the bull of Marathon: for its origins, see p. 77 and note. Theseus will kill it, p. 139. Here Androgeos is sent to almost certain death; or he was treacherously murdered (cf. Plut. Thes. 15, and DS 4. 60. 5, where Aigeus fears Androgeos’ friendship with his enemies, the sons of Pallas). The following story of the ambush, which absolves Aigeus from blame, was probably of relatively late origin. See also P. 1. 27. 10.
Megareus: he came with an army of Boeotians, was buried where he was killed, and the city, formerly called Nisa, was named Megara after him (see P. 1. 39. 5; this was a Boeotian tradition, apparently followed here); he was often said to be a son of Poseidon. Megara lay on the Isthmus of Corinth, bordering Attica.
drowned her: because he was shocked by her betrayal of her father and city (cf. P. 2. 34. 7, and the similar story on p. 70). In Aesch. Choephoroi612 ff, Minos is said to have bribed Scylla with bracelets of Cretan gold.
Their father, Hyacinthos: not the famous Hyacinthos who was loved by Apollo, p. 119.
labyrinth: see p. 98.
snake’s jawbone: cf. DS 4. 76. 5 f, this led to the invention of the iron saw.
Theseus: see Plutarch’s life of Theseus for a fuller account of all the following, with many variants. Theseus was said to have founded the Attic state by incorporating the communities outside the city of Athens (Thuc. 2. 15; Plut. Thes. 24).
the sandals and the sword: the tokens of his birth, see p. 136.
cleared the road: a series of labours, emulating those of Heracles (cf. DS 4. 59. 1), which establishes his heroic status. For the earliest account, see Bacch. 18. 16 ff.
was referred to as Corynetes: a descriptive surname or nickname (as with Pityocamptes below) rather than a proper name; it was doubtless suggested by Il. 7. 138. It seems fitting that a son of the lame god Hephaistos should have weak feet, although this is otherwise unattested.
hurled into the air: or he attached the extremities of his victims to two trees, causing them to be torn apart when the trees were released (P. 2. 1. 4, DS 4. 59. 3; in Hyg. 38 Sinis helps them to bend a tree back and they are thrown up when he lets go).
Polypemon: as in Bacch. 18. 27, but he is more familiar as Procroustes (e.g. P. 1. 38. 5; this may have been mentioned in the full text as a descriptive surname like those above, meaning ‘he who beats out’). In DS 4. 59. 5 the travellers are adjusted to fit a single bed. In Hyg. 38, he stretches the legs of the short men by hanging anvils from them.
Medea . . . schemed against him: to protect her position and that of her son by Aigeus; see also p. 57.
the bull of Marathon: see p. 77 and note.
tribute . . . to the Minotaur: for the tribute, see p. 137; for the Minotaur, p. 98.
the children: the boys and girls saved from the tribute.
Dionysosfell in love with Ariadne: in Od. 11. 321 ff., she was killed there by Artemis at the urging of Dionysos. For the varied tradition thereafter, see Plut. Thes. 20; she was often said to have been deserted by Theseus (either for another woman or accidentally).
the sons of Pallas: Pallas was the brother of Aigeus; he and his sons disputed the succession, alleging that Aigeus was not a true son of Pandion (Plut. Thes. 13; Ap. points to a tradition that Aigeus was a supposititious child on p. 136).
Icarian Sea: in the south-eastern Aegean, in the region of Icaria and Samos.
accompanied Heracles. . . against the Amazons: this was generally regarded as a separate and later expedition, made by Theseus alone, or in conjunction with Peirithoos (see Plut. Thes. 26).
Amazons marched against Athens: see also DS 4. 28, Plut. Thes. 27.
by the Areiopagos: see Aesch. Eumenides685 ff, where it is said that the hill gained its name because they offered sacrifices there to Ares (as god of war); but see also p. 131 and note.
Deucalion: the son of Minos and a successor as king of Crete, see pp. 97 and 99.
Phaedra . . . asked him to sleep with her: Ap. gives the traditional version of her story (cf. Ov. Met. 15. 497 ff., and Seneca’s Phaedra). Euripides’ surviving Hippolytos(his second play on the theme) is more sympathetic to Phaedra, presenting her as an unwilling victim of Aphrodite who refuses to declare her love and kills herself when her nurse betrays it to Hippolytos.
hated all women: he was a devotee of the virgin goddess Artemis.
along the sea-shore: at Troezen in the Argolid, where Hippolytos was the adopted heir of its king, Pittheus (the grandfather of Theseus, see p. 136). Historically there was a cult of Hippolytos there; girls made offerings of their hair to him at marriage (P. 2. 32. 1).
Ixion: his story is relevant to the subsequent account of Theseus’ association with Peirithoos (king of the Lapiths in Thessaly) and their battle with the Centaurs, because Ixion was both the father of Peirithoos and the ancestor of the Centaurs (through his son Centauros, who fathered them by mating with mares near Mount Pelion, Pind. Pyth. 2. 44 ff., except for the ‘good’ Centaurs Cheiron and Pholos, who were of different birth, see pp. 29 and 75). Ixion’s behaviour towards Hera was particularly reprehensible because Zeus had purified Ixion after he had murdered his father-in-law, and welcomed him in heaven (DS 4. 69. 4); for a fuller portrayal of his transgression and punishment, see Pind. Pyth. 2. 21 ff.
Theseus joined Peirithoos: this paragraph is inserted from Zenobius 5. 33. Surviving accounts of the banquet are late (e.g. DS 4. 70. 3 f, Plut. Thes. 30), although the prowess of Peirithoos, Theseus, and Caineus in fighting the Centaurs is referred to by Homer ( Il. 1. 262 ff.).
as relatives of the bride: thus Zenobius, but this is probably a mistake, because they were certainly relatives of the bridegroom(cf. VM 1. 162, where they are invited as Peirithoos’ neighbours and relatives), and this connection would surely have been explained in the preceding section on Ixion.