Psychological Development in Myth
At the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies (JSSS) conference on Earth and Psyche, my presentation explored the role of the feminine and the Underworld in psychological transformation through the ancient Greek myth of Theseus and Peirithoos. The myth offers profound insights—not only into the archetypal journey of descent but also into the dangers of the masculine psyche attempting to dominate the feminine principle.
C.G. Jung, the founder of depth psychology, once reflected on his own dark night of the soul through this very myth. In a letter to Freud, he wrote:
"Essentially… what is keeping me hidden is the katabasis to the realm of the Mothers, where, as we know, Theseus and Peirithoos remained stuck, grown fast to the rocks. But in time I shall come up again. These last days I have clawed my way considerably nearer to the surface. So please do forbear with me a while longer. I shall bring all sorts of wonderful things with me ad majorem gloriam psychoanalysis."
Rather than pathologize this period of profound descent as mere depression, Jung recognized it as a transformative encounter with the unconscious. It was during this time that he began to part ways with Freud, especially over their differing views on the unconscious and the feminine. For Jung, this descent marked the beginning of a psychological rebirth—one that would eventually shape much of his later work.
The Myth of Theseus and Peirithoos
The myth centers around two Greek kings—Theseus of Athens, son of Poseidon, and his close companion, Peirithoos. Both were demi-gods, and as they entered midlife, they sought to assert their divine status by marrying daughters of Zeus. Theseus abducted the young Helen of Sparta, intending to keep her until she came of age. Peirithoos, in a more audacious act, decided to seize Persephone, Queen of the Underworld and wife of Hades.
Persephone’s role is symbolically rich. In Jungian psychology, she represents the soul or the Self—the deep feminine and the unconscious. Her earlier abduction by Hades and subsequent cyclical return to the Upperworld forms the basis for the archetypal cycle of death and rebirth. Along with her mother, Demeter, she presided over the Eleusinian Mysteries, ancient rituals of transformation rooted in seasonal and spiritual renewal.
Theseus and Peirithoos succeeded in abducting Helen and hid her with Theseus’s mother. They then descended into the Underworld to claim Persephone. Welcomed by Hades, they were invited to sit and rest—unaware they had taken their seats on the Chairs of Forgetting, where the dead relinquish all memory of their earthly identity. As they sat, their flesh fused with the rock, and the Furies—Underworld goddesses of vengeance—gathered around them.
Eventually, Hercules passed through the Underworld on his final labor and managed to free Theseus, though part of his body remained stuck to the stone—mythologically explaining why Greek men supposedly have lean thighs. Peirithoos, however, could not be saved. The earth shook when Hercules tried to free him, signaling the gods' final judgment. His hubris—attempting to possess Persephone, the soul—was deemed unforgivable.
Archetypal Meaning and Psychological Insight
At one level, the myth illustrates the patriarchal impulse to control and possess the feminine. At a deeper level, it dramatizes the peril and necessity of psychological descent. The Underworld, far from being merely a place of death, was seen in ancient times as a place of fertility and hidden riches—symbolized by Hades’ cornucopia. To descend is to enter the realm of the unconscious, where transformation becomes possible.
Jung believed that the ego—our conscious identity—must be broken open in such descents. During his own katabasis, he experienced the disintegration of familiar structures: identity, beliefs, heroic ideals. Only by “forgetting” who we think we are can we recover a deeper truth about who we have always been.
In Jung’s own writings, he recounts reconnecting with the child within—a return to his early imaginative life when he built small stone structures in solitude. These games, far from trivial, were part of an alchemical process: a reconnection with the eternal and mysterious life force symbolized by stone, which appears often in his writings, including the Philosopher’s Stone of alchemical lore.
Being “stuck to the rocks,” like Theseus and Peirithoos, can thus symbolize a necessary ego death. It is a suspension—a liminal space in which one forgets who they have become, only to remember, in time, who they truly are.
Meeting the Shadow
In the Underworld, the Furies surround the men. Often depicted with bat wings and serpents for hair, the Furies are terrifying figures—but they are not evil. They are agents of justice, especially in the face of hubris and transgression. Their presence in the myth points to the necessity of encountering the shadow: the rejected, hidden parts of the psyche.
Just as the Furies are linked to the fertile powers of the earth, our shadow—though frightening—contains untapped vitality and creative energy. Psychological development requires that we face these inner figures, as daunting as they may seem.
Ultimately, the myth of Theseus and Peirithoos reveals the archetypal dynamics of psychological transformation: the need to surrender egoic control, descend into the depths, and reckon with both the feminine and the shadow. In so doing, we may return—if we are fortunate—not just with knowledge, but with wisdom.
The photograph is of a frieze on the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens, often called the Theseion, after Theseus because he was the hero of Athens. The images are of Theseus fighting the Centaurs, the mythical creatures that are half-man and half-horse.