The King Must Die
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| File:Kingmustdie.jpg Cover of the 1988 paperback edition | |
| Author | Mary Renault |
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| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Pantheon Books |
Publication date | 1958 |
| Publication place | South Africa |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 352 p. (Vintage edition)338 p. (Modern edition) |
| ISBN | 0-394-75104-3 |
| OCLC | 15595010 |
| 823/.912 19 | |
| LC Class | PR6035.E55 K56 1988 |
| Followed by | The Bull from the Sea |
For the song by Elton John, see The King Must Die (song)
The King Must Die is a 1958 bildungsroman and historical novel by Mary Renault that traces the early life and adventures of Theseus, a hero in Greek mythology. Naturally, it is set in Ancient Greece: Troizen, Corinth, Eleusis, Athens, Knossos in Crete, and Naxos. Rather than retelling the myth, Renault constructs an archaeologically plausible story that might have developed into the myth. She captures the essentials while removing the more fantastical elements, such as monsters and the appearances of gods. The King Must Die was lauded by critics, with New York Times reviewer Orville Prescott calling it "one of the truly fine historical novels of modern times." Renault wrote a sequel, The Bull from the Sea, in 1962.
Plot introduction
The King Must Die is an adaption of the early life and adventures of the mythological Greek hero Theseus. Beginning with his childhood in the Greek city-state of Troizen, the plot follows him through his travels in Eleusis, where he becomes king; in Athens, where he becomes known as the son and heir of the king; and in Crete, where he learns the Cretan sport of bull-leaping. The novel ends with Theseus's return to Athens.
Plot summary
Book One: Troizen
The novel opens with Theseus as a six-year-old child in the household of his grandfather, King Pittheus of Troizen. His mother is a priestess; his father's identity is unknown. Theseus believes that the sea god Poseidon fathered him, and serves at Poseidon's temple. There he discovers that he can sense earthquakes before they happen.
When Theseus is fourteen, he kills his first man and beds his first girl. But as Theseus ages, he becomes frustrated because he is so much shorter and lighter than most Hellenes his age. As a result, he is a poor wrestler, though an excellent archer, javelin-thrower, and runner. To compensate for his light build, he learns to defeat his wrestling opponents by using special holds and throws, some taught to him by two Egyptian boys and others formulated by his own ingenuity.
When Theseus turns seventeen, his mother takes him to the sacred Grove of Zeus in the hills and explains that, if he pries up a certain stone, she will tell him who his father really is. Theseus tries to use brute force to lift up the stone, and fails miserably. After praying to Apollo, he has a brainwave. He uses a lever to raise the great stone, and recovers a man's sword and sandals from beneath it. At first, Theseus is bitter that his lineage is not godly, but his irritation vanishes when his grandfather explains that Theseus is the only son and heir of King Aigeus of Athens. Theseus is to travel to Athens and join his father at once.
After being affronted by Cretan merchants whose ships control the sea route to Athens, Theseus decides to go to Athens via the bandit-infested land route: the Isthmus of Corinth. On the way, his sole companion, Dexios, is killed by the bandit Skiron. Theseus avenges him.
Book Two: Eleusis
In Eleusis, Theseus is halted on the road and forced to fight Kerkyon, the year-king, in single combat. It is the custom of the Eleusinians to make a stranger kill their king each year, as a sacrifice to the Earth mother goddess. Theseus kills Kerkyon and becomes the year-king in his stead. He also weds the 27-year-old Eleusinian Queen, Persephone, whom he finds extremely skilled in sex. But because he is young and expected to die in one year's time, everyone treats him like a child of no account. So he soon becomes restless and frustrated.
With his bodyguard of Eleusinian youths, Theseus successfully hunts the great she-boar Phaia. He becomes friendly with Pylas, Prince of the neighbouring kingdom of Megara, and arranges for their two states to jointly attack and eliminate the bandits that infest the Isthmus of Corinth. The war is a complete success, but Persephone, rightly suspecting that Theseus is trying to become more powerful than she, has her brother Xanthos try to assassinate Theseus. The attempt fails, and Theseus kills Xanthos in single combat.
