The King Must Die

The story of the mythical hero Theseus, slayer of monsters, abductor of princesses and king of Athens. He emerges from these pages as a clearly defined personality; brave, aggressive and quick. The core of the story is Theseus' Cretan adventure.

Mary Renault's great historical novel of Theseus begins when he is a young man in Troizen, a well-bred youth who has never known his father's identity. When, with the help of the gods, he succeeds in lifting a stone to reclaim his father's sword, Theseus discovers that he is the son of Aigeus, King of Athens. On his way to Athens to meet him, Theseus arrives in Eleusis, where after wrestling the king in a fight to the death, he finds himself, unexpectedly, the King of Eleusis. Later, in Athens, when fourteen young men and women are chosen by lot to become bull-dancers in Crete, fulfilling a tribute demanded by the King of Crete, Theseus listens to his god and joins the group, never knowing if he will survive to return to his father. Renault tells the story of Theseus as if Theseus were a real person, not a mythical character, using history, archaeology, and a deep understanding of the cultures of the period to place Theseus in a realistic context. Her descriptions of the lifting of the stone, the wrestling match in Eleusis, Theseus's arrival at the palace in Athens, and especially his experiences in becoming a bull dancer bring the period vibrantly to life in ways consistent with the historical record. Theseus's devotion to the god Poseidon, to whom he prays throughout his journey, reflects his appreciation of his own smallness in relation to the gods, and his honoring of the gods unique to the kingdoms he visits show how the Greek religion gradually incorporated increasing numbers of gods and goddesses to explain the increasingly complex mysteries of life faced by Greek citizens. Renault never fails to treat Theseus, his religion and culture, and the traditions of the countries in which he travels with the dignity they would have inspired in their own period. She never patronizes either her characters or her readers, writing with elegance and a fine appreciation for the details of daily life, the art of the period, and the pantheon of gods thought to control men's destinies. Whether Theseus was a real man whose strength and reputation grew to mythical proportions, as Renault illustrates, or whether he was, in fact, a mythical character whom she places in a realistic context in ancient Greece is less important than the fact that she creates a plausible life for this monumental character. Few, if any, other authors are so successful in recreating an entire era, its people, its beliefs, and its culture. Mary Whipple

Those readers who were upset at Mary Renault "tampering" with the accepted myth of Theseus should realize that her interest is not mythology but history. As a historical novelist, Renault has no peer. She researched her subjects thoroughly and evoked the time and place so accurately that her books seem to spring into life. She was less interested in Theseus as a mythological figure than as a historical figure, and her rendering of Theseus as a lightweight, fast on his feet, quick and active, seems absolutely correct. Renault is probably correct in believing that the myth of the minotaur in the labyrinth derived from the actual bull dancers of ancient Crete, who were for the most part captive slaves from the subject territories ruled by Crete three thousand years ago, and her depiction of the bull court, and the team Theseus trained to dance with the bulls, realizing that they would either all survive together or they would all die together, is more compelling than any labyrinth story we are already familiar with. In "The King Must Die", Theseus becomes a very human figure we can relate to and empathize with, rather than a stiff mythological figure more god than man. This is Renault's genius -- she brings ancient civilizations so vividly to life that we feel we are right there in the middle of the action. "The King Must Die" is one of her best.

Mary Renault's historical fiction is, perhaps, the best ever written, and this book is the cream of the crop. The storytelling is brilliant, and the writing itself is exquisite, almost poetry in places.Here is the story of Theseus as it might have actually taken place-his boyhood in a provincial Greek town, his quest to find his father in Athens, his rise to princehood, his enslavement to the Cretans, and his fiery life among the bull dancers in The Labyrinth, Knossos, the seat of King Minos. Theseus's story is a pre-Iliad legend. This is the story of the man who may have been Achilles' hero.Renault milks the legend and the historical material for every scrap of cohesive storyline and fills in the gaps with superb insight and truly clever inventions. Her Theseus is a meticulously rendered flesh and blood human being, and the whole culture of ancient Greece comes gloriously to life under her pen. You will want to go to Knossos after you read this book and see the bull dances painted there on the old walls. This is a story that gets into your blood, under your skin. Renault also brings out the cultural struggle between notions of sky gods and earth gods. Theseus believes himself to be the son of Pseidon and is bound by honor and traits of character to the sky gods. He has a smoldering feud with the goddess who would become Aphrodite and all she stood for and a deep love of the goddess who would become Athena and all she stood for. No conclusively supernatural events enter Renault's tail. She leaves possibilities open, but primarily uses ideas of religion to show the struggles going on in the culture and in the mind of her protagonist. She also brings out the full horror of the maenads, the female cult of Dianesis so savage that the Romans later banned them. Everything that is best and worst about ancient Greece finds some representation in this story, which is in fact only the first half of Theseus's life. Renault finishes her tail in The Bull From the Sea, which is an equally stunning, though much sadder, performance.

I first read this book about 30 years ago and I have reread it several times since then. I generally don't reread books, so for me to do so as many times as I have with this one says a lot for the book. Before I read this, I was mildly familiar with the Theseus legend. After reading this book, I became extremely interested in the legend, particularly in the true-life palace at Knossos. The book gives some excellent background in the religions of the old matriarchal societies in which, each year, the king was sacrificed to the earth mother to ensure good crops for the next year. The theories on the bull dance which are based upon the findings at the palace of Knossos are excellently done. And the connection with Theseus belief that he is descended from the god Poseidon and so many things coinciding either with earthquake or something to do with the ocean prove that Mary Renault never left out any parts of her story when considering events that would take place. The research done for this book is great, and if you're like me it will lead you to do further research on your own. I recommend that you purchase this book and also its sequel The Bull from the Sea. You won't be going wrong!