[image: theseus_.jpg]
*Young Theseus:  *  Nothing Without
(Discretion is advised.)

That Theseus has no constellation is one of mythology's most perplexing and
lamented oversights.  Even a brief perusal of his exploits would suffice to
convince most that Theseus' accomplishments would certainly have justified
this most exalted honour: an honour bestowed upon some of the creatures and
characters with which he would become closely associated.   His adventures
were as perilous and his conquests as magnificent as that of Hercules, a
person whom he admired as a youth and eventually befriended as an
adult.     It is said, in fact,  that Theseus led a life designed to be a
strong emulation of the mighty Hercules.  That he was compelled by the
singular aim of joining the exclusive pantheon of illustrious heroes whose
lives enriched the glorious and mythic history of Athens.

Theseus achieved this aim by sheer pluck.   His determination to
attain such an  exalted height was so imperious that he engaged in  acts
both praiseworthy - such as the combat with the Minotaur- and detestable -
such as the abduction of the 12 year old Helen of Troy- to achieve
it.   Nevertheless, within time, many of his deeds were so noble, his
actions so brave, his travels so widespread, and his reputation so
celebrated that Athens paid him the rare tribute of proverbial
expression:    "Nothing without Theseus."

Even by heroic standards, Theseus is extraordinary.  More so,
because unlike so many others revered figures, Theseus was purely mortal;
this despite his own early claim that his father was Posideon himself.
His father, however, while an Athenian king, was nevertheless as mortal as
his mother.  Theseus managed to ascend beyond his station despite the
Olympian sanction against the presumption of such audacious mortal
upstarts.    Perhaps even they were a bit leery of the exceptionally strong
youth who stormed undaunted through life with a sword in one fist and a
club in the other.

As a character study, though, Theseus is far more complex than the typical
hero, as one could see that his intense longing for renown would devolve
into a moral defect before intensifying into a fevered madness.  We begin
the story with Theseus' father, the Athenian king Aegeus, who remained
childless into early middle age.    Made desperate by this lack of issue,
he consulted the Oracle of Delphi in hopes that the gods would intervene to
give him a child.   The Oracle cryptically told him, "Do not untie your
wine skin until you return home."    Like others who had sought the
Oracle's counsel, Aegeus was confused, but nevertheless heeded the
advice.     When Aegis visited King Pittheus of Troezen, he spoke of this
oracle.   Though Aegis remained ignorant of its meaning, Pittheus did not.,
for he, too, had heard a prophecy.  The prophecy told him that his
daughter, Aethrea, would give birth to a powerful mortal, a mortal  whose
"veins would flow with fire and whose fingers would drip with his enemies'
blood."     Pittheus plied Aegis with many cups of wine until he was half
insensible.    Pittheus then carried the besotted Aegis to Aethra's bed,
where that night Theseus was conceived.

Before he departed for Athens, Aegis knew that Aethra was pregnant with his
child.    He led the young woman to a boulder, under which he buried a
sword and a pair of sandals.  Aegis instructed Aethra to bring the child
-if it was a boy- to the boulder when he attained maturity.  If the son
could lift the boulder, he was to take the sword and sandals with him to
Athens, where Aegis would acknowledge his paternity and make him his
heir.

 The child was born and of his early youth, little is ever said, apart from
the reports that he was unnaturally strong and swift.   The crafty
Pittheus, citing as evidence these remarkable physical attributes,
 convinced the young Theseus that his father was Poseidon, god of the
ocean, who came to his mother in the guise of the Athenian king.   Pittheus
then educated Theseus about Athens and its retinue of heroes, including
Perseus -long since dead- and his celebrated, and still active descendant
Hercules, whose exploits were even then a legend amongst Athenians.
Theseus decided at once that his conquests and adventures would equal or
even eclipse those of the mighty Hercules.  Though delighted by his
grandson's ambitions, Pittheus was doubtful that his renown would even
approach that of Heracles.

