Hippolyta

The Amazons marched against Athens after Theseus had taken one of their queens. The woman was called Antiope, Melanippe, or Hippolyte, according to different accounts. Theseus had accompanied Heracles on his expedition against the Amazons, and the queen was taken during that campaign. Some traditions instead connect the conflict with Hippolyta, whose magic belt marked her rank as an Amazon queen. The Amazons pitched camp beside the Areiopagos and fought Theseus and the Athenians.

The battle continued fiercely. The Athenian forces drove the Amazon right wing back towards its camp and inflicted heavy losses. Some accounts say that the Amazons offered peace after four months of fighting. Others say that the war ended when Theseus defeated them in battle. Wounded Amazons were sent to Chalcis for treatment, while the survivors were driven from Attica. Some later settled in Scythia.

The queen’s death is told in several forms. In one tradition, Hippolyta was killed accidentally by Theseus during the fighting. Another says that she was slain by Penthesilea, her sister, in a hunting accident. Penthesilea later fought beside the Amazons, and was praised by Achilles on the Elysian plain for avenging an insult to her womanhood. In a related account, the queen fought beside Theseus and was shot dead by Molpadia. Theseus then killed Molpadia.

A further version places the death at Theseus’s wedding to Phaedra. The Amazon, formerly married to Theseus, arrived fully armed with her followers and threatened to kill the guests. The doors were shut, and she was killed in the ensuing combat. Some accounts say that Theseus himself killed her in battle. The traditions also differ over her name. The woman in this episode is usually called Antiope, but some sources identify her as Hippolyta or Hippolyte. She was said to have borne Theseus a son, Hippolytos, also called Demophoon in one account.