Book Three: Athens
With the excuse of wanting to be purified of Xanthos's blood at the Athenian shrine of Apollo, Theseus finally goes to Athens. But his aged father Aigeus, who fears the powerful young king (whom he quite fails to recognise as his son), would have poisoned Theseus on the urging of his lover Medea, who wants the Athenian throne for her sons. But Aigeus recognises Theseus's sword just in time, and knocks the poisoned goblet from his son's hand. Medea escapes; no one knows how. Aigeus proclaims Theseus his son and heir.
When Theseus returns to Eleusis, he finds that Queen Persephone has raised the army against him. When Theseus's oration persuades the army to support him, Persephone stages a suicide attempt by letting one of her sacred snakes (used in the mother-goddess rituals she presides over as priestess-queen) bite her. After Theseus gives her leave to go to a shrine to die, one of the court's women reveals to him that she is functionally immune to the snake-bites (immunity being necessary to ensure survival of priestesses) by way of calculated doses of diluted venom - and will not die, but is using the effects of the bite as a ruse to facilitate her flight from Theseus' justice.
When a Cretan ship comes to collect a yearly tribute of seven boys and seven girls from Athens, Theseus offers himself in one boy's place. He insists, despite his father's pleas, claiming that it is what his patron god Poseidon has asked him to do. Theseus becomes a Cretan slave.
Book Four: Crete
| This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (September 2010) |
The boat makes for Crete, and Theseus is content with the idea that he is to be sacrificed to Poseidon. Then a fight occurs between an Eleusinian and Athenian boy, and he pulls them apart before the Captain comes to whip them. He tells them to behave themselves and then realizes that he is a slave like them.
Theseus decides he must do something. He becomes king of the victims, and makes them swear an oath that they will be together, not Minyans or Hellenes, but one group. They call themselves the Cranes. They know nothing of the bull-dance, but from Lukos, the Captain, Theseus finds out several things. He learns that they train for three months in Knossos Palace before they go and get their bull. Then the bull has to catch them—they are not sacrificed to him. The bull- dance began as a sacrifice to Poseidon, whom they believe lives beneath the Palace and causes earthquakes when he is angry. Over the ages the bull-dance developed into an art form, and those who survive the dance teach their art to the newer ones. They go in teams in front of the bull and sometimes, with a good team, the bull tires before someone is killed. In older days noble Cretan youths did it themselves for honor, but those days are gone, and they bring in slaves now. They learn that teams of fourteen dance, but they do not know if they will be a team together.
Theseus says that they need a reason to be kept together, and one of them suggests that they do something as they arrive in the harbor. They decide to do the dance of the Cranes, and they learn that one of the girls, Helike, is a tumbler, and can dance very well. They get seasick in the rough waters near Crete, but feel better as the sea calms closer to land. As they approach the harbor, and see Cretans waiting for them, they perform their dance. A crowd of Cretans examines them at the harbor, but soon litters approach down the street. The litters are filled with larger, fairer people than the Cretans, and Theseus knows they are from the Palace—the court of King Minos is of Hellene descent and speaks Greek.
Another chair pulls up, with a large dark man in it, to whom the Captain speaks. All of the other members of the court treat this man with respect. He acts and speaks harshly, although Theseus can see that he is cunning and intelligent. Amyntor asks Theseus if the man is Minos himself, but Theseus responds that the man is not a king. Then he remembers that he can be understood, and all are silent as the man looks at them. Theseus notices another carriage, one that the other court members see and then completely ignore, but the Captain, called over, salutes as if to a god.
The large man slaps Theseus, and then slaps him again after receiving a curt answer to a question. The man throws a gold ring in the water and tells him to find it if he is Poseidon's son. Theseus prays to Poseidon, finds the ring, and comes up with it. The man asks for it back, but then Theseus says it was offered to Poseidon and throws it back in. The man laughs hard, and Theseus learns his name—Asterion. They move along the road, and Theseus finds out that Asterion is the King's son, called the Minotauros.
