Scheps states that the traditional image of Theseus as Chaucer was to have known him was influenced primarily by Plutarch, Ovid, Statius and Bocaccio. All of them praised Theseus as a hero and a conqueror however Ovid judged him for his abandonment of Ariadne and Plutarch made the reader aware of Theseus negative qualities while presenting them in duality with his positive ones but never making a direct claim about how the reader should feel about them which left his Theseus morally ambiguous. Statius had no criticism whatsoever for Theseus and while Bocaccio praised him, he also did not exclude his less admirable traits as Statius did though did not judge him like Ovid. In his own works, Chaucer combines several viewpoints to create his versions
