The Greek Hero Theseus Trivia Quiz

Answer: Athens

Although born and raised in the city of Troizen, across the Saronic Gulf from Athens, Theseus was regarded as the great hero of Athens. His human father was Aigeus, king of Athens, and Theseus is said to have freed Athens from the tribute to Minos king of Crete and to have organised all of Attica into one state with Athens at the centre.

Answer: Poseidon

The story was told that Poseidon slept with Theseus' mother, Aithra, at the same time that she was being courted by Aigeus. Some of the myths of Theseus have a connection with Poseidon: the bull of Crete (the bull being Poseidon's animal), earthquakes (Poseidon as "Earthshaker"), adventures on the sea, etc.

Answer: The Lion of Nemea

On his way from Troizen to Athens, Theseus had to cross the dangerous Isthmus of Corinth, beset with bandits and monsters. In addition to Sinis, the Sow of Crommyon, and Cercyon, Theseus killed the bandit Sciron and Procrustes who fastened his victims to an iron bed and then either lopped off their legs or stretched them to make them fit.

The Lion of Nemea was the first of the Labours of Heracles.

Answer: A ball of thread

Ariadne, daughter of the King of Crete, fell in love with Theseus and gave him a ball of thread to help him navigate the Labyrinth, find the Minotaur, and then guide him on his return. The other gifts were those given by the gods to Perseus.

Answer: Aithra

Aithra was Theseus' mother. Ariadne was the daughter of the King of Crete who assisted Theseus, but who was abandoned by him on the island of Naxos. Hippolyta was the Amazon queen whom Theseus abducted and who became his wife. Phaedra was the younger sister of Ariadne, mother of his sons Demophon and Acamas, and responsible for the death of Theseus' other son, Hippolytos.

Answer: Pirithous

Pirithous was the son of the king of the Lapiths in Thessaly. He first met Theseus when he and his pirates stole some cattle from Theseus' kingdom. They would become friends for life and Theseus would accompany Pirithous on his ill-advised mission into the Underworld to abduct the queen of the Underworld. Iolaos was the companion of Heracles, Pylades of Orestes, and Patroclus of Achilles.

Answer: Oedipus

Oedipus was the King of Thebes, who discovered that in all innocence and ignorance he had killed his father and married his mother. Blind and a wandering exile, he and his daughter Antigone finally wound up in Colonus, just outside of Athens, where Theseus welcomed him and witnessed Oedipus' mysterious death in the grove of the Furies.

Answer: Helen

Helen was the most beautiful woman in Greek myth, and her "abduction" by Paris, prince of Troy, was the cause of the very destructive Trojan war. But at age 12 she was kidnapped by Theseus and taken to Athens. While Theseus was absent, her brothers, Castor and Pollux, rescued her and also took Theseus' mother back with them.

Answer: Heracles

All of the persons named crossed the boundary between life and death and returned. Heracles was engaged on his twelfth Labour, to bring back Cerberus, the hound who guarded the entrance to the Underworld, when he came across Theseus imprisoned there for attempting to kidnap the queen of the Underworld.

In Euripides' tragedy "Heracles" (410s BC) Theseus repays his debt by affording Heracles sanctuary in Athens after Heracles has murdered his family in a fit of madness.

Answer: Mary Renault

Mary Renault (née Mary Challans, 1905-1983) was arguably the finest writer of historical fiction set in the ancient Greek world. Her two books on Theseus (1958, 1962) do a wonderful job of bringing to life a character from ancient myth. Rosemary Sutcliff is best-known as a writer of historical fiction for young people ("Eagle of the Ninth"), Colleen McCullough for her series of novels on the end of the Roman Republic ("Masters of Rome"), and Lindsay Davis for a series of detective novels set in the reign of the emperor Vespasian.