Theseus allows her to leave Eleusis to die. She is bitten by a venomous snake during a suicide attempt. The Queen, who correctly anticipates that Theseus is trying to overthrow the established order, tries to have him assassinated but fails.
He takes his retinue of Eleusinian youths on hunts to build their independence and camaraderie, killing the great sow Phaia and making war on brigands.
As King, he has no real power and will die in one year's time. He soon learns that the Queen rules in Eleusis. Entering Eleusis, Theseus is chosen to kill Kerkyon, the year-king, and replace him. In Eleusis, a matriarchical and non-Hellene society focused on worship of the Earth mother goddess, it is the custom to sacrifice their king each year. Theseus decides to go to Athens via the bandit-infested land route: the Isthmus of Corinth. His grandfather explains that Theseus is the only son and heir of King Aigeus of Athens. Theseus figures out how to move it using a lever, and finds a sword and sandals underneath. When Theseus turns seventeen, his mother takes him to the sacred Grove of Zeus in the hills and explains that his father made her swear not to tell Theseus who he was until he could pry up a certain heavy stone. Theseus is frustrated because he is shorter and lighter than most Hellenes his age, but becomes a skilled wrestler through strategy and agility. He is sent to hide in the hills when Cretan ships come to Troizen to take away young boys and girls as tribute to Minos for the bull dancing in Crete. Over the following years, Theseus serves at Poseidon's temple. It is during the horse sacrifice that Theseus first hears a surging sea-sound in his ears, a sense that an earthquake will soon occur. His grandfather King Pittheus explains that the King was traditionally killed with the Horse, and even now a true king of the Hellene people may need to make the ultimate sacrifice for his people. As a young child, Theseus is shocked when he sees the "King Horse", whom he considers a noble beast, ritually sacrificed to the gods. Theseus, growing up in Troizen, is the son of a priestess and an unknown man, although it is rumored that his father is Poseidon. The story is told by Theseus, looking back on his life from his vantage point as an adult.
Renault wrote a sequel, The Bull from the Sea, in 1962.Ī primary theme of the book is the contrast between the advanced but enervated civilisation of Minoan Crete and the assertive developing societies of mainland Greece. It is set in locations throughout Ancient Greece: Troizen, Corinth, Eleusis, Athens, Knossos in Crete, and Naxos. 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.
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