They see Knossos Palace, the House of the Axe. It is so huge that none can speak for a moment. The palace is so big that Theseus feels like weeping at the sight. They notice that there are no walls, and Theseus realizes that the walls of Crete are the seas that the King's ships control. They enter the palace and go to a huge room with a great throne in it. King Minos enters, wearing his bull mask, and there is a short ceremony before they leave and move farther into the palace. Theseus notes that the Cretans call the palace the Labyrinth.
Next they move into a room with a huge statue of the Mother, and from behind the goddess, a woman dressed identically to the statue emerges. She accepts tokens from the nobles, who point to members of the group. Theseus realizes that only wealthy nobles can afford to dedicate a bull-dancer. They are led to another room, where a bull is being sacrificed, and the same woman in the garb of the goddess is there. Theseus asks who she is, and a man, shocked, tells him she is "Ariadne the Holy One, the Goddess-on- Earth." She cleanses him, because he has shed the blood of kinsmen, and Theseus answers her questions, telling her who he is. He desires her and has to keep himself calm.
A man named Aktor comes to take them and is told to train them as a team. They enter the Bull Court, and are looked over by all the youths. One boy, clearly the leader of them all, called the Corinthian, sizes them up and talks to them. They learn that they are the first team to be kept together and that only the King had ever dedicated an entire team before Asterion did it.
The bull-dancers all live and eat together, with the girls separated at night to protect their virginity. The boys could go all over the Palace at night. Although he never sleeps with the girls of the Bull Court, Theseus learns it is not hard for a bull-dancer to get a woman. Only years later would he be with a woman like those of the Bull Court, and she he carried dead off of a battlefield in his arms. He is glad, however, that she died before she saw what happened to their son.
In the Bull Court, they say the bull that kills you is born knowing your name. They practice using the Bull of Daidalos, named after its original designer. The bronze horns were supposedly his own handiwork. The bull-leapers gain the glory, for they grasp the bull's horns and fly off them when his head rears. The catchers catch them when they land, and each member of the team is critical to the life of everyone else. They learn how to dodge the bull and also that they cannot harm him, for the god lives inside him. Theseus learns that the Cretan bulls have been bred for the dance, and the intelligent and quick ones are used for sacrifice. The ones in the dance are huge but not fast or smart—but they are still bulls.
Then they go to watch the bull-dance. Everyone salutes Ariadne and calls her Goddess. The Corinthian makes a spectacular leap, and then another girl tries, but she fails and clings to the horns. Theseus learns that her team does not like her and will not help her. The Corinthian rushes in to save her, beckoning to someone else, but no one goes with him. He holds onto one horn as long as he can before he falls and is speared. Theseus makes the Cranes swear a new oath to hold the life of each as precious as their own. A boy gives him a bracelet that the Corinthian wanted him to have.
They go get their bull in the pasture, and name him Herakles. Then they learn that Asterion is not really the King's son but the Queen's, by a bull-leaper, and that the King treated him poorly. But he is very powerful, and he considers them his slaves.
Life in the Bull Court is strange. Theseus lives for the bull-dance. He becomes consumed by it, feeling that being a bull-leaper is all one could ever ask for in life. The team survives for three months without a single member dying, something that is unheard of in the bull-dance. Theseus becomes a great bull-leaper, known by everyone. He learns much about Crete, though he cannot understand why the nobles look down upon the native Cretans.
Theseus receives a summons to a party thrown by Asterion, and he knows he must go. He goes to the Little Palace, where the Minotauros lives. The Palace displays Asterion's spectacular wealth, and Asterion treats Theseus as a toy for his guests to be amused by. At one point he calls Theseus over, and talks to him like a prize horse. Theseus sees that the other lords are as much in Asterion's power as he is, and it disgusts him. Asterion makes even Theseus' honor into an object of amusement. The other lords are kinder to him, and he learns from them that they no longer think much of the gods and that their honor does not mean much to them. Adultery means little to them, and they hold no grudges. Cretans are the best potters in the world, but Theseus sees that they have gotten bored with the beauty of their pottery and begin constructing horrid things, simply because they are new.
