power are all too easily polarized around the idea that the comic is somehow essentially conservative or progressive. Bakhtin's dream that the carnivalesque was a transforming social force has tended to give way to studies such as those by Mulkay, Billig and Ghose, among others, which emphasize instead how the comic can reproduce the status quo. Excepting Mulkay, such studies typically focus on laughter specifically. This article presents a more nuanced account of the comic in literary politics by developing an approach to humour's rhetoric and politics that draws afresh on the early modern Aristotelian tradition of thinking about the risible and offers an analytical approach to humour as an emotional response to what I will call the unseemly. Such a view of humour illuminates the similarities that might be observed in A Midsummer Night's Dream between Puck's amusement at the lovers in act three and Theseus's amusement at the artisans' play in act five. Such a view of humour emphasizes the evolving values, the seemliness, that can be common to humour and politics by exposing the conditions under which humour becomes available to many as a rhetorical resource. In doing so, the article points both through and beyond A Midsummer Night's Dream to a fresh conception of the constructive role that humour specifically might play in political transformation.

This article explores how Attic tragedy employs the theme of heroic labors (ἆθλοι) and how it adapts it to fit the specifications of the genre and the ideology of the polis. With reference to Euripides' Suppliant Women and focusing on Theseus, I suggest that an Attic tragedy recounts a heroic labor performed by the main character. Signified by a set of terms, which underline the common culture between mythical heroic labors, sports and war, the labor is incorporated in the tragic narrative as a potential benefit to the polis. This typology of tragic labors, which takes into consideration both the poetics and the politics of Attic tragedy, explains how predemocratic myth is reconciled with the democratic context of the genre and it can be applicable to other tragic characters and plays.

From Astrid Möller's Einleitung
«In seinem Beitrag „Spartan Heroic Ancestry and Austere Virtues. Herakles, Theseus, and the Phaeakians on the Throne of Amyklai“ untersucht Massimo Nafissi einige der von Pausanias beschriebenen Szenen, die einst auf dem Thron des Apollon Hyakinthos in Amyklai abgebildet waren. Die mythologischen Szenen stellten die ältesten Ereignisse der Vergangenheit Spartas und Lakoniens dar und können als Beispiel einer intentionalen Geschichte in Bildern verstanden werden. Auf dem Thron war zum einen die Abstammung der Lakedaimonier und ihrer Heroen von Zeus dargestellt. Die Bilder, in denen Theseus mit dem Minotauros bzw. Demodokos mit den phäakischen Tänzern erscheinen, gehören hingegen einem viel breiteren mythischen Horizont an, der, so Nafissi, nicht leicht zu verstehen sei. Ohne dass sich der Bilderschmuck erhalten hätte, biete die schriftliche Überlieferung doch insofern eine Grundlage für ein synthetisches Verständnis seiner Bedeutung, als die Verbindungen zwischen den Szenen in Begriffen der Polarität und Analogie bestimmt werden können. Nafissi sieht in der Darstellung des Theseus mit dem Minotauros einen impliziten Vergleich zwischen Theseus und Herakles, der selbstverständlich zugunsten des Herakles ausgeht». (A. Möller)

Martin Szoke, BMCR 2019.11.45:
«Massimo Nafissi takes a closer look at some of the mythological scenes which once adorned the throne of Amyklai and which are described in Pausanias, and proposes that these scenes, depicting some of the earliest events of the Spartan past, present a case of pictorial intentional history. The central argument of his very insightful piece is that one of the scenes on the throne, portraying a group of Phaiakian dancers and a singing Demodokos, provides us with a local perspective on the early development of Spartan austerity, about which we otherwise only know from later, non-Spartan sources.»

