upright=1.3, ''The Death of Hippolytus'', by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) In

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Hippolytus ( el, Ἱππόλυτος'', Hippolytos'' 'unleasher of horses'; ) is the son of

Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describ ...

and either

Hippolyta In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Gr ...

or Antiope. His downfall at the hands of

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

is most famously recounted by the playwright

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

, although other, sometimes differing versions of the story have also survived. Hippolytus and Phaedra, fresco from Pompeii

Etymology

The meaning of Hippolytus' name is ironically ambiguous. Ἱππό translates to 'horse', and the element -λυτος (from λύω 'loosen, destroy') suggests the adjectiv
λυτός, -ή, -όν
'which may be undone, destroyed'. His name thereby takes on the prophetic meaning 'destroyed by horses'.

Premise of the myth

Hippolytus is a hunter and sportsman who is disgusted by sex and marriage. In consequence, he scrupulously worships

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, the virgin huntress, and refuses to honor

. Offended by this neglect, Aphrodite causes Phaedra, Hippolytus’ stepmother, to fall in love with him; Hippolytus rejects Phaedra’s advances, setting events in motion that lead to his death in a fall from his chariot.

Hippolytus in Euripides

Euripides' tragedy '' Hippolytus'' describes the death of the eponymous hero after a confrontation with his stepmother Phaedra, the second wife of Theseus. Cursed by Aphrodite, Phaedra falls so ardently in love with Hippolytus that she becomes physically ill and decides to end her suffering through suicide. Her nurse tries to save her by revealing the secret to Hippolytus and encouraging him to reciprocate. Hippolytus responds only with horror and disgust, humiliating Phaedra. In despair, and not wanting to admit the true reason for ending her life, she hangs herself and leaves a note for Theseus accusing his son of raping her. Theseus, furious, uses one of the three wishes given to him by

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...

, his father, to curse Hippolytus, who has fled the palace to go hunting. Poseidon sends a sea-monster to terrorize Hippolytus's chariot horses, which become uncontrollable and hurl their master out of the vehicle. Entangled in the reins, Hippolytus is dragged to death. Artemis reconciles father and son by telling Theseus that Phaedra was lying, and comforts the dying Hippolytus with a promise to make him the subject of religious practice so that his memory will live forever. She assigns a band of Trozenian maidens the task of preserving the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus in a ritual song. Versions of this story also appear in

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

's play '' Phaedra'',

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' and '' Heroides'', and

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...

's ''

Phèdre ''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Composition and premiere Wit ...

''.

Hippolytus as Virbius and his afterlife

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

relates a story about Hippolytus that differs from the version presented by Euripides. Hippolytus was resuscitated by

Asclepius Asclepius (; grc-gre, Ἀσκληπιός ''Asklēpiós'' ; la, Aesculapius) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represe ...

; once revived he refused to forgive Theseus and went to Italy and became the king of the Aricians and named a city after Artemis. He ruled as "Virbius" from inside the shrine of Diana. (The sanctuary forbade horses from entering, which is why it is believed he lived there.) The story of Hippolytus is different from Euripides because it brings him back from the dead to live his life in Italy while Euripides permanently connects him to his tomb. As a result, a cult grew up around Hippolytus, associated with the cult of Diana. His cult believed that

asked

to resurrect the young man since he had vowed chastity to her. Followers of Hippolytus' cult cut off a piece of their hair to dedicate their chastity to him before marriage.

Gallery

File:Esculape rend la vie à Hippolyte.jpg, Esculape rend la vie à Hippolyte by

Abel de Pujol Alexandre-Denis-Abel de Pujol or Abel de Pujol (30 January 1785 in Valenciennes – 29 September 1861 in Paris) was a French painter. He was a student of David and his own students included Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps and Emile Levy. He painte ...

File:German school Hippolytus, Phaedra and Theseus.jpeg, Hippolytus, Phaedra and Theseus. German School, 18th century File:Hippolytus mosaic 01.jpg, Part of the mosaic of Hippolytus in the Archaeological Park of Madaba, Jordan File:Hyppolitus készlet.jpg, Hippolytus set -

Seuso Treasure The Seuso Treasure or Sevso Treasure ( hu, Seuso-kincsek; hr, Seusovo blago), is a hoard of silver objects (14 items) from the late Roman Empire. The first pieces appeared on the market in London in 1980, and the treasure was acquired by a co ...

References

External links

*
Hippolytus
for details on the figure of Hippolytus and a classicist's philological study of the evolution of Hippolytus as a

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...

paradigm in

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, Racine; extensive bibliography (in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hippolytus (Mythology) Mythological Greek archers Metamorphoses characters Children of Theseus Attican characters in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Attic mythology Deeds of Artemis Deeds of Poseidon Asclepius in mythology Phaedra Mythological hunters Retinue of Artemis