The Bull from the Sea is the story of Theseus, King of Athens, but also Mary Renault's brilliant historical reconstruction of ancient Greek politics. Throughout his reign, Theseus is torn between his genius for kingship and his truant craving for adventure. As Theseus for a dynastic marriage with Phaedra, Pirithoos, the pirate prince, lures him off to explore the unknown Euxine, where he meets and captures the young warrior priestess Hippolyta. She is the love of his life, and that love is the crux of his fate. The bull of Marathon, the battle of the Lapiths and Kentaurs, and the moon-goddess cult of Pontos are merely a portion of the legendary material that Renault weaves into the fabric of great historical fiction. Whether or not these myths have their far-distant origin in actual events, the author's imagination and scholarship have invested them with immediate amd magical reality.
- ISBN10 0765807831
- ISBN13 9780765807830
- Publish Date 31 December 2001 (first published 7 May 1970)
- Publish Status Transferred
- Out of Print 13 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Inc
- Imprint Transaction Publishers
- Edition Large type / large print edition
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 340
- Language English