Theseus realizes that the Cretan nobles are weary of life the way it is, because things have been so easy for them. One day he is taken to meet ten year old Phaedra, the King's daughter, who says she is in love with him. He tells her that if he lives he will be a King, and says she can marry him then. Theseus dreams of conquering Crete and knows that the native Cretans would help him. One day he meets Helike's brother, who has traveled to Crete to make offerings for his sister. Theseus explains that she is still alive and tells the boy to give a message to Aigeus, saying that Crete is ripe for the plucking. With the Cranes he begins to plan an uprising.
One day Theseus is summoned to a feast but an old woman takes him aside and says there is no feast. She leads him, in disguise, to a trapdoor in the Labyrinth. Underneath he finds a passageway, and she instructs him to follow a thread that is tied to a column. Theseus walks along, with jars of grain all around him, and eventually sees a store of old arms. He marks the spot and continues marking his way so that he cold return. After much walking, he comes out underneath the large statue of the Goddess. He realizes that there is a woman in its shadow, covered in a robe. She asks him some questions, behind which Theseus can see no real purpose, and then he figures out that she is Ariadne, the Goddess-on-Earth. Finally he takes her by the hand and tells her not to be afraid.
Theseus sleeps with Ariadne and returns to the Bull Court before morning. They spend their nights together, and she tells him that her father, Minos, is sick with leprosy. She knows Asterion found a way to infect her father with the disease. Asterion has been gathering power while the king wastes away so that none will dare oppose him when Minos dies. He learns that Asterion rules already, as king in everything but name. This state of affairs horrifies Theseus, because a ruler needs to be dedicated to the gods in order to properly lead the people. Ariadne tells Theseus that it is a Cretan tradition for a new Minos to throw a ring into the sea. Asterion tried to do so, but Theseus unknowingly thwarted him and then threw the ring himself. She tells him that Asterion is also gathering the loyalty of Cretans.
Theseus tells the Cranes what he knows, without mentioning Ariadne, and he begins moving the old weapons that he found to an easily accessible spot. The Cranes have been together for three seasons, and they do their best to keep fresh and ready all the time. The girls have hidden daggers in their sleeping chambers, and Theseus and Amyntor discuss their plans. Theseus takes the bull-dance very seriously, and always listens in case Poseidon should have anything to tell him. He mentions that now Poseidon no longer speaks to him, since his son died on rocks near the sea. Theseus felt the warning and told his son, "Beware the wrath of Poseidon." His son thought he was cursing him, and Theseus was too angry to correct him. Now the god is silent.
Ariadne takes Theseus to speak with King Minos, following threads through the underground maze. Theseus speaks with the King, and learns that Minos wishes him to marry Ariadne. Theseus pledges to him that he will marry her. Theseus is shocked to see that Minos does not believe in the gods. Minos tells him that Asterion will marry Ariadne in order to keep his power, for the Cretans respect the Goddess. He tells the King of his plan to get help from his father, although in his heart, Theseus does not think ships will come. He tells Minos that Poseidon will send a sign.
Theseus learns that Ariadne makes up ahead of time what she will prophesy in her oracles, and he is shocked that she no longer hear the voices of the gods. He meets with Perimos, a trustworthy noble, and together with a few others, they begin planning a revolt. Theseus chooses the leader of another team, Thalestris, and tells her about their plans. She tells her team, who is bound with a similar oath to that of the Cranes, and soon all of the teams bound by oaths know about the plan. They begin to bring arms into the Bull Court. Spring comes, and soon the winds from the south begin to blow, and they know that there will be no help from any foreign ships. Perimos' son, Alektryon, plans on picking a fight with a member of Asterion's guard because the household would all attend the funeral and they could attack then.