The Temple of Apollo Daphnephoros, situated in the centre of the Euboean polis of Eretria, is one of the most relevant of Greece, with an important Late  Archaic building phase, that saw the decoration of its two pediments with marble statuary. Several fragments of the west pediments, including the famous abduction scene of Antiope by Theseus and the statue of Athena, were  recovered during many excavation campaigns. These two items, as well as six others belonging to the same complex, were first submitted to a non-destructive examination of their  surface with a light source, a magnifying lens and a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, followed by a micro-sampling and laboratory multiple
analysis finalised to the provenancing of the marble. The analytical methods of the samples included optical microscopy on thin section, powder X-ray diffraction and stable isotope ratio determination by mass-spectrometry. The very homogeneous results obtained allowed to conclude that the marble used for all the examined items is Parian from the open pit quarries of the Lakkoi valley, very likely extracted from a unique locus.

This article is about how director Christopher Nolan used the myths surrounding the ancient hero Theseus in his movie Inception. In the article Nolan's possible knowledge of classical antiquity and the period's writers, characters and myths is addressed, and the similarities between the myths and the film are highlighted.

Greek religious festivals were multi-sensory social practices involving the whole of the human senses beyond the visual cues of place and action. The festivals at the sanctuary of Apollo of Delos were distinguished by a rich aural environment of ritual performances including song and music and of linguistic affluence. The Delia included musical contests of rhapsodic recitation and dancing, paeans and music accompanied the processions sent by the city-states, choruses sang of gods and men. Other local Delian cults also relied on hymns, dance and music. Who then were the performers and the public of such musical and lyric rituals? Delos was considered the ethnic sanctuary of Ionian Greeks, but literary and archaeological data rather reconstruct the profile of a regional Cycladic sanctuary, in fact an ethnically permeable religious hub for the Aegean. The cultic community at Delos should be understood in its diversity of dialects and cultures since the archaic age, when the Delian maidens were praised for imitating the tongues of all men and their clattering speech (h.Hom. h.Ap. 162f.). What perception did these participants have of the aural environment of Delian festivals? The songs addressed the centrality of Delian Apollinean cult, but the paeans of the city-state’s theoriai added unique expressions of self-identification; and, beyond words, the linguistic, stylistic, and musical features of the performances did evoke diverse cultural messages in their own. From the perspective of auditive sensory experience, the Delian festivals are a statement of pan-Hellenism, not so much in purporting a common Hellenic ethnic identity, but rather expressing the communion and communication among the multiple intra-Hellenic ethnic and cultural identities of the Greeks who shared into the cult of Delian Apollo.

The current interpretation of the adjective mitis in two passages of Statius’ Thebaid (i 334; ii 382) referring to the cities of Corinth and Eleusis seems to be quite unsatisfactory, and led to an unnecessary conjectural emendation of the former. An in-depth analysis of the literary purposes of the two sections containing these lines, however, prompts to detect some kind of mythological allusion in the use of mitis: the two cities were important stages of Theseus’ juvenile travel from Troezen to Athen, and mitis must refer to his killing of the brigands Sinis and Cercyon. If this interpretation is correct, then mitis must be considered
as an equivalent of the Greek terms ἥμερος and ἡμερόω.

