Hippolytus

Hippolytus devoted himself to chaste Artemis, inherited this devotion from his mother Antiope, and kept his chastity while hunting. He raised a temple to Artemis at Troezen, near the theatre. His exclusive loyalty to the goddess offended Aphrodite, who resolved to punish him. The hunter’s purity also accorded with an ancient rule of the hunt, under which a continent and chaste hunter could win Artemis’s favour. Hippolytus brought her a garland of flowers from a meadow that no man had mown. Only the pure were allowed to enter it, and there he was permitted to hear Artemis’s voice.

Theseus had sent Hippolytus, his illegitimate son, to Pittheus, who adopted him as heir to Troezen. Hippolytus therefore had no reason to challenge the succession of Theseus’s legitimate sons, Acamas and Demophoon, in Athens. While Theseus was away, Aphrodite caused Phaedra to fall passionately in love with Hippolytus. Phaedra followed him to Troezen, built a temple to Aphrodite overlooking the gymnasium, and watched him there. She then sent him a letter confessing her love. She claimed that love had turned her towards Artemis, and invited him to hunt with her. She also proposed that they leave together and live as lovers.

Hippolytus later drove his chariot along the narrow part of the Isthmus. A huge wave rose beside the Molurian Rock. From it came a great dog-seal, or, in another account, a white bull. The creature frightened his four horses and pursued the chariot. Hippolytus could not keep the team straight. Near the sanctuary of Saronian Artemis, a rein caught on a branch of the twisted wild olive called the Twisted Rhachos. The chariot broke against rocks, and Hippolytus, caught in the reins, was dragged to death. His death had been brought about by curses.

His ghost descended to Tartarus. Artemis, angered by his death, asked Asclepius to restore him. Asclepius took the herb with which Glaucus of Crete had been revived and touched Hippolytus’s breast three times while reciting charms. At the third touch, the dead man raised his head. The Troezenians denied that horses had dragged Hippolytus to death and concealed his true tomb, but said that the gods placed him among the stars as the Charioteer. The Athenians raised a barrow for him near the Temple of Themis.

Theseus abducted an Amazon woman after he accompanied Heracles on his expedition against the Amazons. One telling named her Antiope, another named her Melanippe, and Simonides called her Hippolyte. The Amazons then marched against Athens and camped beside the Areiopagos. Theseus and the Athenians defeated them. In another telling, the Amazon who had been married to Theseus arrived fully armed with the Amazons during his wedding to Phaedra. She was about to kill the guests, but they shut the doors and killed her. In a different telling, Theseus killed her in battle.

The Amazon bore Theseus a son named Hippolytus. Theseus married Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, and she bore him two sons, Acamas and Demophon. Theseus sent Hippolytus to Troezen, where Pittheus adopted him as heir to the throne. This left Acamas and Demophon free to inherit Athens as Theseus's legitimate sons. Hippolytus was raised in Troezen under Pittheus's protection.

Hippolytus inherited from his mother a strict devotion to chaste Artemis. He built a temple to her at Troezen, near the theatre. When he attended the Eleusinian Mysteries, Aphrodite caused Phaedra to fall passionately in love with him. Theseus was away in Thessaly with Peirithous, or in another telling, in Tartarus. Phaedra followed Hippolytus to Troezen and built a temple to Aphrodite overlooking the gymnasium. She watched him there each day.