The next day, Alektryon comes to get Theseus in the Bull Court, and tells him to go see the King. Minos wants Theseus to kill him, with the ax Labrys, the ancient guardian of the house. Minos knows it is time for him to die, before Asterion gains any more power. Theseus sacrifices the King, after promising to care for Ariadne, and then returns to the Bull Court and sleeps.
Theseus tells Amyntor that the King is dying, but he is surprised that no noise has been made about the dead king yet. They have a dance that day, but Theseus is sure it will be postponed when the dead king is discovered. Nothing happens all day, and they head to the ring. Once inside, before the bull comes out, they hear a bellow, and the dancers know something is wrong. Herakles charges straight at Theseus, and he dives out of the way, cut only on his leg. The bull is foaming at the mouth. To aid the other cranes who are struggling with Herakles, Theseus grabs his horns and leaps above them. He lands on the bull. Theseus rides Herakles, hoping to tire him out before jumping off and leaving him to the other Cranes. They all help, and Theseus jumps off when the bull charges the barrier. Herakles crashes into the barrier, and then turns. Amyntor catches Theseus, and then yells at him to move, while Theseus stands, swaying. One dancer cannot help another, and the bull charges at Theseus. Just before reaching him, Herakles falls, dead in the ring. An old woman sees to Theseus' wounds, and Theseus feels strange before falling asleep.
A rumor has started that Minos sailed for Sicily, and Theseus realizes that Asterion has somehow controlled even the King's death. He learns that he slept through an earthquake, and that Asterion bet on him to die. Theseus tells the Cranes what he knows—with the King dead, Asterion needed more money to buy troops to take power, so he drugged the bull and bet on Theseus to die, at great odds. They swear they will have vengeance.
In the morning, Theseus realizes that there will be another earthquake, and after it occurs people understand that he can tell when they will occur. He hears that the native Cretans are worried because the poisoning of the bull offended Poseidon. Theseus' head is woozy and he thinks that there is going to be a great earthquake—Poseidon is angrier than any of them could imagine. He says they must break out because the house will collapse around them. The girls are leaving for their quarters, and he tells Thalestris to break out with their arms as soon as possible. Hippon and Iros, two of the boys, are to dress as girls and bribe the guard to let them into the girls' quarters and Thalestris and the girls will rush out at that moment.
The god's fury that resounds in his head is too much for Theseus to take, and he yells out that Poseidon is coming and that the House of the Ax will fall. But then he gets control of himself, and runs to stop those who are in panic. Two guards burst in, someone tells them its all merely horseplay, and then the girls come rushing into the hall and kill the guards. The boys and girls mingle, grabbing weapons, and panic threatens, but Theseus reminds himself he is a King, and yells for silence. He knows they cannot go into the Labyrinth, but must get outside. The great gates of the Bull Court that are never opened have to be broken down. They ram the Bull of Daidalos into the door and burst it open.
Outside, they find no guards, and learn that the servants fled and the other Cretans are watching a ritual dance. Theseus has Amyntor hide everyone in the garden near them and rushes to get Ariadne. She is leading the dance. As he approaches the dance floor, Theseus sees the Labyrinth in front of him and then he sees Ariadne leading the women. He can feel Poseidon's anger getting closer, and as he jumps to her the god strikes. While the earthquake destroys the House of the Ax, Theseus lies in ecstasy, as the weight of his terrible burden of warning leaves.
Theseus saves Ariadne, and is cheered by the bull-dancers and the native Cretans, who have heard his warning and fled. Suddenly they all want vengeance, and charge forward to avenge themselves. They learn that Asterion is already taking part in the ritual to make himself the new Minos. They charge at the guards while a fire rages through the ruined Labyrinth. While the others fight, Theseus goes with the Cranes through a secret passageway, and they find Asterion wearing only the bull mask of Minos. Theseus charges him, interrupting the rite, and after a battle he stabs Asterion with his dagger. Theseus puts on the mask, raises Labrys, and sacrifices the King.
