Beware Of Greeks by Paul Curtis (english novels for students TXT) 📕

for a banquet
Theseus decided not to reveal his true identity just yet
Serving as hostess was the Kings new wife queen Medea
Medea was a sorceress from Colchis who was very bitter
She had once loved Jason and helped him steal Golden Fleece
But Jason had spurned her when they returned to Greece
Her magic had already disclosed the identity of Theseus
But she kept this information from her husband Aegeus
She decided her personnel ambition Theseus was threatening
And her own son’s chances of ruling Athens as the king
So Medea cleverly played on king Aegeus's insecurity
At the same time carefully concealing his true identity
She convinced the king Theseus hadn’t just come to dine
Medea persuaded Aegeus to serve him poisoned wine
Theseus paused just before drinking to carve his meat
As soon as Aegeus saw the sword he was on his feet
The king knocked over the wine cup spilling the poison
Theseus and Aegeus were filled with joy at the reunion
Medea spat words at them as venomous as her poisons
Storming out she escaped in a chariot pulled by dragons

Theseus was now true heir to the kingdom of Athens
And Theseus and Aegeus were happy like old friends
But when the spring equinox came all Athens mourned
As a ship approached Athens with a black sail adorned
He begged Aegeus to tell him why Athenians were sad
Theseus went to the harbor fearing something very bad
He spoke to a sailor and asked him what was happening
Reluctantly the sailor spoke about the annual sacrificing
One day King Minos of Crete's eldest son Androgeus
Was accidentally been killed in Athens he told Theseus
Minos was very angry he attacked and defeated Athens
And demanded that the Athenians pay a yearly recompense
Seven young men and seven young women to even the score
Must each year be fed to the terrible monster the Minotaur
The Minotaur was a monster of half-bull and half-man
That lived in the center of a vast maze quite Labyrinthian
The beast had been born to king Minos's wife Pasiphae
As a punishment from Poseidon the great god of the sea
Theseus volunteered to go as one of the fourteen to Crete
To enter the Labyrinth and fight the Minotaur to defeat
King Aegeus was reluctant to let his only son Theseus go
But Theseus insisted he must prove to Athens he was a hero
He pledged when he’d faced Minotaur and won the fight
He would return turning the black sails to a brilliant white

As well as being the heir of king Aegeus and his only son
Theseus also believed himself to be the son of Poseidon
When the black sailed ship landed the captives at Crete
King Minos stood on the dock there to meet and greet
Minos demanded introductions from all the Athenians
When it came to Theseus to give his name to the Cretan
He announced he was prince of Athens and son of Poseidon
Minos said “If you’re prince of Athens you’re Aegeus’s son”
“To prove you are son of Poseidon fetch my golden ring"
Minos threw his ring into the sea as Theseus was praying
After his prayer to the god Poseidon he dived into the sea
Below the surface he was found by Thetis a Watery deity
The nymph Thetis gave him the ring and a golden crown
Theseus surfaced holding both items aloft before the town
It was shortly after Theseus had climbed out of the water
When he met Princess Ariadne King Minos’s daughter
And princess Ariadne fell in love with him at first sight
So much that she gave him a clew for his impending fight

The Labyrinth was a complex maze that awaited Theseus
Cleverly and intricately contrived by its builder Daedalus
Once thrown inside, a victim could never find the way back
Eventually meeting death after a savage Minotaur attack
The clew Ariadne gave Theseus was a ball of silk thread
To tie at the entrance and unwind it as he went ahead
Then once Theseus had fought and killed the Minotaur
He could follow it back to were it was tied to the door
Theseus was dropped into the maze with his companions
He tied the string off and told them follow his directions
He led them to the Labyrinth’s center to find the Minotaur
When they got there a sleeping monster was what they saw
Theseus jumped on it and ripped of one of its huge horns
Then he poked at the Minotaur pricking it hide like thorns
Theseus then ran back and he threw the horn like a javelin
The horn ripped into the great monsters neck and stuck in
The Minotaur charged at Theseus but half way fell dead
Everyone cheered and he led them back using the thread

After sinking Minos’s ships Theseus eloped with Ariadne
With fellow Athenians On black-sailed ship the went to sea
One night on the black-sailed ship came the god Dionysus
He wanted princess Ariadne for himself he told Theseus
Dionysus ordered Theseus to abandon her on Naxos Island
Theseus had little choice but to obey the god’s command
He reluctantly obeyed the god Dionysus and abandoned her
Sailing away from Naxos he was so sad to leave her there
He forgot to change the ships sails from black to white
Which was to be the signal to say they had won the fight
King Aegeus sat watching and waiting on a promontory
But when he saw the black sails he jumped into the sea
That fatal stretch of sea is forever named after the Athenian
And to this very day the sea is still known as the Aegean

