Theseus | GRST 202 Blog

Director Tarsem Singh merges two different myths together in his 2011 action and adventure film, Immortals. He molds the stories of these myths, the Titanomachy and Theseus, into one myth in order to better suit his film. He takes creative liberties and changes the stories, which differ greatly from Apollodorus’s versions. King Hyperion, the antagonist, is a power-hungry man who seeks the Epirus bow after losing his family to plague. The bow is loosely related to the bow of Hercules. This bow oozes power as Hyperion eventually uses it to free the Titans, who battle the Olympians in what should be known as the Titanomachy 2.0. The timeline for Immortals takes place after the Titanomachy, and the plot revolves around Theseus and his tasks. The Titanomachy, however, repeats itself as the Titans are eventually freed by the insane King Hyperion and battle the Olympians. Singh’s Immortals evokes a multitude of interests. One of these interests includes the presence of gods in the movie when no gods are mentioned in Apollodorus’s version after Theseus’s birth (Poseidon and Aigeus share Theseus as their son). Theseus’s battle with the Minotaur portrays another interest in the differences and artistic interpretation that Singh takes in the events that take place during the myth of the Minotaur. The most important piece of Singh’s piece surrounds Theseus and his relationship with Zeus and the Olympians, one curiously similar to the relationship between Moses and God in Judaism and Christianity, but quite different from Apollodorus’s version of Theseus.

In the Titanomachy according to Apollodorus, the gods fight the titans for ten years and

The “hundred-handers”

eventually win, shutting them up in Tartarus, guarded by the “Hundred-handers”. The Immortals’ version of the Titanomachy happened a little differently. Tartarus, a pit in the depths of The Underworld in most Greek writings, is a mountain in the Immortals. The Titans are not what you would imagine Titans to look like. They are not huge, monstrous creatures, but humanoid figures, with gray skin and emotionless, red eyes. They are trapped in a sort of cage in Tartarus, held there with stakes placed horizontally through their mouths. There are no “Hundred-handers” to guard them. It is hard to completely replicate the Titanomachy because of the details of the war and the short period of time in a movie, but at least Singh described the Gods-Titans quarrel.

Theseus fights the Minotaur in Immortals

Zeus and Theseus’s relationship in Immortals is very different than the relationship that Theseus has with Zeus in Apollodorus’s version, because there is none. The only presence of gods in Apollodorus’s version is before Theseus’s birth, when Poseidon becomes his half-father. In the rest of Apollodorus’s version of Theseus’s myth no gods are mentioned. So why has Singh so heavily involved someone to hold Theseus’s hand throughout the film? Singh uses Zeus as a father-figure and teacher to steer Theseus on a course for success. The lessons that Theseus learns from Zeus mirrors some of those from God to Moses, as a teacher and guide.
In the film, Zeus encourages Theseus by telling him “I have faith in you Theseus. Prove me right. Lead your people”. Zeus’s guidance of Theseus is similar to God’s encouragement of Moses to carry out God’s command. Although their tasks aren’t similar, Theseus tries to prevent the Titans from escaping “Mount Tartarus” while Moses labors tirelessly to gain the Jews freedom. The way in that they are guided by higher beings is eerily parallel. Both Moses and Theseus lead their respective peoples, Theseus leading the Greeks and Moses the Jews. Theseus and Moses both come from backgrounds that lead them to be out casted, Theseus as a “bastard” child in this movie and Moses as an adopted son. Both of them eventually rise to unmatched power, Moses as a prophet and Theseus an Olympian god. These two heroes stand for good against evil. God chose Moses just as Zeus chose Theseus. A major difference in these two is that Zeus doesn’t want to intervene in human affairs. It ends up being the other Olympian gods Ares, Poseidon, and Athena that help Theseus to his destiny. God in the Old Testament on the other hand, speaks and intervenes directly with Moses, telling him to lead his people out of Egypt and into Israel. The parallelism between Moses and Theseus makes Theseus a hero in Greek mythology, but in monotheism, a prophet. A central theme of both Moses’s story and the main theme in Immortals is faith. Both men have faith, but end up having it differently. Moses always had faith in God. He never doubted his faith. Theseus, on the other hand, had to be shown the supernatural in order to have faith. This is where Immortals gets corny. The journey of faith should be one that is discovered on one’s own, not delivered when an Olympian swoops down and saves you from death on multiple occasions.