Book Five: Naxos
Nearly all the bull-dancers, plus Ariadne, whom Theseus intends to marry, take a ship and sail for Greece. They land on the island of Dia, whose capital city is Naxos. The people there, who worship the Mother, are amazed by Ariadne, and carry her in a litter to the Palace. The Queen welcomes them, and Theseus looks at the King, who seems distracted, and then realizes that he will be killed the next day at the feast of Dionysos. The Queen invites them to stay for the feast, and Ariadne accepts, although Theseus wishes that she had not.
The next day the king is brought in a ship onto the sacred island, and goes up into the hills. Everyone is drunk, and all of the women go along to the island. Everyone begins going off into the hills. Theseus waits for Ariadne but she does not return. He learns that she is with the Queen in the front. Theseus runs up into the hills, and looks for her. Some of the women begin dropping away from the carriage and finding men, and Theseus drinks more and searches for Ariadne. He soon sleeps with a girl. He sees another girl watching them, and the three of them stay together for a while.
The day goes by, and people begin returning from the hills. Theseus waits for Ariadne, and finally the procession passes by, looking tired and stained with blood from the sacrifice. He waits until the chariot goes by, and then turns to go back, but he sees Ariadne inside. He runs up to the chariot, which is pushed by two priests. She has passed out, and Theseus thinks that the older priest slept with her on the mountain. Ariadne is unharmed, but there is blood all around her, and when she opens the hand that lay on her breast Theseus sees the most horrid thing he has ever seen—something that causes him to be sick.
The older priest talks to Theseus and tells him he cannot understand some things, but Theseus can only think that what he has seen is horrible. He cannot bring her back to Athens after what he has seen. Theseus makes sure that Ariadne will be honored there and then tells the priest to explain to the Queen why they leave that night. Theseus feels sad to have left her, but knows he cannot do otherwise. After gathering his companions, they set sail that night.
They reach Delos the next morning, and rejoice to be so close to home. They bathe in a sacred lake, and Theseus asks a priest about the harper whom he has heard at Troizen. He learns that the harper was killed in his native Thrace, and the stories and songs about him are many after his death.
They sail on the next day, and see a fire burning far in the distance. Theseus knows it is the beacon his father had put up, and he remembers Aigeus's request that he paint his sail with white. But Theseus is conflicted, because he cannot be sure what his father meant. Aigeus had said that the god would have a message for him with the painted sail, and Theseus thinks that if he paints it then his father will read it as a sign to sacrifice himself to the god.
Theseus wades into the water and asks Poseidon for a sign. The god responds, and Theseus knows that he should not paint the sails. He says that he never anticipated that his father would die. He is sure the god did not lead him incorrectly. He believes that perhaps, since his father jumped from a balcony high up, he was called by the god; otherwise he could have fallen on his sword or taken poison.
Characters
Humans
Theseus: The protagonist. A Hellene king and son of a king who compensates for his small, light build with agility and ingenuity. King of Eleusis and son of King Aigeus of Athens, he is an aggressive leader who combines touchy pride with a drive for social and cultural change. Though only seventeen for most of the novel, he is also a skilled warrior, hunter, bull-dancer, and lover. He shows a brutal streak when he threatens to 'correct' ie beat, Persephone during a tussle with her and thinks of raping her and when he threatens to throw his father's young mistress off the parapet for having a wandering eye. Though "a man for women," he tolerates homosexuality on the part of his companions.
Ariadne: The beautiful young daughter of King Minos. High Priestess by right of birth, she is revered as a goddess incarnate by the native Cretans. The effete Minoan aristocracy has however lost belief in the religion that she represents. Gentle and timid at first, she falls in love with Theseus and helps him escape from Crete. During the voyage to Athens they stop at the island of Naxos where she joins the maenads in the yearly Dionysiac orgy. Appalled by her bloody role in the sacrifice of the king of Naxos, Theseus abandons her on that island. Ironically, in the following novel 'The Bull From the Sea' he enjoys 'lovemaking' with Hipoylata regularly amongst mutilated corpses on the battlefields.
