However, this was just the story of his early life. While Theseus was well known for his Six Labors and his wits, it was the events that occurred next in his life that had cemented him as a Great Hero, as well as a legend.
The eldest of the sons of King Minos of Crete (not that famous guy who turned things to gold), Androgeus, had set sail for Athens to take part in the Panathenaic Games, which had been held there every four years.
(Author's Note: The early template of what would become the Olympic games of today.)
Being a skillful and handsome young lad, he had done very well, winning some events outright. Androgeus had quickly grown to become a crowd favorite, much to the resentment of the remaining Pallantides who had assassinated him in order to cause trouble, incurring the wrath of King Minos.
After having heard of his son's fate, the king had ordered the Cretan fleet to set sail for Athens. King Minos had demanded from King Aegeus to hand over his son's assassins, in which case the city would be spared.
However, not knowing who the assassins had been, King Aegeus had surrendered the whole city to Minos' mercy. Even with a powerhouse like Theseus, they had been unable to deal with the powerful Cretan fleet which had even blocked off trading routes.
One shouldn't forget that before Theseus had cleared the land route, Athens had pretty much only been reachable by sea. Since many had still been uncertain about using the land route, Athens had quickly entered a deficit.
King Minos' conditions had been that at the end of every year, the seven most courageous youths and the seven most beautiful maidens were to board a boat and be sent as tribute to Crete, never to be seen again.
Eventually, the truth had been revealed that those 14 had been used as sacrifices to the Minotaur hidden in the labyrinths of Crete. This had shocked and infuriated the whole city, but what could they do but obey?
At the end of the third year, Theseus had been unable to take it anymore and had volunteered to talk to the monster to stop this horror.
He had taken the place of one of the youths and had set off with a black sail, promising his father that if successful he would return with a white sail.
Like the others, Theseus had been stripped of his weapons when they had set sail, yet he had not been molested or beaten.
On his arrival in Crete, Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, had fallen in love with Theseus at first sight and - on the advice of Daedalus - had handed him a ball of thread, which would allow him to find his way out of the Labyrinth.
That night, Ariadne had escorted Theseus to the Labyrinth, and Theseus had promised her that if he returned from the Labyrinth he would take her as his wife.
As soon as Theseus had entered the Labyrinth, he had tied one end of the ball of string to the doorpost and brandished his sword which he had kept hidden from the guards inside his tunic.
Theseus then followed Daedalus' instructions given to him through Ariadne: go forwards, always down, and never left or right.
Theseus had eventually arrived at the heart of the Labyrinth where he had stumbled upon the sleeping Minotaur. The beast awoke and a tremendous fight had occurred.
Theseus had ultimately overpowered the beast with his strength and stabbed its throat with his sword.
After having decapitated the Minotaur, Theseus had used the string to escape the Labyrinth. He had managed to escape with all of the young Athenians and Ariadne as well as her younger sister Phaedra.
Then he and the rest of the crew had fallen asleep on the beach of the island of Naxos, where they had stopped on their way back, looking for water.
Athena had awoken Theseus and had told him to leave early that morning and to leave Ariadne there for Dionysus, for Naxos had been his island.
By intruding there, they had offended the wine god and only the beauty of Ariadne would guarantee their lives as a tribute to Dionysus' bed.
Stricken with distress and pain, Theseus had forgotten to put up white sails instead of black ones, so his father, King Aegeus, believing that he had lost his heir, had been filled with madness.
He had thrown himself off the cliff where he had stood ever since, eagerly waiting for his Theseus' return, into the sea, thus causing this body of water around Elysium to be named the Aegean Sea.
While the world had celebrated Theseus' greatness, the Gods even granting him a Divine Spark to become a Demi-God, only Theseus had known what kind of low he had been in at that time.
The love of his life had become a plaything for a God and his father had committed suicide because of his carelessness.
The circumstances have led the noble fellow to a dark place, which had led to the most shocking part of his tale.
