Hippolytus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Hippolytus

26 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Hippolytus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Hippolytus was a figure in Greek mythology, son of the hero Theseus and either Antiope or the Amazon queen Hippolyta. According to the myth, Phaedra, ... For the story in one place, read our article on Hippolytus.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.1.1–24Theseus and the Minotaur; Daedalus, Phaedra and PirithousThe Epitome picks up Theseus' labours with the sow of Crommyon and goes on through Sciron, Cercyon and Damastes, after which he reaches Athens and Medea's plot against him fails. With Ariadne's clue he kills the Minotaur, and Ariadne is left on Naxos for Dionysus; Aegeus leaps to his death when he sees the black sail. The section then follows Daedalus and Icarus and Minos's death in Sicily, Theseus's Amazon wife and Phaedra's passion for Hippolytus, the Centauromachy, Helen's abduction, and Theseus's capture in Hades and death on Scyros.

Euripides (17)

Euripides, Hippolytus 58–120Prologue: Hippolytus honours Artemis and rejects AphroditeHippolytus enters with his hunting companions, singing to Artemis, and offers her a wreath from an unmown meadow, saying that only the pure may gather its flowers. An old servant asks him to honour also the statue of Aphrodite at the gate, and Hippolytus replies that he has no regard for a goddess who is worshipped at night, and goes in. The servant prays to Aphrodite to forgive the young man's pride.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1389–1415aExodos: the dying Hippolytus and ArtemisArtemis tells Hippolytus that his noble soul has been his ruin. He says that he can smell the fragrance of his goddess, and she tells him that it was Aphrodite who ruined him, Theseus and Phaedra. Theseus wishes that he had died for his son and that the prayer had never been uttered, and Hippolytus wishes that men could curse the gods.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1036–1089Fourth episode: Theseus banishes HippolytusThe Chorus says that his oath is a strong proof of innocence, but Theseus calls him a wizard and sentences him to exile rather than death. Hippolytus says that he would tell all if he were not bound by his oath, and asks to be heard by seers and by time. Theseus will not listen and orders his servants to drive him from the land.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1416–1466Exodos: Hippolytus forgives his father and diesArtemis tells Hippolytus that the wrath of Aphrodite will not fall on him unrequited, since she will punish one of the goddess's favourites herself, and that unwed maidens will cut off their hair for him and that the virgin choir will hymn his memory for ever. She tells Theseus to hold his son in his arms, and leaves, and Hippolytus forgives his father and dies. The Chorus says that the whole city is sorrowing.
Euripides, Hippolytus 581–615Third episode: Hippolytus learns of Phaedra's lovePhaedra hears the voice of Hippolytus, the son of the Amazon, who is cursing the Nurse for having brought him such a proposal, and she knows that she is lost. The Nurse begs him to keep silent about what he has heard, and he says that his tongue swore but not his mind, and that he will tell his father.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1–57Prologue: Aphrodite announces her revenge on HippolytusThe goddess Aphrodite, here called Cypris, says that she rewards those who honour her and punishes the proud, and that Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and the Amazon, scorns her and honours only Artemis. She tells how Phaedra, seeing him, was struck with love for him, and that she herself will bring about the destruction of Hippolytus, and that Phaedra too must die, for her honour. She sees Hippolytus coming from the hunt and goes.
Euripides, Hippolytus 891–931Fourth episode: Hippolytus returns to his father's curseThe Chorus begs the king to withdraw his prayer, but Theseus says that it is too late and that Hippolytus will either be killed by Poseidon or banished. Hippolytus comes and asks why his father is so troubled, and why his stepmother is dead. Theseus, instead of answering, complains of the lack of any test to tell true friends from false.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1153–1254Messenger speech: Hippolytus is wrecked by the bull from the seaA Messenger tells Theseus that Hippolytus is as good as dead. He tells how the prince, driving his chariot along the shore of the Saronic Gulf, was met by a great wave from the sea, out of which came a bull, and how his horses, terrified, bolted and overturned the chariot on the rocks. Hippolytus was dragged by the reins, and the Messenger says that he cannot believe him guilty.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1090–1152Third choral song; Hippolytus leaves TroezenHippolytus takes his leave of Artemis, of Athens and of Troezen and of his companions, saying that he is going to exile with a purer soul, for all his father's doubts. The Chorus sings that when it considers the gods and their care for men it takes heart, but that it is hard to see the fate of mankind, and mourns the banishment of the young hunter. It sees a servant of Hippolytus hurrying toward the palace.
Euripides, Hippolytus 1325–1388Exodos: Artemis reveals the truth to TheseusArtemis tells Theseus that he has done an awful deed in cursing his son on the word of a letter and that Phaedra, though in love, did not betray her chastity but was ruined by Aphrodite. She says that Hippolytus honoured her and that the goddess of Love has been avenged, and that Theseus may find pardon because he did not know. Hippolytus is carried in, and laments his agony and prays for death.
Euripides, Hippolytus 267–312First episode: the Nurse presses Phaedra to speakThe Chorus asks the Nurse what she has learned, and she says that Phaedra has had no food for three days and will not speak. The Nurse begs her to be gentle and to let her find some better course, and warns her that if she dies she betrays her children, who will lose their father's house to the Amazon's son, whom she names: Hippolytus. Phaedra cries out and begs her never to mention that man again.
Euripides, Hippolytus 313–352bFirst episode: Phaedra confesses her love for HippolytusThe Nurse clings to Phaedra's knees until she speaks. Phaedra says that her hands are pure but her soul is stained, and then cries out for her mother's love for the bull and for her sister, the bride of Dionysus, and says that she is the third to suffer. When the Nurse guesses that it is Hippolytus, Phaedra answers that it was the Nurse, not she, who spoke his name.