Moses and God

Faith plays such a huge role in Immortals, yet is neglected to be mentioned in Apollodorus’s version. Theseus bests all enemies in Apollodorus simply because he is stronger and a better warrior. Singh wanted to appeal to the audience in that faith means everything and when someone lacks faith, he/she also lacks vitality. This is shown when Theseus almost dies of exhaustion when taken slave at the salt mines, only to be saved by his future lover Phaedra. He asks her why a person would rescue a complete stranger. “Only a faithless man would ask such a question” she responds. She then persuades Theseus to bury his mother the way she wanted to be buried, with her rites and faith. When he buries her he finds the Epirus bow, restoring his faith and becoming an unstoppable force. This shows that faith gives you the needs to overcome your enemies.

Faith RESTORED!

The Olympians watch over Earth in Immortals

Greek mythology describes the Minotaur as the half-bull, half-man son of Pasiphe and a bull sent by Poseidon. In Immortals the Minotaur doesn’t live in the Labyrinth, as it does in Greek mythology. There is no King Minos, whose closest replacement would be Hyperion. There is, however, the wire-mask man sent by Hyperion to the Labyrinth where Theseus is burying his mother after she is killed. The wire-mask man, known as “the beast” to Hyperion and Immortals, but the Minotaur to all other interpretations, is eventually killed by Theseus The Minotaur in Immortals is a man, but with a wire-mask in the shape of a bull. It is peculiar as to why Singh made the Minotaur as a man instead of a “half-breed” because the movie was already filled with supernatural beings, gods and titans. In the opening credits of the movie, quote from Socrates appears on the screen, saying “All men’s souls are immortal. But the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.” Animals are at a scarcity in this movie and Singh may have wanted the movie to go off of this quote by keeping the Minotaur a man, saying that his soul was neither divine nor righteous. The movie fails to really grasp the whole “Labyrinth” version. There is no string or ball of yarn that Theseus uses to maneuver the Labyrinth, instead, after killing the “Minotaur” he takes one left and one right and is home free.

Theseus battles the Minotaur

Apollodorus’s Theseus is a fantastic myth because there is very little Olympian god involvement. The myth of Theseus is about a man who strains and fights without the help of the gods, eventually leading him to the founding and ruling of Athens. Because Immortals has so much god influence, it dampens the meaning of the Theseus myth, that a hero CAN accomplish many things without the interference/divine help of the gods. Although Immortals was still entertaining and fun to watch, it lacked mythological accuracy.

The Minotaur is a double-stranger. Born of a god-sent lust by Pasiphae for Minos’ prized bull, the Minotaur became a stranger in his own land. He was locked into the Labyrinth to hide him from the public and to hide the shame of king Minos. The half-man, half-bull would never see the light of day. However, it is not only within his home land that he is a stranger. He, and all of Crete, are strangers to the Athenians. When Minos’ son, Androgeos, won all competitions at the Panathenaic games, he was killed by jealous Athenians thinking that an Athenian should win. This jealous death led to Athenian subjugation by the Cretans who controlled the sea. As punishment, they were to give seven young men and seven virgins to Minos every nine years to be fed to the Minotaur. A stranger in a strange land, and a beast begot by a god’s revenge, the Minotaur then represents the very worst of foreign barbarism, from an Athenian perspective at least.

Greek depiction of the Minotaur.

