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This is the story of Theseus, King of Athens. The book opens with his triumphant return from Crete, after slaying the Minotaur, to mount the throne left empty by the death of his father Aigeus. The youth of Theseus was the subject of The King Must Die, one of the most highly praised novels of recent years. Now, from the many classical myths and legends that surround his later career, Miss Renault has reconstructed the heroic exploits of Theseus the King.
All through his reign, Theseus is torn between his genius for kingship and his truant craving for adventure. His love of danger draws him to challenge the pirate prince Pirithoos, to recognize him as a kindred spirit, and to join his forays. As Theseus is setting out toward Crete for a dynastic marriage with Phaedra, Pirithoos lures him off to explore the unknown Euxine, where he meets and captures the young warrior priestess Hippolyta. She is the love of his life, and that love is the crux of his fate. Only after Hippolyta has borne him a son, and later fallen at Theseus' side fighting off the great Scythian invasion, only then does he bring home his neglected queen. Phaedra meets Hippolytos, the center of his father's love, pride, and unacknowledged envy; and the Great Goddess whom Theseus has defied so often takes her full revenge.
The bull of Marathon, the battle of the Lapiths and Kentaurs, and the moon-goddess cult of Pontos are but a portion of the legendary material that Miss Renault weaves into the fabric of great historical fiction. Whether or not these myths have their far-distant origin in actual events, the author's imagination and scholarship have invested them with an immediate and magical reality.
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