Theseus

By Jerrol Langford

Theseus grows up in the small city of Troizen, dreaming of a life of adventure, like his hero Herakles who thrashes foul monsters and romances beautiful women on all of his journeys. When he is sixteen his mother reveals that his father is the Athenian King and that Aigeas wants Theseus to travel to Athens to meet him, and present himself if the king still has no children.His grandfather offers him a short trip by boat, but Theseus decides to brave the long and dangerous land route, to fulfill his dream of being an adventuring hero. On the road to Athens, the teenager is attacked by road bandits, goaded into hunting a monster boar, and forced to face a champion wrestler in a match to the death. When he arrives in Athens, Theseus learns that his father is married to the witch Medea, and has an infant son, forcing him to keep his identity a secret. After Theseus brings the savage Marathon Bull to Athens, Medea concocts a potion to kill him, but Aigeas recognizes his son and knocks the poisonous drink out of his hand.The city of Athens owes a tribute to the Kingdom of Crete, consisting of fourteen highborn youths as slaves. To prevent another teenager from suffering this fate, Theseus volunteers to be part of the tribute and goes to Crete with a plan to free all the slaves and return them to Athens. When he meets Ariadne, the exciting Princess of Crete, he considers staying on the island as a slave, so he can be closer to her, but decides that he must stick with the original plan. Before he can escape from his captivity, however, he must brave the Labyrinth and face the bloodthirsty Minotaur.While accompanying Herakles on his Ninth Labor, to recover the belt of the Amazon Queen, the teenage King of Athens learns that women don't really throw themselves at the feet of heroes. Theseus must change his tactics in order to convince Antiope, Princess of the Amazons, to return to Athens with him and become his wife. "The maiden Ariadne, daughter of Minos, with kindly intent rescued Theseus from grim contests" - Apollonius, The Argonautica "Here its lair, that house of labor, the endless blinding maze, but Daidalos, pitying royal Ariadne's love so deep, unraveled his own baffling labyrinth's winding paths, guiding Theseus' groping steps with a trail of thread" - Virgil, The Aeneid "Fair Ariadne daughter of the magician Minos, whom Theseus was carrying off from Crete to Athens, but before he could do so Artemis killed her in the island of Dia" - Homer, The Odyssey

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1973408546
• ISBN13: 9781973408543
• Release Date: November 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 425 Pages
• Weight: 1.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.1" x 5.0"