Theseus
/ˈθiːsiəs/proper noun
The Athenian hero who killed the Minotaur in the Cretan labyrinth and later ruled Athens.
The Greek roots
Literally: “Theseus”
The story of the word
Athens treated Theseus as its founder rather than merely a monster-killer: the political unification of Attica was credited to him, and his supposed bones were shipped home from Skyros in the 470s BC to a shrine in the city. Ancient writers linked the name to τίθημι, to set down or establish, though that reading is a guess rather than a certainty. Plutarch's life of him also preserves the puzzle about the ship the Athenians maintained plank by plank until nothing original remained.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
In a sentence
The ship of Theseus comes up whenever someone asks whether a rebuilt engine is the same engine.
On the vase, Theseus has the Minotaur by the horn.