After his fathers death Theseus became king of Athens
But this did not mean that his days of adventuring ends
He could not be contented with hunting the dear or boars
So he accompanied Heracles on one of his twelve labors
To steal the girdle from the Amazon queen Hippolyte
Which in the end they didn’t give up without a fight
A great battle ensued between the amazons and heroes
Many amazons lay dead amongst the spears and arrows
Heracles made off with Hippoytes belt for Eurystheus
And the Amazon princess Antiope was taken by Theseus

During The ancient times of Theseus it was customary
Around the Aegean for Greek nobles to embark in piracy
Theseus received word that one pirate had set the eyes on
The royal Athenian herds on the seaside plain at Marathon
When he apprehended the pirate he was about to strike
But as King and pirate eyed each other they were too alike
The two men had taken an instant liking to one another
And although they were strangers they felt like brothers
The pirate was of the royal house of the Thessalian Lapiths
And conceding defeat he said his name was Peirithous
He named a punishment for the Thessalians’s misdeed
His plan was to take Helen of Sparta, Peirithous agreed

The planned abduction both men were bound to enjoy
Helen of Sparta would one day become Helen of Troy
At the time of the abduction Helen was only thirteen
So he decided until she was old enough to be his queen
She would be left in the safekeeping of his mother Aethra
But her hero twin brothers Castor and Pollux rescued her
In return for his help with Helen he had to assist Peirithous
With a very perilous adventure which worried king Theseus
Peirithous wanted to abduct Persephone, the wife of Hades
He was king of the underworld and capable of great fury
So they set off to the underworld to steal Persephone away
And went straight to the throne of Hades without delay
Peirithous boldly stated his intent to the king of the dead
Claiming Persephone would be happier with him instead
Hades immediately feigned consent and tricked the two
Into sitting at a bench where they became stuck like glue
Hades then loosed upon the two heroes a flock of torments
They came in the form of furies and venomous serpents
As well as the slavering fangs of the hellhound Cerberus
Not to mention the infamous tantalizing water of Tartarus
When Heracles was on his twelfth labor he found Theseus
And he released him be he would not release Peirithous

Theseus had all the qualities of a great Athenian hero
Strength and courage but intelligence and wisdom also
His early adventures benefited the Athens and region
And he forged the feuding warlords into a federation
He led Athens's army on victorious campaigns of war
He gained a reputation for helping the oppressed and poor
Escaped slaves who took refuge at his altar in that age
Could not under any circumstance be returned to bondage
In middle age wisdom deserted him making bad decisions
Theseus began to go on ever more foolish expeditions
His efforts to produce an heir led to even more problems
Athenians grew tired and he died exiled from Athens's

His body did not comet home such was the consensus
Generations past with little thought given to Theseus
Until the Persian wars Athenian soldiers began to see
Theseus and believed him the reason for their victories
Athenian general Cimon was told by the Oracle at Delphi
To find Theseus's bones and build a tomb and sanctuary
So finally they returned to Athens the great Athenian hero
In a magnificent tomb and sanctuary for the people to go


THE NINE MUSES OF THE ARTS – THALIA (MUSE OF COMEDY)

The nine muses
Daughters of Zeus
Inspiring of mortals
And nurturers of the arts
The eighth was,
The divine Thalia,
Flourishing, in bloom,
Was the muse of comedy and idyllic poetry
A comic mask in her hand
The praises of Thalia, rustic goddess
And in her songs flourish through time


CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – LADON

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge Drakon
A great multi headed creature with hot fiery breath called Ladon
It was appointed to guard the golden apples of the Hesperides
But with just a single flaming arrow it was slain by Heracles


CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – CERBERUS

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The result of this unnatural union was a huge hound of hell
Three headed with a serpents tail and snakes as a main as well
The vicious Cerberus with razor teeth and lion claws on its feet
Laid in wait at the gates of the underworld for people to eat
Heracles brought Cerberus up on his twelfth labor for his sins
He choked it into submission and dragged it home to Tiryns


CREATURES OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY – THE NEMEAN LION

There was a dreadful union between the giant immortal Typhon
And the black fearful eyed Echidne, Half serpent, half woman
The terrifying result of this unnatural union was a huge Lion
No ordinary Lion but a supernatural monster called the Nemean
Its skin was impenetrable to the arrows or spear of Heracles
Who had been sent to kill it so he then adopted other strategies
Finally strangling it with his bare hands and then skinning it
Ever after wearing the hide as a cloak and its jaws as a helmet


THE NINE MUSES OF THE ARTS – URANIA (MUSE OF ASTRONOMY)

The nine muses
Daughters of Zeus
Inspiring of mortals
And nurturers