As instructed, Aethra, accompanied by Pittheus,  brought the young adult
Theseus to the boulder and told him who he was and what he was to do.
Theseus, with little effort, moved the boulder, exposing the contents
underneath it.     He eagerly seized the sword and put on the sandals.
Pittheus and Aethra offered to send him to Athens aboard a ship, for such
passage would prove safer than traveling through the wilderness, where
savage bandits had been preying upon unsuspecting travelers.    Theseus
disdained the offer, and insisted on traveling through the thickets on
foot.  Despite his mother and grandfather's protests,  Theseus did not
relent, for he intended on both encountering and defeating each bandit who
happened upon his path.   The sail, he declared, would have offered only a
craven flight from danger.   "Heracles would not have sailed, grandfather!"
he said, before bowing dutifully to his mother and embarking on this first
series of adventures.

It wasn't long before he came upon Periphetes, also known as Corynetes,
"the club bearer."    This villain lurked in the brush and clubbed
strangers to death before stealing any valuables they carried on their
body.    Theseus spied Corynetes under the canopy and when he approached
within striking distance, seized him by the throat, ripped the club out of
his hands and repeatedly bashed him in the skull with his own club.  (As we
shall see, Theseus often administered to the bandits the same treatments to
which their victims had been subjected.)    Theseus kept the club, a weapon
which would ultimately become his symbol, and then, using
the bandit's blood as ink and his finger as a quill,  wrote the name
"Theseus" on Corynetes' dead body.

He next happened upon Procrustes, a particularly sadistic wretch who was
known for his "fitting bed."   Any  traveler unlucky enough to be captured
by Procrustes was placed on it. .  If the traveler was shorter than the
bed, he would be stretched out until his head and feet touched either end.
If the traveler was taller than the bed, he would be cut at either end so
as to also fit on the bed precisely.   Generally, these height
modifications would be enough to kill the traveler.  If they survived the
gruesome treatment, Procrustes would then kill them and steal any money
they had.
Procrustres hid in the brush and waited to pounce upon Theseus.   Pounce he
did, but Theseus had expected it.
The next day, when another traveler came upon the same area, he saw the
metal bed upon which lay a shortened body.  Poised on  the body's stomach
was Procrustes' head with a red "Theseus" written on its cheek.

Sinis was the next brute to meet Theseus.  Sinis was also known as the pine
bender, for he would bend two pine trees down so that they formed a cross
shape with their strained tops held to the ground by ropes.   Sinis tied
his victims to this construct, so that one side of the victim was attached
to one tree and the other side to the next tree.   He then cut the ropes so
that the trees would snap violently back into a vertical position, making
short work of the unfortunate victim.
A week after Theseus met Sinis, a different traveler saw Sinis' left and
right half separated by enough ground to accommodate the word
"Theseus."     The same traveler saw Sinis' daughter, Perigone, sleeping in
an asparagus patch.   She had been seduced and then abandoned by Theseus
after her father had been vanquished.

Soon after Sinis' death, Theseus found Scrion.
Scrion robbed travelers and then commanded them to wash his feet.   He told
each traveler that he would earn his freedom when the feet were clean.
When the victim knelt down to do the chore, Scrion kicked him over the
cliff face hidden behind them by a canopy of leaves.  The doomed traveler
was then devoured by a giant turtle that lived at the cliff bottom.   The
blood word "Theseus" remained on the stool for many days, the same stool
upon which Scrion had sat when Theseus knelt down to wash his feet before
snapping his knees and tossing him over the cliff face.

He last encountered Phaea, an ancient sow creature who was born of the
unnatural union of Gaia and Tartarus, the region where the wicked were
punished after death.   This gruesome sow monster was the most
formidable foe Theseus had yet faced.  Using his powerful muscles, he
wrestled and pummeled the sow to death,  much to the relief of local
village people who had been terrorized by the vicious
creature for years.     The grateful townspeople, at Theseus' instruction,
inscribed the hero's name on their doors.

