Ariadne

After her outburst, Ariadne feels a sense of calm descend on her. Her supplies have dwindled, and she accepts that death is coming. She drinks the very last of her water and decides to go down to the beach, but where there once was empty sea, a ship is sailing toward the island.

Pasiphae is distraught over her son’s death, and Phaedra takes her to the palace tomb to mourn. Phaedra does not understand her mother’s grief for the monster, but Rhadamanthus, an elder who is now ruling in her father’s place, explains that perhaps she now mourns what was done to her all those years ago.

Meanwhile, King Minos has set off in search of Daedalus, and his son Deucalion arrives to rule in his place. Phaedra is relieved to see her brother, but Deucalion brings news of Ariadne’s fate: Theseus told him that she was killed in her sleep by a massive snake sent by the goddess Artemis, which Theseus battled and slayed. Crete is weakened by the loss of its Minotaur, the absence of its king, and rumors of rebellion and thus cannot afford conflict with Athens. Deucalion has arranged for Phaedra to marry Theseus, who is now the king of Athens, as a show of good will.

Phaedra leaves for Athens at once. When Theseus greets her, Phaedra questions him about her sister’s fate, and Theseus recounts the same tale about the serpent. She confronts him about giving her directions to the wrong cove, and he denies intentionally misleading her. Phaedra is certain he is lying, but she is careful not to pry too much. Thinking of the plague sent by Zeus and all the suffering King Minos wrought upon the Athenians, she is acutely aware of how Athens might receive her, a “daughter of the city’s most loathed enemy” (126). She feels shame and wants to prove she is unlike her father. Phaedra and Theseus will wed when she comes of age, but until then she is determined to find out the truth about her sister.

Ariadne wonders about the approaching ship. She retreats to the courtyard near the house and finds even more grape vines have appeared. A stone statue of the god Dionysus now sits in a bubbling spring and pours fresh water. She offers her last drops of wine in thanks before drinking her fill. Soon, even more grapes cluster and the flowing water turns to wine as the ship draws nearer. Ariadne sees a golden-haired figure onboard—Dionysus himself—turn all the sailors into dolphins except one. The dolphins dive into the sea below. Ariadne fears what will happen and what the god will do to her, but she faces him bravely, going to the beach to meet him and hoping he will take pity on her. Dionysus reaches the shore with the lone sailor, Acoetes, and greets Ariadne kindly.

The house has transformed into a sprawling palace. Dionysus provides both Ariadne and Acoetes with food and tells the story of his passage to Naxos. He is charming, impish, and far kinder than Ariadne expected a god to be. Ariadne tells her own story, from witnessing the Minotaur’s birth to waking alone on Naxos. Dionysus asks Ariadne to become the guardian of his home here on the island, tending it while he is away, and Ariadne agrees. Dionysus leaves with Acoetes, and Ariadne lives in comfort in his absence. She explores more of the island, but as days pass, she begins to worry Dionysus will not return and curses his name. At this, Dionysus returns at once, bringing news of Phaedra. He reports that she is safe and betrothed to a great prince. Ariadne misses her sister but knows life in a palace suits Phaedra better than life here on Naxos. Ariadne decides that Naxos is the safest place for her—and Dionysus’s presence, she admits, makes her want to stay.

Phaedra finds herself welcome in Athens. She and Theseus explore the city, and he speaks at length about his exploits and heroic deeds but never about Ariadne. He only warns Phaedra not to let anyone know about her role in what happened in Crete. Through subtle flattery, Phaedra convinces him to set off on more quests, leaving her alone in Athens for long stretches of time. Whenever Theseus is away, Phaedra is relieved. She begins attending meetings in which Theseus’s trusted elites conduct palace business. Phaedra listens and even gives her input, pretending to speak for her husband. When Phaedra turns 18, she and Theseus marry, but she remains suspicious of him.