Asterion: The Minotauros. He is heir to King Minos of Crete, though actually the product of adultery between Minos' queen and an Assyrian bull-dancer. Crude, ruthless and clever, Asterion has succeeded in isolating his nominal father, the dying Minos, and is positioning himself to take the throne. Asterion regards Theseus as a "mainland savage" but, desiring the best of everything, purchases him as a bull- dancer in the way that he might buy a horse with stamina and speed.
Minos: the title given to the rulers of Crete during the thousand year history of an advanced civilisation centred on the vast palace (Labyrinth) of Knossos. On the eve of the great earthquake that destroys the Labyrinth, the last Minos is a sick man who is losing power to his hated heir Asterion. Using Ariadne as an intermediary, Minor enters into an alliance with Theseus.
Aigeus: The King of Athens and Theseus's father. A valiant and virile man in his younger days, he is in his fifties, tired and cynical by the time Theseus meets him. His people are troublesome, his nobles powerful, and he is worn out from decades of endeavoring to keep the peace and retain his authority. Theseus respects Aigeus but cannot admire him, for he is over-cautious.
Persephone: The 27-year-old queen of Eleusis, whom no one is permitted to name. Beautiful, sexually skilled, and devoted to the earth goddess, she marries Theseus after he kills her previous husband. But he turns out to be more than she bargained for, empowering himself and the downtrodden men of Eleusis, finally using a slow and Machiavellian process to impose masculine rule on the women instead. Three times she attempts to kill him or have him killed, and attempts suicide when she fails. Her ultimate fate is not known.
Amyntor: An Eleusinian bull-dancer, Theseus's right-hand among the Cranes in Crete. A big, black-haired, hawk-nosed teenager, he is too heavy for bull-leaping, so he serves to catch the leaper as he or she descends. Theseus trusts and loves him better than any other person.
Pittheus: The King of Troizen and Theseus's grandfather. He is a good king, for he is wise, just, and devoted to his people's welfare. Theseus looks up to him, despite the occasional reproof or thrashing the old king deals him.
Aithra: The 33-year-old high priestess of Troizen, Theseus's mother, and Pittheus's daughter. Theseus reciprocates her deep love for him.
Medea: King Aigeus's lover, she wants the Athenian throne for her two sons and persuades Aigeus to poison Theseus. When her plot fails, she pronounces a curse on Theseus and vanishes from Athens.
Xanthos: The cold-hearted, red-haired, pale-faced brother of Queen Persephone of Eleusis, and the chief general of the Eleusinians. On his sister's orders, he tries to have Theseus assassinated. Theseus then kills him in single combat.
Pylas: The prince of Megara. Theseus meets him on the boar hunt in the hills between Eleusis and Megara. Only a few years older than Theseus, he nevertheless respects the other's prowess and intelligence, and joins him to assault the bandit strongholds in the Isthmus.
The Corinthian: The best bull-dancer in Crete—until he lays down his life in the ring for a comrade soon after the Cranes arrive. Theseus idealizes him because he is such a consummate bull-dancer.
Chryse, Helike, Melantho, Thebe, Nephele, Rhene, Pylia: The seven female Cranes.
Iros, Hippon, Menesthes, Telamon, Phormion: The five male Cranes (apart from Theseus and Amyntor).
Lukos: a Cretan officer who commands a detachment of African warriors in the service of King Minos. Sent to collect the tribute of fourteen youths and maidens from Athens, Lukos serves as an example of the polished and sophisticated courtiers of the Labyrinth in contrast to the crude but energetic values of mainland Greece.
Kerkyon: The 20-year-old, strongly-built year-king of Eleusis. The name 'Kerkyon' is given to all year-kings: his real name is not given. Theseus kills him in a wrestling match.
Thalestris: A skilled Amazonian bull-dancer and valiant warrior.
Simo: A small boy who mocks Theseus's fatherlessness in Troizen.