Thus had Theseus earned a reputation for bravery and fighting skill by the
time he entered the kingdom of Eleusis, whose king, Cercyon, detested
strangers of any kind. Being both of fierce disposition and prodigious
strength, this king challenged any visitor to a wrestling contest, with the
loser to be put to death,   The king had defeated scores of visitors, all
of whom were executed within moments of their defeat.  Cercyon
challenged the interloping Theseus, whose name he had not yet heard,  to a
wrestling contest.  He told Theseus if he lost, he would be put to death.
If he won, he would gain his freedom.     Both Theseus and Cercyon wrestled
wildly and violently for more than an hour before Theseus finally managed
to pin Cercyon down on his stomach with one leg and arm in a tight lock.
            "You have prevailed," he conceded breathlessly.  "You have your
freedom."
           "No," his victor replied before smothering him.    "My name is
Theseus and Eleusis now has a new king."


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2020-2021:  LXXI



THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Exploratorium VI: Is Time Travel Possible?    Part I

Tomorrow, we will be posting an article about the Block Universe.  Prior to
transmitting that article, we wanted to spend a little time addressing a
question that has captivated science-fiction authors and plagued scientists
since humanity first realized that time is a dimension.     Is time travel
possible?

The answer is YES!
But, now, we'll disappoint you.
We are traveling through time constantly.     Every second of every day, we
move another second in the future.*      But, yes, that is not the question
you really asked. Can we accelerate our motion into the future or
decelerate into the distant past?   The answer is, maybe, but actually
being able to travel through time at a rate and in a direction other than
our usual means is highly unlikely.

First, we know that we could experience a profoundly different time flow if
we could accelerate to high velocities.   Special Relativity tells us, for
instance, if we were aboard a vessel traveling at 86.6% light speed, the
time dilation factor would be 2.0.   For instance, imagine you're moving at
86.6% light speed (0.866c) for a time span of one year, according to your
on-board clock, or, your on-board strontium-atom-based quantum
chronometer.     After your voyage ended, you'd find that people who
remained on Earth experienced two years.    It is not as though they merely
perceived more time.  More time actually elapsed for them than you as a
consequence of your rapid motion.      The faster you travel, the greater
the time dilation factor.     If you managed to attain light speed (an
apparent impossibility as the vessel mass would extend to infinity), time
would stop.  In theory, you could travel at this speed for centuries and
not age at all.   You could start in 2021 at light speed and after 800
years, arrive back on Earth at 2821 in an instant.     You will have, in
effect, ventured into the future centuries beyond your home time period.
  Of course, if you found the 29th century to be excessively busy or
exasperatingly calm, you couldn't reverse course.

[image: gr_timedial.png]
The graph above relates speed to time dilation factor.  The faster one
travels, the greater the time dilation becomes.      However, the speed of
light defines the ultimate limit.  At this speed, time stops completely.
Also, the spacecraft mass extends to infinity, which precludes light speed
(warp) travel.

In theory, exceeding light speed could enable one to move back through
time.  However, light speed has so far proven to be  an iron-thick
barrier.

While some possibilities have arisen out of General Relativity, none of
them are feasible.  For instance, Mexican theoretical physicist Miguel
Alcubierre devised the concept of what is now known as the Alcubierre
Drive.  This drive could theoretically allow a vessel to exceed light speed
by simultaneously contracting space in front of it while expanding space
behind it.    These space-time contortions would allow the craft to move
faster than light could travel within the same time frame.

[image: Alcubierre.png]

*Alcubierre Drive: * a craft that could exceed light speed by
simultaneously contracting and expanding space in front of and behind it,
respectively.    Such a craft would require an energy density field lower
than that of a vacuum: a condition requiring the introduction of exotic
matter, a hypothetical material that might not exist.

The main problem with this drive is that it requires the existence of an
energy density field lower than that of a vacuum.    Such a field
necessitates the introduction of exotic matter, in this case, matter
possessing negative mass.   Such material is hypothetical and might not
exist at all.    If it doesn't, the Alcubierre Drive cannot be constructed.


We'll explore other scenarios, including those involving the famous
Einstein-Rosen Bridge (worm holes) on Monday.


*If the Block Universe theory is correct, this motion might just be
illusory.


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