Theseus (greek: Θησεύς, Latin: Theseus) in Greek mythology was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra and the Aegean - Etra or Poseidon which had lain one night.
Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus or Heracles fought all are winners, against opponents that allegorically represented the ancient religions and social institutions. As Heracles was the Dorian hero, Theseus was the hero and founder of ions was considered by the Athenians as their great reformer, father of the country and democracy in the West.
His name shares the root with the word "thesmos (θεσμός), the greek word that stands for an institution. He was the architect of synechism (synoikismos, living together) - the political unification of Attica represented by his travels and his efforts - under the leadership of Athens. Once recognized as a unifying king, Theseus had built a building similar to the Acropolis of Mycenae. Pausanias tells us that, following the synoikismos, Theseus Pandemos instituted the cult of Aphrodite (Aphrodite of all the people) and Peito, which was celebrated on the south side of the Acropolis. Several parties Athenians were bound to Theseus: the Panathenaic the Oscoforie, the Theseus, the Ecalèsie the Metagìtnie, synechiae. In his work
Frogs, Aristophanes refers to it as the inventor of many noteworthy Athenian traditions. If the theory that supports the presence of a domino ancient Minoan Aegean area is correct, then the figure of Theseus may have been inspired by the events relating to the liberation from this foreign presence, rather than a single leader really existed.
"Myths are stories of such legendary. They have different content depending on the cultures and cultural expressions of peoples. Psychoanalysis, cultural anthropology and other sciences consider them expressions of psychological needs of the human soul, and answers to some internal reasons, very deep, which we call the unconscious. They give meaning to our psychic tensions and help to grow psychologically and spiritually.
Myths satisfy us because they have to be content that we would have always wanted to have, know and understand, both because they hide and reveal some symbolic truth that the human mind perceives, but fails to capture a clear and immediate.
We all need myths, in all ages of our lives. In particular, they need young people because they live in a time of great growth and great development in terms of intellectual, emotional and drives. Myths gratify many internal needs of adolescents, aspirations, desires and psychological needs, especially the most hidden, and then unconscious.
If you delete the myths from the lives of men and therefore also from the lives of adolescents, we are driven to seek his own myth in characters and figures can also be negative and destructive to the life and physical and mental development of the person.
The main myth of teenagers from around the world is a hero. In every adolescent is, in fantasy, thought, and in the darkest soul, the need to do something heroic, great, particularly, that is outside of everyday life. When the young man can not achieve what he wants, then he chooses a character, near or far, which replaces his aspiration for the heroic life. Born in different cultures, peoples and nations, many types of heroes who embody the desires and needs of the soul of adolescents.
In the distant past, heroes and men looked with amazement and admiration were those that offered their Greek and Roman mythology: Theseus with the help of Ariadne enters the maze and kill the Minotaur, is a myth that enhances the hero who gives aid and energy to the love of a woman who can prevail over evil and to free himself and most of humanity from danger and death. Prometheus, defying the wrath of the gods, steals a spark of fire and gives men the first major source of physical energy necessary for their lives.
Adolescents had other heroes from classical literature: Achilles, invincible and legendary hero, whose deeds are sung by Homer in his poems, Ulysses dell'astuzia embodies the idea of \u200b\u200bthe strength and intellect, Hector, hero of great virtues and ideals of life, as father and husband.
Often there are heroes who lack the strength and intelligence, but they are witty, and other virtues that can be considered positive for young people. In the history of Spain is a hero that is wrongly regarded as an anti-hero: Don Quixote. He unfortunately has little to do with the great knights of the Grail and the Round Table, with Lancelot and King Arthur, fought with great fervor and momentum against invisible enemies or against large mills that considers enemies. We could make you laugh. But how often do we imagine it as a hostile and dangerous elements in our lives things and works that are completely harmless and present no danger for us? How many ghosts are created our teenagers in their mind, wrong about who they consider friends and who should be considered by persons or entities who look to fear? Often teenagers see enemies parents, teachers and all those others try to help them cope in the world and in life. The heroes of the Risorgimento
we have been forgotten. Perhaps they are anachronistic, unrelated to life today, probably less "universal" than the greek-roman mythology or classical literature. They are expressions for a given period of history. Yet their actions have for several generations and landmarks of great value.
In more recent times there have been legendary heroes such as Che Guevara, a modern knight who fought and died for ideals of life and justice. It has long been a hero for our teenagers. Then, perhaps for political manipulation, has fallen a bit 'indifference and youngsters do not even know who that was and what he did.
The heroes of today are perhaps more faded characters that represent a life inauthentic, superficial, without gambling, leisure and entertainment. They are football players, singers, actors, top athletes in general. Among these people are just considered those that, in fact, are the most authentic and more human: the Olympic champions, those who yearn only to the glory of the podium and have no other recognition that the adoption of a small group of people who do not earn and do not get rich. Today
miss the great figures of our young heroes. But as the need for heroism is always present, the boys looking for heroes or inauthentic subjects, as mentioned above, in certain types of anti-heroes or very negative. Some have speculated that deep instinctual drives are the components important for drug addicts: those who think drugs to do something heroic because it challenges the death, law, justice, parents and rules. The negative hero looks into the lives of adolescents in those historical periods that minimize damage or to understand that heroes do not need. And then the hero is the cartoon, violent movies, sometimes the serial killer, the murderess, and even suicide. "
(psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Anthony Vita - Recanati
this article in full format, it is contained in the volume:
Adolescence. Knowing and understanding young people today
Luigi Di Giuseppe (ed.) The Writings of
P. Boccia, A. Costantini, L. Di Giuseppe, M. Dittrich, A. Life
Introduction Loredana Petrone
2005 Publisher: Editions Psiconline).
