Theseus persuades his father to allow him to go to Crete, with the aim of killing the Minotaur. And if he kills the creature he will signal his success by flying a white sail on the return journey.

Each mound in turn triggers a memory – the dead Minotaur (slaughtered by her husband Theseus), her wedding shoes, and a dead youth, her stepson Hippolytus, slain to save her reputation as Theseus’ ...