“ The King Must Die ” ( eng. The King Must Die ) - a novel by British writer Mary Renault , written in 1958 . The work takes place during the Mycenaean era in Tresen , Eleusis , Athens, Knossos in Crete and the island of Naxos .
| The king must die | |
|---|---|
| English The king must die | |
| Genre | historical novel |
| Author | Mary renault |
| Original language | English |
| Date of writing | 1958 |
| Date of first publication | |
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“The Tsar must die” is the first novel of the Theseus dilogy, in which the hero’s life from an early age to his return from Crete is interpreted as realistically as possible with the involvement of modern knowledge about the Crit-Mycenaean civilization , in particular about the cult of the goddess Demeter .
Story
The Athenian king Aegeus, having no heir to his son and pursued by failure, seeks advice from the Delphic oracle . The Pythia tells him not to drink wine until he returns to Athens, so as not to die of grief one day. Returning through Tresen, Aegeus told predictions there to King Pittheus . The latter, guessing that the signs of fate foreshadow the birth of a hero, took the Athenian ruler to the bed of his daughter Etra, the high priestess of Tresen. The next morning, Aegeus left his sword and sandals under the altar of Zeus and ordered Etra to send his son to him only when he could raise a stone.
Theseus accomplished this feat at the age of 16, although he was not distinguished by high growth and heroic physique and strength. On the contrary, Theseus externally, short, muscular and fast, was extremely similar to the “coastal people” displaced from these lands or enslaved during the Dorian invasion.
Theseus went to Athens, but chose the dangerous Isthmian path to overcome all obstacles and difficulties and thus assert himself. He conquered all the monsters and robbers of Istma. In Megara, he killed a Crammian pig . Theseus arrives in Eleusis on the feast of the new harvest, during which the old king must die, and the one who manages to defeat him will become the new ruler. Theseus killed Kerkion, became the man of Persephone - the Queen of Eleuthine and the High Priestess of Demeter. During the year that he spent in the city, Theseus united around himself disenfranchised Eleusinian men, forged ties with the kings of neighboring states, cleared Istm of robbers, and finally cast off the cult of the Mother Goddess and became a full-fledged king.
Therefore, Theseus arrived in Athens as king of Eleusis. The mistress of Aegeus the witch Medea realizes that Theseus is the son of Aegeus, and decides to poison him in order to leave the Athenian throne for her own son. Aegeus had already handed Theseus a glass of poison, but at that very moment Theseus opened the king his sword. Aegeus knocked the glass out of the hands of his son and immediately declared his heir. The witch Medea forever fled from Athens in her chariot, but finally cursed Theseus.
Together, Aegeus and Theseus drove out and killed the previous heir to Pallant, along with his 50 sons - the Pallantids. On Theseus' birthday, a ship from Crete unexpectedly came to Athens for tribute: 7 young men and 7 girls were regularly sent to the island, who went to the black bull - the earthly incarnation of Poseidon. In the novel, the Minotaur is a very real person. He is the son of Pasiphae, wife of Minos, not born of a king. The Minotaur seeks to quickly kill the sick Minos and seize power.
Theseus managed to rally his Athenian friends, and led the oppressed Cretans to the palace of Minos. Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, the half-sister of the Minotaur and the high priestess, helped Theseus in the conspiracy. She fell in love with Theseus for dexterity in the arena and went with him to Athens.
Theseus made a stop on the island of Naxos by sea to his homeland. Here he witnessed how, performing along with the maenads one of the wildest rites of the old religion, Ariadne herself joined the Dionysian orgies and helped to tear the young king to pieces. Leaving Ariadne, Theseus hastily gathers his comrades and returns to Athens himself. A year ago, saying goodbye to his father and promising him to return, Theseus promised to change the mourning black sail to white, but now he forgot to fulfill this promise. Arriving at the port, Theseus finds the city in mourning - the mountain made Aegeus throw himself from a cliff into the sea.
The following events in the life of the hero are set out in the novel “Bull from the Sea”.