When Theseus finally slay the Minotaur in the third cycle of Athenian restitution to Minos, he was killing a foreigner and outcast. Even king Minos, learning of Theseus’ desire to kill the Minotaur, was not upset at the possibility of his step-son’s death. With the help of Ariadne, daughter of Minos, Theseus successfully navigated the labyrinth and more importantly successfully lefts it along with the sacrificed Athenians. He brought Ariadne as far a Naxos before leaving her alone on the island, thus leaving behind the last vestige of foreignness from his trip. As punishment for this act, Theseus inadvertently causes the suicide of his father, but still ultimately releases Athens from the shackles of a foreign Crete. It is a story worthy of Athenian praise.

But what about the Minotaur? What does he feel about the whole episode? The myths never give the half-man, half-beast a voice. In fact, a creature that is so popularly understood of for its power and ferocity takes on a completely passive role in the myth. Beginning with his placement in the labyrinth and ending with his death, the Minotaur has no say in its own life. Even his death is sometimes described of as passively; in one version Thesius says, “Would you believe it, Ariadne, the Minotaur scarcely defended himself.” The Minotaur in these myths then is little more than a symbol representing the barbarian, in the Greek context of the word, meaning someone whose language and culture were foreign.

Depiction of Thesius defeating the Minotaur.

Depiction of Theseus defeating the Minotaur.

The Spanish author Jorge Luis Borges, with his short story, The House of Asteron finally provides some much needed agency to the Minotaur in his own myth. Written in the first person perspective of the Minotaur, Borges plays with the imagery of the labyrinth, the Minotaur’s own sense of self, and ideas of foreignness. In this way, Borges makes the double-stranger into the familiar and the rest of the world into foreigners. The switch is rather remarkable and quite amazing to read.

Jorge Luis Borges

The Minotaur retains many of his barbarous traits, even as he is the principal character of the short story. For one, “I have never retained the difference between one letter and another. A certain generous impatience has not permitted that I learn to read.” Not understanding the written word, not grasping completely the language, was a sign of barbarism and further cements the foreignness that separates the House of Asteron and the rest of the Greek world. Beyond this, even his actions within his own house, the Labyrinth, bring a sense of barbarity to the character. In one game he plays, “There are roofs from which I let myself fall until I am bloody,” and in another “Like the ram about to charge, I run through the stone galleries until I fall dizzy to the floor.” These are not the games of civility, but within his own life and house, they are as natural to him, as any silly game from our own culture is to us.

Another way which Borges toys with the ideas of foreignness is within the separation between royalty and base commoners. Class politics has long been described of in terms of barbarism, with the aristocracy fulfilling the role of cultured elite and the commoners fulfilling the role of dumb barbarian worker. The Greek myth regarding Theseus and the Bull is not concerned at all with the common folk, and that in itself is rather telling. In Homer’s Iliad, the common Greek warriors are little more than cannon fodder to the Trojan Heroes and vice versa. Within The House of Asteron, this distinction is also clear. On one occasion, when the Minotaur left his Labyrinth, the common people around him either hide or lift up stones to throw at him. These actions do not bother him because “Not for nothing was my mother a queen; I cannot be confused with the populace, though my modesty might so desire.” For him, the amazement of the common people had as much to do with his own beastly appearance as it did with his royal heritage.

Sculpture depicting the Minotaur.

Of course, even Borges cannot escape the reality of the myth. In the end, Theseus murders the Minotaur and says the same line. But this time, a reason for the Minotaur’s passivity in the conflict is given. He accepts his mythic fate because he believes Theseus to be his “redeemer.” Theseus is a redeemer because he allows the Minotaur to leave his life of solitude, his life without a mate. Theseus is also a redeemer because the Minotaur hopes that his death will bring him to a “place with fewer galleries fewer doors.” This short story by Borges is a unique twist on the classic Theseus myth by placing the Minotaur into a place of agency. However, even as the Minotaur is raised up, Borges still keeps with him a sense of foreignness. Even in his own story, he is a stranger to himself and the world. He is both beast and royal. Borges then illuminates many of the same themes which are present in this Thesius myth, and in much of Greek myth in general.

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Tag Archives: Theseus

The Minotaur, Immortals, and the myth of Theseus

The Foreign Minotaur