Myth Library · Attempted Abduction And Punishment

Theseus, Pirithous, and the Attempt on Persephone

2 source witnesses · 1 source-scoped variant · reviewed 2026-08-30

Theseus and Pirithous pledge to marry daughters of Zeus, descend to obtain Persephone for Pirithous, and are fixed to the Chair of Forgetfulness; Pirithous remains when Heracles later reaches them.

Canonical narrative

Pseudo-Apollodorus begins with a compact between Theseus and Pirithous. Each will marry a daughter of Zeus and help the other secure his bride. They first seize the young Helen for Theseus. Then Theseus repays the agreement by descending with Pirithous to obtain Persephone for him.

Hades receives them with calculated hospitality. He bids them sit before they feast. The seat is the Chair of Forgetfulness. They grow fast to it and are held by serpentine bonds. The punishment answers an attempted seizure within the queen's own realm. Persephone is not a prize won through heroic daring, and the tale does not romanticize the agreement that places her at its end.

Heracles later encounters the captives during the Cerberus labor. He raises Theseus, but the earth shakes when he tries to raise Pirithous, and he releases his grasp. That rescue continues in the Cerberus narrative. Telling the two episodes separately preserves the action that caused the confinement instead of making Persephone a footnote inside Heracles' labor.

Library 2.5.12 gives the later encounter in compressed form and calls Pirithous the man who wooed Persephone in wedlock. The Epitome supplies the compact, descent, Chair of Forgetfulness, and bonds. Read together, they preserve the aggression, punishment, and unequal rescue without inventing a speech or action for Persephone that the compiler does not give her.

Episodes in this myth

Episode 1

The Compact and Descent

Theseus and Pirithous pledge to obtain daughters of Zeus and descend to seek Persephone for Pirithous.

Episode 2

The Chair of Forgetfulness

Hades seats the intruders on a chair to which they grow fast and are bound.

Participants and roles

Persephone

underworld queen whom Pirithous and Theseus descend to obtain without her consent

The witness does not give her a speech or direct role in binding the intruders.

Hades

underworld ruler who seats the intruders on the Chair of Forgetfulness

Hospitality becomes punishment through the binding seat.

Theseus

companion who helps Pirithous descend for Persephone and is later rescued by Heracles

His assistance makes him part of the attempted seizure.

Pirithous

would-be abductor who seeks Persephone as bride and remains bound below

The failed rescue preserves the consequence of the attempt.

Source-scoped variants

Pseudo-Apollodorus: compact, descent, binding, and unequal rescue

The Epitome gives the compact and Chair of Forgetfulness; Library 2.5.12 meets the captives during the Cerberus labor.

What differs: The two passages supply connected stages of one compiler’s account and do not give Persephone a speech or direct act of punishment.

Greek Roman Imperial · Greek Underworld

Source witnesses

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Library

Pseudo-Apollodorus; edited and translated by James G. Frazer · 1921

Entry Epitome · Book E · Chapter 1 · Section 23-24

Controlling witness for the compact, descent, Chair of Forgetfulness, bonds, and unequal rescue.

Open reviewed source

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Library

Pseudo-Apollodorus; edited and translated by James G. Frazer · 1921

Entry Library · Book 2 · Chapter 5 · Section 12

Continuation witness locating the captives during Heracles’ Cerberus labor.

Open reviewed source