The/The Bull from the Sea King Must Die (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Mary Renault
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Work: Mythological romances
- Time of Work: Sometime during the Mycenaean Age in Greece
- Setting: Various sites on the Greek mainland as well as on Crete and other Aegean islands
- Principal Characters: Theseus, Pittheus, Ariadne, Asterion (Minotauros), Orpheus, Poseidon, Pirithoos, Hippolyta, Hippolytos, Old (Chiron) Handy, Oedipus, Phaedra, Menestheus
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Historical fiction, Mythological literature, Adventure
- Subjects: Mythology or myths, Power, personal or social, Politics, Love or romance, Suicide, Gender roles, Religion, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Obsession, War, Kings, queens, or royalty, Gods or goddesses, Truthfulness and falsehood, Heroes or heroism, Rites or ceremonies, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people, Hellenism, Princes or princesses, Royal courts or courtiers
- Locales: Greece, ancient
The Novels
The life of the legendary Attican hero Theseus spanned a period of approximately fifty years. In The King Must Die, Mary Renault delineates the course of his life up to the age of eighteen, when he assumes the kingship of Athens; in The Bull from the Sea, she recounts the vicissitudes of Theseus’ subsequent career to his death on the Aegean isle of Skyros. The opening section of Renault’s earlier novel is set in the Peloponnesian city of Troizen, where Theseus’ maternal grandfather, Pittheus, is king. It is here that King Aigeus of Athens once...
[The entire page is 2889 words long]
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