This book begins with Theseus return to Athens from Crete and tells the story of life from then on. It’s a sequel to The King must die which tells the story of his youth. Mary Renault has made an effort to join greek history with greek myth and has in my opinion done a very good job. She has taken mythological creatures and events and put them into a more normal and beliveable turn of events.
Theseus was born the son of King Aegeus of Atens but raised by his grand parents in Troizen. In his teens he travels to Athens and is recognized by the King as heir to the throne. At this time Athens is subservient to Crete who demands that Athens supply them with young men and women for the labyrinth. According to legend these are then sacrificed to the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Theseus volunters to be one of the young men and women sent to Crete where he kills the Minotaur.
In Mary Renault’s version the labyrinth is an arena where a team of bull-leapers fight live bulls. Theseus leads one of these teams and manages to lead an uprising against the King of Crete freeing himself in the process. Mary Renault handles all mythological references in a similar maner, transforming them to plausible events with cultural or political implications.
In The Bull from the Sea we start with Theseus triumphant return to Athens and King Aegeus death. When Theseus left for Crete he said that he’d put white sails on his boats when he returned to signal that it was him. The Cretes had dark, near black, sails when they came to demand their tribute of young. For some reason Theseus forgets this and sails home with dark sails. When King Aegeus sees the dark sails on the returning boats he throws himself of a rock into the sea, mourning his lost son, hence the name the Aegean sea.
As I statet earlier the mythological aspect has been transformed into plausible events but how these events are interpreted by the characters are all tinted by the religion and believes they have. Theseus for example is a follower of Poseidon and therefore dedicates much of what he does as a tribute to Poseidon and also believes that Poseidon helps him when things go his way. Now I won’t tell you all that happens in the book but I can tell you that it contains many mythological and historical references; King Oidipus, Centaurs, Amazon women, Hippolythia, etc.
The book is well worth reading and gives an insight in how life might have been in mythological/historical Greece. Credits to Mary Renault for her study of Greek history and mythology prior to writing the book. Without knowing anything about the author I’d guess she is a bit of a history buff with a penchant for Greek history. At the end of a book you find a bibliography over books she used as reference.