Pirithous, King of the Lapiths had been Theseus' best friend. Pirithous had heard stories of Theseus's courage and strength in battle but wanted proof, so he had rustled Theseus's herd of cattle then drove it from Marathon, where Theseus set out in pursuit.
Pirithous took up his arms and the pair met to do battle but were so impressed with each other they took an oath of friendship.
Later, Pirithous was preparing to marry the beauty Hippodamia. The centaurs - notorious for their rapacious nature when intoxicated – had been guests at the wedding feast, but after having gotten drunk they had tried to abduct the women, including the bride.
Both Theseus and Pirithous had fought valiantly, brutally killing all the centaurs in the party. Theseus having managed to slay Eurytus, the fiercest of all the fierce centaurs.
Theseus had not received his Divine Spark by this point, but soon activated it after this event. After losing Ariadne, Theseus had married the other sister he brought over, Phaedra.
However, the loss of Adriane had led him to become a brute, especially with the nature of his so-called friend Pirithous constantly pressuring him.
At one point he had stopped resisting, ending up a rapacious fellow who had loved to abduct women just like the Gods.
Since he and Pirithous had been sons of Zeus and Poseidon respectively, they had pledged themselves to marry daughters of Zeus.
Theseus had chosen the legendary Helen of Troy, and together they kidnapped her, intending to keep her until she was old enough to marry.
Pirithous - whether out of madness or confidence – had chosen the Goddess Persephone, even though she had already married Hades, King of the underworld.
They left Helen with Theseus' mother, Aethra.
Helen was later rescued by the Dioscuri.
On Pirithous' behalf, they rather unwisely traveled to the underworld, the domain of Persephone and her husband Hades.
As they wandered through the outskirts of Tartarus, Theseus had sat down to rest on a rock.
As he did so he felt his limbs change and grow stiff. He tried to rise but could not. He was fixed to the rock.
As he turned to alert his friend, he saw that Pirithous too was crying out.
Around him gathered the terrible band of Furies with snakes in their hair, torches, and long whips in their hands. Before these monsters, Pirithous' courage failed and he was led away to eternal punishment.
For many months in half-darkness, Theseus had sat immovably fixed to the rock, mourning for both his friend and for himself. This period was crucial to the development of the current Theseus, as the many centuries stuck to that rock had granted him time to look back on his life and process the foolishness he had committed.
From a lad who had conquered the supernatural with his wits, he had grown into an arrogant Demi-God who had captured women because he had felt like it.
While no one had begrudged him for this in Elysium - as such was seen as the right of the Divine - Theseus understood where he had gone wrong.
Left with only his thoughts for so many years, Theseus eventually became at peace with everything, deciding to think about how he would better himself and how to earn the forgiveness of Hades and Persephone.
In the end, Theseus was shocked to see Hercules who had come to the underworld for his 12th Labor of capturing the Cerberus.
Out of respect for this old hero, Hercules had rescued him and had begged Persephone to forgive Theseus for the part he had taken in the rash venture of Pirithous.
Theseus had been grateful for this and had promised Hercules to repay that debt, but the Demi-God had scorned Theseus slightly for being so foolish.
This was why he had treated Theseus as such early on, while Theseus mostly swallowed it down.
As the instigator, Pirithous had not been allowed freedom of thought.
In the current battle, Theseus had observed the entire battlefield and had witnessed the maiming of Achilles, the suppression of Pyrrha, and the capture of Medea.
He saw that just like himself, Hercules was still holding on using his high defense, but if this continued his past savior would soon be overcome.
This led Theseus to take a deep breath and consider the circumstances properly, realizing that even if he escaped, his fate in Elysium would not be pretty.
Allowing Medea to die was fine, as no one really cared, but Hercules, Pyrrha, and Achilles were extremely important.
As such, Theseus made the wise choice to roar out: "We surrender!"
