Hippolyta

Hippolyta, also spelled Hippolyte, was a queen of the Amazons in Greek mythology, a nation of warrior women who lived by the river Thermodon. She is chiefly remembered for the belt of Ares that she wore, which Heracles was sent to fetch as his ninth labour. She is also named, in some versions, as the Amazon who became the wife of Theseus.

Who Was Hippolyta?

Apollodorus calls her the queen of the Amazons, who lived around the river Thermodon in a city called Themiscyra, and says that she owned the belt of Ares as a sign of her superiority over all the others (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9). Hyginus makes her a daughter of Mars (Ares) and of the queen Otrera (Hyginus, Fabulae 30), and in Apollonius of Rhodes her sister Melanippe is described as a daughter of Ares (Apollonius, Argonautica 2.966–969). She is not a goddess but a mortal queen.

The Girdle of Hippolyta

Retrieving the belt of Hippolyta was the ninth labour set for Heracles by Eurystheus, who asked for it because his daughter Admete desired it (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9). Heracles sailed with a band of volunteers in a single ship. He stopped at Paros, at the court of Lycus in Mysia, and finally at the harbour of Themiscyra (Library 2.5.9). Euripides says that he gathered a band of friends and crossed the sea to take the golden-robed girdle of the daughter of Ares, and that the spoil was taken to Mycenae (Euripides, Heracles 408–418).

In Apollodorus, who is the main source for this version, Hippolyta came to see him in the harbour, asked why he had come, and promised to give him the belt.

Amazons Attack

However, Hera took the likeness of an Amazon and went up and down the crowd saying that the strangers were carrying off the queen. The Amazons charged down on the ship in arms, on horseback. Heracles saw them armed, suspected treachery, killed Hippolyta and took her belt from her. He fought the rest and sailed away to Troy (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9).

Variant Accounts

Other writers tell the story differently. In Diodorus, Heracles asked for the girdle, the Amazons refused, and a battle followed in which he killed a number of Amazon champions; the commander Melanippe was freed for the girdle as ransom, and Antiope was given to Theseus (Diodorus 4.16). Apollonius of Rhodes has Heracles ambush Melanippe, a daughter of Ares, and then Hippolyte gives him her gleaming girdle as her sister’s ransom, and he sends the captive back unharmed (Apollonius, Argonautica 2.966–969). Hyginus has Heracles take the belt from Hippolyte and give the captive Antiope to Theseus (Hyginus, Fabulae 30). In these versions the queen is not killed by Heracles.

Hippolyta and Theseus

Another group of stories makes an Amazon the wife of Theseus. Writers disagree about her name: Apollodorus says that Theseus carried off Antiope, or Melanippe, but that Simonides calls her Hippolyte (Apollodorus, Epitome 1.16). Diodorus says that the Amazon queen Theseus enslaved was Antiope or, as others write, Hippolyte (Diodorus 4.28). Plutarch writes that Theseus sailed to the Euxine, either with Heracles or on his own, and took an Amazon captive, usually named Antiope (Plutarch, Theseus 26.1). The Athenian historian Cleidemus, whom Plutarch cites, called her Hippolyta and said that she was the Amazon whom Theseus married (Theseus 27.4).

The Amazons then invaded Attica. They pitched camp inside the city and fought Theseus and the Athenians near the Pnyx and the Museum. Plutarch says that, according to Cleidemus, a treaty was made after three months through Hippolyta, while others say that the woman was killed fighting beside Theseus and was commemorated by a pillar (Plutarch, Theseus 27.1–4; compare Diodorus 4.28). Theseus had a son by this Amazon, Hippolytus (Plutarch, Theseus 28.2).

Pausanias reports the Megarian tradition, in which Hippolyte, the sister of Antiope, led the Amazons in the war against the Athenians. After their defeat by Theseus she escaped to Megara with a few companions, died there of a broken heart, and was buried in a tomb shaped like an Amazon shield (Pausanias 1.41.7). The Athenians told a different story, in which Antiope was shot by Molpadia, who was in turn killed by Theseus (Pausanias 1.2.1). According to Apollodorus, an Amazon appeared in arms with her companions at Theseus’ wedding to Phaedra and was killed by the guests, though others say that Theseus killed her in battle (Apollodorus, Epitome 1.17).

Hippolyta Sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9 and Epitome 1.16–17; Diodorus 4.16 and 4.28; Euripides, Heracles 408–418; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.966–969; Hyginus, Fabulae 30; Plutarch, Theseus 26–28; Pausanias 1.2.1 and 1.41.7.

See Also: Heracles, Eurystheus, Hera, Labours of Heracles, Amazons, Theseus, Antiope, Ares