Xena: Contest of Pantheons
Encyclopedia
Xena Volume #1: Contest of the Pantheons was the first trade paperback
collection of the Xena
comic series published by Dynamite Entertainment
, collating volume #1 to #4.
to the goddess Isis
, from an Egyptian temple during a surprise visit from a delegation from the Greek pantheon, sparked off a war in the air, on the land and in the sea, between the Egyptian pantheon
and the Greek pantheon, involving their mortal followers as well. Caught in the crossfire were all other mortals who had to pay to price when gods wage war.
and Gabrielle
were sailing on a ship at sea that came under attack by a gigantic marine hydra, one of the calamity befalling the mortals caught in the midst of the war of the gods.
Xena managed to slay the hydra, but the ship was destroyed. Xena and Gabrielle survived by getting on a lifeboat, only to discover Joxer
present too, having stowed away on their ship.
When they finally made to the shore, they came across a Greek village being burned and ravaged by minotaur
-like creatures, later known as Apis.
Assessing that they were no match for the supernatural creatures, Xena ordered her companions to flee with her, only to discover Autolycus
tied to a tree by a group of men he tried to steal from. Xena intervened reluctantly at Gabrielle's behest, only to find herself facing a giant named Levitriol.
In the court of Zeus
on Mount Olympus
, an emissary from Ra
arrived to propose the conflict to be decided by a mortal champion from each side, pointing out the continuation of the war would result in more deaths of followers on both side, leaving no worshippers for either pantheon in the end.
After conferring with the other Olympians, Zeus was in favour of the Egyptian proposal, and asked for nominations for the champion. Hercules
, Ulysses
, Jason
, Perseus
and Achilles
were names brought up.
Hades
nominated Callisto
, but Ares
proposed Xena.
The Greek gods watched the Xena combat Levitriol, whom Ares suggested had Frost Giant in his bloodline. Zeus decided the champion to be the one who defeats Levitriol, who by a twist of fate, died by Gabrielle's weapon.
When they saw the Egyptian champion, Fierosis, Xena thought quickly and had Autolycus to use his eloquence to persuade the gods to modify the contest to between teams instead of individuals from each side.
The joke was on Autolycus when he found himself, along with Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer, to be part of the Greek team. Ra simply added four of his best fighting apis to Fierosis.
The contest began immediately.
In the underworld, Hades summoned Callisto and despatched her to join the Greek team. When Anubis
appeared, Hades pointed out he merely made the size of both teams equal. Anubis launched a surprise attack on Hades.
Considering the strength of her team, Xena decided to lead them to run to buy time to make a plan instead. Callisto appeared and they fell into blows until they realised they were supposed to be on the same team.
Callito was still thinking whether she should help Xena and be released from Hades if they won, when the Egyptian champions appeared.
The team found a cave occupied by a pair of Storm Giants. Thinking quickly, Xena had her team entertain the giants as dancing girls until Fierosis and the apis caught up.
The Egyptians attacked Xena's team, not realising they were provoking the storm giants, who easily trounced Fierosis and the apis.
When Xena and her companions emerged from the cave though, they were confronted by an army of Egyptian dead. Just as they were wondering what it meant and what to do, Callisto stabbed Xena and Autolycus in the back and killed them.
In Tartarus
, Xena and Autolycus found Hades' realm strangely deserted. They managed to find Hades who was bound by the dead Fierosis, and the four apis killed by the storm giants.
On Mount Olympus, Zeus and Ra found too late that Anubis had become twice as powerful and unstoppable after absorbing Hades' realm.
Back in Tartarus, choked by Fierosis who was imbued with a portion of divine power, Xena managed to use her chakram
to free Hades, who proceeded to resume control over his realm.
Back on Mount Olympus where the dead army arrived with Callisto, Gabrielle and Joxer, Anubis considered Callisto offer of service and ordered her to slay her two companions. Callisto managed to stall long enough for Xena to arrive.
It turned out that when Callisto saw the Egyptian army of the dead, she deduced Hades was captured by Anubis, and killed Xena in order to send her to rescue Hades.
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
collection of the Xena
Xena
Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and subsequent comic book of the same name...
comic series published by Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book company that primarily publishes licensed franchises of adaptations of other media. These include adaptations of film properties such as Army of Darkness, Terminator and RoboCop, literary properties such as Zorro, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in...
, collating volume #1 to #4.
Prologue
The theft of a necklace, which was a gift from the Sun-God RaRa
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
to the goddess Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
, from an Egyptian temple during a surprise visit from a delegation from the Greek pantheon, sparked off a war in the air, on the land and in the sea, between the Egyptian pantheon
Egyptian pantheon
The Egyptian pantheon consisted of the many gods worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians. A number of major deities are addressed as the creator of the cosmos. These include Atum, Ra, Amun and Ptah amongst others, as well as composite forms of these gods such as Amun-Ra. This was not seen as...
and the Greek pantheon, involving their mortal followers as well. Caught in the crossfire were all other mortals who had to pay to price when gods wage war.
Part One: Holy Acrimony
XenaXena
Xena is a fictional character from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the 1995–1999 television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess TV show and subsequent comic book of the same name...
and Gabrielle
Gabrielle (Xena)
Gabrielle is a fictional character played by Renée O'Connor in Xena: Warrior Princess. She is referred to by fans as the Battling Bard of Potidaea. Her trademark weapons are the Amazon fighting staff and later, the sais...
were sailing on a ship at sea that came under attack by a gigantic marine hydra, one of the calamity befalling the mortals caught in the midst of the war of the gods.