«Ὅ τι ἂν δόξῃ τοῖς πλείοσι, τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι τέλος καὶ τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι τὸ δίκαιον» (Αριστοτέλης, Πολιτικά, 1317b5-7). Για πολλούς ερευνητές, η Δημοκρατία συνιστά το μεγαλύτερο επίτευγμα και το σημαντικότερο κληροδότημα της αρχαίας Ελλάδας (της αρχαίας Αθήνας) στον σύγχρονο κόσμο. Πρόκειται για ένα φαινόμενο μοναδικό και ανεπανάληπτο στην ανθρώπινη ιστορία· ως προς το περιεχόμενο, την έκταση, τις συνέπειες και τις επιδράσεις του.
Η παρούσα έκδοση ιχνηλατεί την πορεία προς τη συγκρότηση της Αθηναϊκής Δημοκρατίας και παράλληλα εξετάζει το κοινωνικό-πολιτικό φαινόμενο της πόλεως-κράτους· κωδικοποιεί τις πρώτες αρχές της δημοκρατικής οργάνωσης και παρουσιάζει τους κυρίαρχους πολιτειακούς θεσμούς στη διαχρονική εξέλιξή τους.
Θεμελιακό διακριτικό της έκδοσης είναι η συστηματική καταγραφή και ανάδειξη της μαρτυρίας των αρχαίων πηγών, ώστε να παρέχεται στον μελετητή, τον φοιτητή, τον αναγνώστη, η δυνατότητα να προσπελάσει άμεσα τους τύπους των ήλων της Ιστορίας.
Η πορεία στον ελληνικό ιστορικό χρόνο αρχίζει από τις ομηρικές συνελεύσεις και τα πολιτικά σημαινόμενά τους (γέροντες/άριστοι, αγορή), καταγράφει τον θρύλο του Θησέα, παρακολουθεί τις κλιμακούμενες πολιτικές μεταρρυθμίσεις (Σόλων, Κλεισθένης, Εφιάλτης, Περικλής) και καταλήγει σε θεσμούς ρηξικέλευθους (Εκκλησία του Δήμου, Βουλή, Ηλιαία), σε μια ανάταση δημοκρατίας.
Από ένα ευρύτερο πλαίσιο (ιστορικό-γεωγραφικό), το οποίο εκτείνεται μέχρι τη Σπάρτη και τον Λυκούργου, η πορεία συγκλίνει στον Αττικό χωρόχρονο, στην ανάπτυξη και εξέλιξη της Αθηναϊκής Δημοκρατίας· μιας πολιτείας η οποία διαρκώς επιζητούσε πληρέστερες μορφές κοινωνικής και πολιτικής οργάνωσης, στοχεύοντας την ισονομία, την αξιοκρατία, το δικαιότερο κοινωνικό πρόσωπο· ως αποτέλεσμα, κατέστη καύχημα των πολιτών της και Ελλάδος παίδευσις.
Ως θεσμικά συντεταγμένο πολιτειακό σύστημα, η Δημοκρατία δύσκολα καθιδρύεται στις ανθρώπινες κοινωνίες· όταν όμως καθιδρυθεί, τότε δεν εξαλείφεται. Απλώς, ενίοτε, αναστέλλεται για λίγο…

In the Athenian imaginary, the myth of Theseus can be connected with two essential periods of the construction of the
polis : the synoecism and the birth of democracy. The elaboration of the synoecism myth is rooted in the Archaic period,
whereas the myth of Theseus the founder of democracy is developed during the fifth and fourth centuries. The Athenians use
these two traditions at different periods of their history to think, shape and root the political features and alterations of their city in
a mythic past

This is how they tell the story.
They tell that the Minotaur was a monster, half man, half bull, who dwelt in the labyrinth. They tell that Theseus was a brave youth who determined to kill the Minotaur. They tell that Ariadne was a princess who fell in love with Theseus and gave him a thread to guide him. They tell that Theseus marched unfearingly into the labyrinth, braving the bellowing monster at its heart, and that he met the Minotaur and slew it. They tell that he emerged a great man who in later years won the love of many women and gloriously conquered many lands.

This is what they do not tell us.

They do not tell us that Theseus was afraid, but refused to acknowledge his fear. They do not tell us that as Theseus heard the Minotaur’s bellows, he realised that they were songs, sometimes so sad that he wanted to weep, sometimes so joyful that he wanted to dance, but that he suppressed these feelings and marched on. They do not tell us that when he met the Minotaur he saw that the beast-man had his own features. They do not tell us that he was so enraged by this that he instantly killed the Minotaur. They do not tell us that, confident that nothing of the animal remained in him, he went on to rape many women, calling it love, and to kill many people, calling it glory.

This is how it was and still is and should not be.

This is how it was in the deeper past and how it could be again.


