The Atlantiad

By John Carney

In a time when the Gods of Olympus walk among mortals and Achilles sails the seas in search of fame and conquest, Atlantis vies for supremacy. Mighty Zeus offers his protection, but the cost of his alliance is high. Yet, the city's most potent threat may come from her most powerful citizen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Key and Candle, Inc
• Release date: Jun 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781953666116

Book preview

The Atlantiad

a Tragedy

John Carney

image-placeholder

Key and Candle, Inc.

Copyright © 2020 by John Carney

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.

Published by Key & Candle, Inc.

Jupiter, Florida

keyandcandle.com

ISBN: 978-1-953666-11-6

Book design by John Carney

Contents

Proem

Act I, Scene I

Act I, Scene II

Act II, Scene I

Act II, Scene II

Act III, Scene I

Act III, Scene II

Act IV, Scene I

About Author

Also By

Proem

[Enter THEODOSIUS, stage left. He is blind, stooped over, supported by a walking stick, and dressed in rags.]

THEODOSIUS

O, you muses, fill me once more with your song. Support me so that I might tell my story and not be crushed by the weight of it. Calliope with your tablet and stylus in hand, select the words that I shall speak; inscribe them in wax and set them before my mind. Erato and Euterpe, take up your cithara and aulos and strike a tune to match my suffering — as discordant a cacophony as your Apollonian tools permit. You, Urania, spin your globe until Atlantis surfaces before you — allow your compass to point intrepid voyagers toward the place where the island once sat in the great sea. Polyhymnia behind your veil, chant and I will let the reverie of your chorus reinforce my resolve and my recollection. Terpsichore with your lyre and Thalia behind your comic mask, lend your charms to my tale and temper my despair. Clio, unfurl your end-less scroll on which you have recorded every flutter of butterfly wings leading to my nadir. Finally, Melpomene, prepare your tragic mask — it will mirror what I have felt through my betrayals, and when my pain is too great I might hide my face behind it. You nine Olympian muses, aid me in telling my tale and then give my spirit rest!

[Theodosius paces across the stage.]

THEODOSIUS (cont’d)

Zeus, son of Kronos, to you I dedicate this story — supreme and most high ruler, you watcher of the heavens and giver of signs, you of the golden sword and the furious, boisterous orders. I thought to entrust everything to your hands, hands that couldn’t be dissuaded even from snatching at your own daughter — that most serene apogee of beauty, Aphrodite. Barely was she born of the surf before you descended upon her with those hands, flawless ivory palms and long elegant fingers never betraying sinister desires. Following your own father’s custom, long had you lain with your sisters before you turned your attention to your own creations. First, your daughters borne you by fellow gods, but no sooner had you created man than you decided that their daughters should not be denied you either — they too should be included in your harem of missing, mutated, and massacred wives.

[Theodosius stops pacing; centerstage.]

THEODOSIUS (cont’d)

One thing only remains — my story.

[Exit THEODOSIUS, stage right.]

Act I, Scene I

The agora at Atlantis. Stage right: an apple tree marks the path to Theodosius’ house. Center: a set of steps descend from the facade of a temple. Stage left: a pair of gates leads to the island’s port and shore.

[Enter THEODOSIUS and SOSIGENES, stage right.]

SOSIGENES

Father, slow down!

THEODOSIUS

Quickly, Sosigenes — we must hurry.

SOSIGENES

But why? Where are we going?

THEODOSIUS

What? Nowhere.

SOSIGENES

How does one go nowhere?

THEODOSIUS

What? Don’t worry, child — it’s nothing.

SOSIGENES

It’s not nothing. Why did you wake me so early and rush me out in such a state? Tell me.

THEODOSIUS

On account of the deathless gods. One of them came to me last night! He came as a bull wearing a crown of laurel, and he plucked a blossom from the bough of an apple tree. It was almighty Zeus himself delivering a