This painting, by Gerard Hoet II (1698-1760), was inspired by the myths and legends of the Greek hero, Theseus. In particular, Hoet’s scene draws from an early event from when Theseus was living with his mother in Troezen. Theseus’ story began when King Aegeus of Athens visited Troezen and struck up an affair with Princess Aethra, the daughter of the local king, Pittheus. During the Athenian king’s stay, Aethra became pregnant by Aegeus, or possibly by the god Poseidon in disguise. Either way, King Aegeus of Athens left Troezen believing that he was the father of Aethra’s future child. It was Theseus who was born from these complicated circumstances. Although Aegeus ran away from his paternal responsibility, he decided to leave behind a trial of sorts that would judge the child’s worthiness and, if the trial was overcome, it would give the child some tokens of identification to present to Aegeus in Athens. The trial that King Aegeus set up was similar to the Arthurian legends that later emerged about a sword in a stone; yet, in this ancient Greek case, it was a sword under a stone. Summarizing this myth, the ancient scholar Plutarch (c. 50-120) wrote:
“[King Aegeus,] suspecting that she was with child by him, he left a sword and a pair of sandals hidden under a great rock, which had a hollow in it just large enough to receive these objects. He told the princess alone about this, and bade her, if a son should be born to her from him, and if, when he came to [a designated] man’s estate, he should be able to lift up the rock and take away what had been left under it, to send that son to him with the tokens, in all secrecy, and concealing his journey as much as possible from everybody” (Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Life of Theseus, chapter 3).
It is this tale that Gerard Hoet II brings to life in his painting. While other artists such as Jean Lemaire (c. 1598-1659) and Nicolas-Guy Brenet (c. 1728-1792) chose to depict this scene as a secretive expedition by Theseus and Aethra to some abandoned field or ruin, Hoet instead grasped on the phrasing that the stone was located at a person’s estate. Interpreting this literally, Gerard Hoet II depicted Theseus finding King Aegeus’s sword and sandals under a paving stone in front of a busy Greek building. Wielding the sword and other tokens left behind by King Aegeus, Theseus was able to travel to Athens and eventually become the heir of the city-state.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology, translated by Robin Hard. New York, Oxford University Press, 1997.
- https://www.theoi.com/Text/PlutarchTheseus.html
- http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Theseus*.html
- https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2021648/resource_document_collectiegelderland_4QR5XNOEPFUOWZQWMLLX57KS7A5WBOK35VWGOKDNJ2AOGAFEFGNA
