At both Athens and Trozen, which faced each other across the Saronic gulf, Aphrodite’s cult was closely linked with that of Hippolytos. Euripides’ play Hippolytos tells how the hero incurred the goddess’ wrath because of his devotion to chastity, and how Phaidra, the young wife of Theseus and stepmother of Hippolytos, became the tool of Aphrodite’s vengeance. The Athenian cult of Hippolytos was an offshoot of that at Trozen, the result of the popularization of Theseus as an Athenian hero. On the south slope of the Akropolis, in the same area as the sanctuary of Aphrodite Pandemos (and perhaps identical to it) was a shrine of Aphrodite “at Hippolytos,” also known as the Hippolyteion. Here the hero received regular sacrifices at his tomb.29 At Trozen, on the other hand, Hippolytos was a local god whose sanctuary contained a shrine of the goddess, so that their relative status was inverted. The meaning of his name is not transparent, but it contains the root hipp - (horse), suggesting a relationship with the city god Poseidon (both Poseidon and Aphrodite were responsible for his death according to the myths). He was the principal deity in a large, important extramural sanctuary that included a number of interrelated cults. Here, the debris from the site of his small temple indicates activity as far back as the Geometric period.30 Pausanias (2.32.1) saw the temple with its ancient statue and reported that a priest was dedicated for life to Hippolytos’ service. Before marriage, maidens offered a lock of hair at his sanctuary. The complex also included a stadium, overlooked by a temple of Aphrodite Kataskopia, (She Who Observes). Near this temple was a myrtle tree, sacred to the goddess, and the supposed tombs of Hippolytos and Phaidra.
World History