Xena managed to slay the hydra, but the ship was destroyed. Xena and Gabrielle survived by getting on a lifeboat, only to discover Joxer
Joxer
Joxer is a fictional character in the syndicated television series Xena: Warrior Princess, played by American actor Ted Raimi. He is a comical wanna-be warrior who styles himself "Joxer the Mighty", and later "Joxer the Magnificent"....
present too, having stowed away on their ship.
When they finally made to the shore, they came across a Greek village being burned and ravaged by minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
-like creatures, later known as Apis.
Assessing that they were no match for the supernatural creatures, Xena ordered her companions to flee with her, only to discover Autolycus
Autolycus
In Greek mythology, Autolycus was a son of Hermes and Chione. He was the husband of Neaera, or according to Homer, of Amphithea...
tied to a tree by a group of men he tried to steal from. Xena intervened reluctantly at Gabrielle's behest, only to find herself facing a giant named Levitriol.
In the court of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
on Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
, an emissary from Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
arrived to propose the conflict to be decided by a mortal champion from each side, pointing out the continuation of the war would result in more deaths of followers on both side, leaving no worshippers for either pantheon in the end.
After conferring with the other Olympians, Zeus was in favour of the Egyptian proposal, and asked for nominations for the champion. Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...
, Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
, Jason
Jason
Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...
, Perseus
Perseus
Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...
and Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
were names brought up.
Hades
Hades
Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
nominated Callisto
Callisto (Xena)
Callisto is a fictional character in the fantasy TV series Xena: Warrior Princess. She features as the most frequently recurring villainess on that show. She also makes appearances on three episodes of the parent show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys...
, but Ares
Ares (Hercules and Xena)
Ares is a character on the television shows Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Young Hercules. He was portrayed by New Zealand actor Kevin Tod Smith...
proposed Xena.
The Greek gods watched the Xena combat Levitriol, whom Ares suggested had Frost Giant in his bloodline. Zeus decided the champion to be the one who defeats Levitriol, who by a twist of fate, died by Gabrielle's weapon.
Part Two: Pantheon Pandemonium
Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer and Autolycus suddenly found themselves in the divine court where the Greek and Egyptian pantheon of gods were conferring. As Levitriol died at Gabrielle's hands, she found herself chosen to be the Greek's champion.When they saw the Egyptian champion, Fierosis, Xena thought quickly and had Autolycus to use his eloquence to persuade the gods to modify the contest to between teams instead of individuals from each side.
The joke was on Autolycus when he found himself, along with Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer, to be part of the Greek team. Ra simply added four of his best fighting apis to Fierosis.
The contest began immediately.
In the underworld, Hades summoned Callisto and despatched her to join the Greek team. When Anubis
Anubis
Anubis is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu . According to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, Anubis' name was vocalized as Anapa...
appeared, Hades pointed out he merely made the size of both teams equal. Anubis launched a surprise attack on Hades.
Considering the strength of her team, Xena decided to lead them to run to buy time to make a plan instead. Callisto appeared and they fell into blows until they realised they were supposed to be on the same team.
Callito was still thinking whether she should help Xena and be released from Hades if they won, when the Egyptian champions appeared.
Part Three: Stalk Like an Egyptian
Xena let Callisto take charge, who in turn led the team to Mount Dethuzius, a cursed fiery volano supposedly forsaken by the gods themselves.The team found a cave occupied by a pair of Storm Giants. Thinking quickly, Xena had her team entertain the giants as dancing girls until Fierosis and the apis caught up.
The Egyptians attacked Xena's team, not realising they were provoking the storm giants, who easily trounced Fierosis and the apis.
When Xena and her companions emerged from the cave though, they were confronted by an army of Egyptian dead. Just as they were wondering what it meant and what to do, Callisto stabbed Xena and Autolycus in the back and killed them.
Part Four: Undead Reckoning
Being a servant of Hades, Callisto was able to command the Egyptian dead army of Anubis to follow her commands and led Gabrielle and Joxer bound, and marched together to Anubis.In Tartarus
Tartarus
In classic mythology, below Uranus , Gaia , and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld. In the Gorgias, Plato In classic mythology, below Uranus (sky), Gaia (earth), and Pontus...
, Xena and Autolycus found Hades' realm strangely deserted. They managed to find Hades who was bound by the dead Fierosis, and the four apis killed by the storm giants.
On Mount Olympus, Zeus and Ra found too late that Anubis had become twice as powerful and unstoppable after absorbing Hades' realm.
Back in Tartarus, choked by Fierosis who was imbued with a portion of divine power, Xena managed to use her chakram
Chakram
The chakram , sometimes called a war quoit, is a throwing weapon from India. Its shape is of a flat metal hoop with a sharp outer edge from in diameter...
to free Hades, who proceeded to resume control over his realm.
Back on Mount Olympus where the dead army arrived with Callisto, Gabrielle and Joxer, Anubis considered Callisto offer of service and ordered her to slay her two companions. Callisto managed to stall long enough for Xena to arrive.
It turned out that when Callisto saw the Egyptian army of the dead, she deduced Hades was captured by Anubis, and killed Xena in order to send her to rescue Hades.