Pahedra Theseus' later wife; now a child, she idolises him as a handsome bull dancer and he is brought to ocmfort her when she thinks that he has been killed. In this novel, there is an incipient tenderness between them but Renault seems to change her mind and never allows this to flourish in the sequel.
Gods
Poseidon: Theseus's great patron god. He rules the waters, protects horsemanship, and causes earthquakes.
Apollo: Theseus's other patron god, a god of light, music, healing and prophecy. He inspires sudden bursts of insight.
Mother Dia: Gaia, goddess of fertility and the earth, worshiped most by the Eleusinians and Cretans.
Notes
The Title
Several of the societies in the book practice the sacrifice of kings. The Minyans of Eleusis have a custom of sacrificing their king to Mother Dia each year. In Theseus's seventeenth year, he fights King Kerkyon according to custom, and kills him. When Theseus hesitates, the Eleusinian queen tells him, "The king must die." This is different to the tradition in Theseus' own city of Troizen, and other Hellene kingdoms, where it is the choice of the king himself when to sacrifice his life.
Minyan Vs. Hellene
Much of the plot is woven around conflicts between the Minyans, the short, dark, matriarchal descendants of the earliest Greeks (or possibly the pre-Greek peoples that inhabited Hellas) and the Hellenes, the tall, blond, patriarchal people who long ago immigrated into Greece and slew, drove out or subjugated many of the Minyans. While the Hellenes worship the traditional Greek pantheon of gods—Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, etc.—the Minyans principally worship Mother Dia. Theseus, a Hellene in all save height, candidly admits that he cannot understand the Minyan world view.
Minyans practise matriarchy: their queens wield all temporal and religious power and are succeeded by their eldest daughters. The consort kings are able warriors who assume military command, but hold no permanent power and are traditionally killed after a year's reign. It is alluded in the book that some Minyan kingdoms continue this tradition, while others perform it once every Metonic "year" and others have come to observe the custom only ceremonially, by hanging effigies of the king consort from trees sacred to Mother Dia. The book narrates the transition from this matriarchal model to the patriarchal kingship and society followed by the Hellenes.
Renault's juxtaposition of the older, matriarchal versus the newer, patriarchal organization is partly conjectural, partly based on scant evidence.
Homosexuality
Mary Renault is well known for her positive depiction of homosexuality, and although this trait is not as important in The King Must Die as in her other novels, it is still present. Although Theseus is strictly heterosexual, he tolerates those of his companions who are gay or lesbian. Renault depicts these minor characters as generally decent folk, though often (as in the cases of Iros, Hippon, and some Cretans and Eleusinians) as frivolous. Thalestris, a lesbian Amazon, is especially positively portrayed.
Gods and Goddesses
None of the gods or goddesses referred to in the novel actually make appearances. Nevertheless, deities form essential parts of the characters' lives. Theseus infers that Poseidon and Apollo are inspiring or helping him, and interprets the voice of his heart as the voice of a god. Some characters such as Medea and Theseus are able to occasionally make accurate prophecies due to the unseen work of some god, or the use of magic. Worship of Mother Dia also inspires the sacrifices of the Eleusinian king, and people always pray to the gods for relief from famine, disease, or danger. In fact, Theseus' patriarchal attitudes reflect the author's own. She worshipped 'the masculine principle' and the God Appolo, and despite living with another women for most of her lie, she had a low opinion of women in general. It is notable that the strong matriarch in the novel, Persephone, comes to a miserable end which she seems to expect women as well as men readers to endorse.
References in other books
Poul Anderson's novel The Dancer from Atlantis covers the same period, but from a clearly pro-Cretan point of view - Theseus being the book's villain, a barbarian pirate and cruel destroyer of Cretan civilization. In one passage the protagonist - a time traveler from the 20th Century who had read and liked Renault's book - reflects on how different the actual Theseus is from the way she depicted him.
External links
- Wikipedia: Fiction set in Ancient Greece
- Sparknotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/kingmustdie/