Theseus knew it was time for him to enter the labyrinth and confront the Minotaur. He was afraid and so he asked the Goddess Ariadne for a token, as it was in her service and for love of her that he was going. She gave him a thread from her web, which is the world, to remind him that the dark labyrinth too was her realm, and that She who he loved could be found in darkness as in light. He entered the labyrinth, afraid of the Minotaur’s bellowing but hopeful that he could do what was needed. As he moved in deeper he realised that the bellows were songs, sometimes so sad that he wept, sometimes so joyful that he danced. At the heart of the labyrinth he confronted the Minotaur and discovered that it had his own features. Joyfully he embraced his brother and they danced and sang, sometimes together, sometimes apart. Finally the handsome youth began his journey out of the labyrinth leaving the beast-man at its heart. He returned the thread to the Lady Ariadne who wove it once more into her web as a connection now between the ordinary world and the mysteries of the deep labyrinth. In the heart of the labyrinth Theseus remained until the time came round for the Minotaur to seek him once more.

Continue reading: http://feminismandreligion.com/2012/01/14/the-heart-of-the-labyrinth-by-daniel-cohen-2/#more-1903

Tags: Feminism, Fiction, Goddess Movement, Daniel Cohen, Labyrinth, Minotaur, Ariadne, Thesues, Short Stories, Legend, Myth, Greek, Goddess, Mythology, Crete

Tags: Feminism, Fiction, Goddess Movement, Daniel Cohen, Labyrinth, Minotaur, Ariadne, Thesues, Short Stories, Legend, Myth, Greek, Goddess, Mythology, Crete

Аннотация. В статье предпринята попытка воссоздать основные направления и стимулы эволюции социальной организации Афин, которые привели к возникновению полиса. Микенская катастрофа вызвала не только запустение Аттики, но и длительную концентрацию населения в Афинах. Это, на наш взгляд, наложило отпечаток на процесс возникновения и эволюции социальных институтов. В работе поддерживается ранее вы-сказанное предположение, что афинские (ионийские) филы существовали уже в Микен-ский период. В процессе последующей ионийской миграции они получили распростра-нение и в малоазийских (ионийских) полисах. Трудно сказать, существовали ли фратрии в микенский период, однако можно предположить, что они возникли или начали склады-ваться в период миграций. Примерно с IX в. до н.э. (Геометрический период) начинается процесс, называемый нередко внутренней колонизацией. В его ходе население, прежде сконцентрированное в Афинах, начинает заселять Аттику. Итогом этого процесса стано-вится децентрализация формирующегося государства (полиса) или разрыв связей центра и периферии. Естественно, это создает стимул для восстановления (или обретения) един-ства. Это происходит в результате того, что мы называем синойкизмом Тезея. Итогом ста-новится формирование архаического (аристократического) полиса. Хотя хронологически рассматриваемые нами проблемы укладываются в промежуток между XI и VIII вв. до н.э., в заголовок работы выносится упоминание о синойкизме Те-зея-событии, вне всякого сомнения, легендарном. Отдавая себе отчет в этом, мы, тем не менее, полагаем, что формирование афинского полиса стало результатом того, что хотя бы условно можно назвать синойкизмом Тезея. Ключевые слова: Древняя Греция, Афины, Постмикенский регресс, депопуляция, пе-риод Темных веков, ионийские филы, фратрии, синойкизм, Тезей Крушение Микенской цивилизации, как известно, привело к затяжному и всестороннему кризису, политической, экономической и социальной деградации общества 1. Последняя выразилась, в частности, в значительном сокращении на-Данные об авторе: Гущин Валерий Рафаилович-кандидат исторических наук, доцент кафедры гуманитарных дисциплин НИУ ВШЭ Пермь. 1 См., например: Андреев 1985, 11 и сл.; Андреев 2002, 666 и сл. Автор даже говорит о возвра-щении к первобытнообщинному строю в его новом варианте (Андреев 1985, 19; критика: Блаватская 2003, 93; Фролов 2004, 59 и сл.).