Dionysus remains on the island with Ariadne and tells her the story of his mother, a mortal woman named Semele. Dionysus is the product of her affair with Zeus, but Zeus’s jealous wife, Hera, killed Semele. He tells more stories of his life: He was not raised on Mount Olympus alongside his father Zeus but by kind nymphs on Mount Nysa, which explains why he lacks the cruelty of the other gods. He tells the story of King Midas, who asked Dionysus for the ability to turn everything he touched to gold. Dionysus obliged, but when the wish backfired terribly, Dionysus reversed it. It seems a harmless tale, but it unnerves Ariadne nonetheless, as it could have ended tragically.

Dionysus and Ariadne spend their days together exploring the island, and he speaks more about his life. When Dionysus grew up and came to Mount Olympus, Hera exacted vengeance on him by driving him “mad,” forcing him to leave and live among humans. He met and fell in love with a mortal youth named Ampelos, who died when he fell from a tree. Ariadne feels angry, recalling “what happens when the gods take notice of a mortal” (162): It rarely ends well for the mortal. Offended, Dionysus vanishes from the island. Alone, Ariadne tends to the island and weaves a tapestry, telling stories of the women cursed by Hera. That night, Ariadne has a nightmare about the jealous goddess.

Phaedra has been attending court meetings that Theseus typically misses. She now tells Theseus what they have been discussing, convincing him that Athens needs better protection against future attacks and proposing joining the local villages and towns by inviting them all to a grand festival. Phaedra takes great satisfaction in the festival’s planning and success, and Athens becomes one of the most powerful cities in Greece.

Soon Theseus returns from one of his travels with news of Phaedra’s father. Minos searched far and wide for his escaped inventor Daedalus. Daedalus, now in the court of King Cocalus, unknowingly revealed himself by solving a puzzle Minos set as a trap. However, unwilling to part with Daedalus, King Cocalus convinced Minos to rest in Cocalus’s palace, where, thanks to another of Daedalus’s inventions, Minos was scalded to death in the bath. Phaedra is pleased to hear it.

Phaedra grows accustomed to her comfortable life in Athens, though her suspicions of Theseus persist. She manages to avoid thinking of Ariadne, and soon she becomes pregnant with Theseus’s child.

The morning after her nightmare of Hera, Ariadne is still shaken and feels guilty for how she acted toward Dionysus. When he returns to Naxos, she is relieved to see him and apologizes for her harsh words. She asks him to tell her the rest of his story about Ampelos. Dionysus explains that while grieving the loss of his lover, he sought to understand death and mortality and determined to see his late mother in the Underworld, realm of the god Hades and the destination of mortal souls. Hades allowed Dionysus to walk with Semele but warned him that she could not leave the Underworld. Dionysus planned to take her anyway. Luckily, Heracles had already slain Cerebus, one of the guards of the Underworld, to rescue Theseus, who had ventured into the Underworld in an attempt to abduct its queen. Dionysus and Semele escaped through the unguarded entrance, and Dionysus made her a goddess of Mount Olympus. Ariadne is charmed by the story, taking comfort in the fact that Dionysus is not cruel or greedy like other gods or like great heroes such as Theseus.

When news of Dionysus’s return to Naxos spreads, new arrivals come to the island to be his followers—young women called “maenads” who left behind their fathers, brothers, and husbands in search of freedom. Life on the island is peaceful and joyful, and Ariadne and Dionysus fall in love. They marry on the beach, and Dionysus gives her a splendid crown. Dionysus later takes it from her head and flings it into the sky, where it becomes a new constellation.

Soon Ariadne is pregnant. Through the pain of childbirth, she imagines all the women of the world struggling together to “bring new sparks of light into the universe” (189). Feeling their support, she births her first son, Oenopion. She goes on to mother five sons. Ariadne is careful not to show her joy too openly, lest the gods take notice and set their sights upon her peaceful life. Dionysus, on the other hand, still seeks out new followers; Ariadne absorbs herself in motherhood while Dionysus and the maenads carry on with their rituals and rites. One morning, Ariadne is walking with her youngest son when she notices maenads washing blood from their robes. This horrifies Ariadne; animal sacrifice was never part of her husband’s rituals before. She is about to ask the maenads about it when she looks to the ocean and sees an Athenian ship approaching.