Every year, the inhabitants of the still small and insignificant city of Athens had to send seven maidens and seven youths to Crete, where they were sacrificed to the Minotaur - a creature that was half man, half bull. The young Athenian prince Theseus could no longer accept this situation. He sets out to the mighty realm of King Minos to seek ways to put an end to this injustice. This ancient myth is reinterpreted by the world-famous Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis, who tells it from the perspective of Haris and his sister Krino. Familiar figures come to life in a fresh and vibrant way: Ariadne and Phaedra, Theseus, Minos, Daedalus, and Icarus. All these characters from Greek mythology are transformed from myths into humans in his timeless novel, originally written for a younger audience.