HIPPOLYTUS

Hippolytus was the son of Theseus, king of Athens, by his second wife, the Amazon queen Hippolyte. The meaning of Hippolytus’s name foretells his fate: “one who is destroyed by horses.” His story demonstrates the importance for the Greeks of maintaining a balance between opposing practices in life—in this case, between abstinence and sex.

The Greeks believed that over the course of a person’s life there were appropriate times for chaste behavior and for sexuality. The former stage was overseen by the virgin goddess of hunting, Artemis; the latter stage by the love goddess Aphrodite. Before puberty, youths would devote themselves to nonsexual pursuits, such as hunting, but when they reached maturity they would embrace the world of sexuality and, eventually, marriage.

In the most famous version of the Hippolytus myth, in the play Hippolytus by Greek dramatist Euripides (c. 486—c. 406 BCE), Hippolytus refused to make the transition from a chaste youth to a mature man. Like Peter Pan, he effectively refused to grow up.

In Euripides’play, Theseus sent Hippolytus to nearby Troezen in preparation for his son’s rule of that city—a sign that Theseus considered Hippolytus to be entering adulthood with all its responsibilities. However, in an act of adolescent rebellion, Hippolytus refused to acknowledge his maturity. He clung to his solitary hunts and his favor with Artemis, and he failed to worship Aphrodite. The love goddess was therefore enraged. She caused Hippolytus’s stepmother, Theseus’s third wife, Phaedra, to fall in love with him when she and Theseus visited the city.

Phaedra revealed her desire to Hippolytus through her nurse. When Hippolytus angrily rejected her invitation, Phaedra became so upset that she resolved to commit suicide. Yet, because she lacked the courage to admit to her perverse desire, and because she resented Hippolytus for rejecting her, Phaedra left a suicide note, charging that Hippolytus had raped her and driven her to kill herself.

When Theseus discovered the note he cursed his son and prayed that his father, the sea god Poseidon, would destroy the young man. Poseidon sent a bull from the sea, which frightened Hippolytus’s horses as they pulled his chariot along the shore. Hippolytus was caught in the reins and dragged behind his steeds. Theseus went to his son’s side and, before Hippolytus died, learned about Phaedra’s lie from Artemis.