Theseus and Democracy at Athens
It was a traditional Greek practice to explain significant historical changes such as
the founding of communities or the codification of law as the work of an individual
“inventor” from the distant past. Just like the Spartans, for whom
the legendary
Lycurgus1 was remembered as the founder of their city-state, the Athenians also believed
their polis owed its start to a single man in the distant past. Athenian
legends made
Theseus2 responsible for founding the
polis of Athens at a remote date by the synoecism of villages in Attica,
the name given to the peninsula at the southeastern corner of the mainland of Greece
that formed the territory of the Athenian polis. Since Attica had several
fine ports along its coast, the Athenians were much more oriented to seafaring and
communication with other peoples than were the almost-landlocked Spartans. Theseus made
an appropriate mythical founder because he was described as a traveling adventurer,
sailing, for example, to the island of Crete to defeat the
Minotaur3, a cannibalistic
monster, half-human and half-bull. This exploit, like his other legendary adventures, or
“labors” as they are called in imitation of those of Heracles,
became favorite subject matter for vase painters. There can be no historical reality to
the story of Theseus as the founder of Athenian democracy, but the civilizing nature of
his legendary labors—he defeated many monsters who threatened travelers and
polis residents alike—made his story appropriate to the
aspirations of Athenian civic life.
