Hypsipyle

Jason and the Argonauts reached Lemnos during their voyage. The company had assembled for the expedition and included Heracles, Orpheus, Castor, Polydeuces, Zetes, Calais, Telamon, Peleus, and Atalante. Tiphys steered the ship. Hypsipyle, queen of the Lemnians, welcomed Jason and the Argonauts on the island.

Hypsipyle became Jason’s lover while he and the Argonauts stayed on Lemnos. Their union took place during the company’s visit. Hypsipyle then bore Jason twin sons. The boys were born while the Argonauts remained connected with Lemnos, and the account gave no further events concerning them during the voyage.

After leaving Lemnos, Jason and the Argonauts continued their journey. They reached the land of the Doliones, which was ruled by King Cyzicos. Cyzicos received them as friends. As they sailed from his land by night, contrary winds drove them back towards the Doliones, although they did not realise where they had landed. The Doliones mistook them for an army of Pelasgians and attacked them, since the Pelasgians had often attacked their land. Both sides fought through the night without recognising one another. The Argonauts killed many of the Doliones, including Cyzicos. At daybreak, they recognised what had happened, mourned Cyzicos, cut off their hair, and gave him a splendid burial. After the funeral, they sailed on and reached Mysia.

The women of Lemnos slaughtered the island’s men. Hypsipyle secretly spared her father, Thoas. She then became queen of Lemnos. The supplied passages give no further account of the massacre, the manner of Thoas’s escape, or the women’s reasons for killing the men.

Later, Hypsipyle was no longer ruling freely. Pirates carried her away from Lemnos and sold her to Lycurgus, king of Nemea. She became the nurse of his infant son. While acting in this role, she was found by the Argive army, which had halted near a forest because its warriors lacked water.

Seven leaders commanded the Argive forces: Adrastus, Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, Capaneus, Polynices, Tydeus, and Amphiaraus. They saw Hypsipyle seated on a tree trunk with the infant. Her noble appearance led them to think that she was a goddess. She identified herself as Hypsipyle, queen of the Lemnians, and explained that pirates had taken her captive and sold her to Lycurgus.

When the warriors told her that they were searching for water, Hypsipyle laid the child in the grass. She led the Argives to a secret spring in the forest. The supplied passages end at this point and do not state what happened to the child, how Hypsipyle was treated afterwards, or how she returned to Lemnos.

The Argive army halted at Nemea because its soldiers were short of water. Seven leaders commanded separate detachments: Adrastus, Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, Capaneus, Polynices, Tydeus, and Amphiaraus. As they searched the edge of a forest, they saw a majestic woman seated on a tree trunk with an infant. Her appearance made them think she was a goddess.

She told them that she was Hypsipyle, once queen of the Lemnians. After the Lemnian women discovered that her father Thoas had survived, they killed him and sold Hypsipyle abroad. Pirates carried her away, and she was then sold as a slave to Lycurgus, the ruler of Nemea. She served in his household as nurse to his infant son, Opheltes, whose mother was Eurydice.

When the warriors asked for water, Hypsipyle laid Opheltes down in the grass and led them towards a spring hidden in the forest. While she was showing them the way, a snake killed the child. Adrastus and the other leaders returned, killed the snake, and buried Opheltes. Amphiaraus declared that the child’s death foretold what would happen in the future. For this reason, they named him Archemoros, meaning the beginning of doom.

The leaders founded the Isthmian Games in the child’s honour. Adrastus won the horse race, Eteoclos won the foot-race, and Tydeus won the boxing. Amphiaraus won the jumping and discus-throwing. The passage breaks off during the account of the javelin-throwing contest.