5 more passages of Euripides that name Hippolytus

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.59.1–4.63.5TheseusThe historian tells of Theseus' birth at Troezen and his labours against the robbers on the road to Athens, then of the Minotaur: Minos' war over the death of Androgeos, the tribute of youths, Ariadne's help, and Theseus' union of the Attic demes into one city. He adds the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus and the exploits of Peirithoüs, including the abduction of Helen and the descent to Hades.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.477–551Egeria and HippolytusNuma, having learned these lessons, goes back to Rome and rules in peace, and when he dies his wife Egeria, grieving, wanders until she lies down in tears at the foot of a mountain. Hippolytus, now the god Virbius, tries to console her with the story of how he was killed by his own horses and restored to life by Asclepius (Aesculapius), and taken to the grove of Artemis (Diana). Egeria is not comforted, and Artemis in pity turns her into a spring.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.552–621Tages and CipusThe wonder of the nymphs and of Hippolytus at this story is compared with that of the Etruscan ploughman who saw a clod of earth take human form as Tages, and with that of Romulus when his spear grew into a cornel tree. The poet then tells of Cipus, a Roman praetor, who finds that horns have grown on his head when he looks in water, and the seers tell him that he is destined to be king of Rome. He goes into exile rather than become king, and the people reward him with as much land as he can plough round in a day.

Pausanias (5)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.32.1–10Troezen: Hippolytus’ precinct, the acropolis and the roads from the cityPausanias describes the precinct of Hippolytus with its temple, annual rites and offerings of maidens’ hair, the stadium and the temple of Peeping Aphrodite above it, Phaedra’s myrtle and tomb. He then covers the temple of Athena Sthenias on the acropolis, the sanctuary of Pan the Deliverer, temples of Isis and Aphrodite of the Height, the rock of Theseus, and sanctuaries of Poseidon and Demeter. He ends with the harbour, Genethlium, the twisted olive and the sanctuary of Saronian Artemis.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.22.1–8Athens: Propylaea, Wingless Victory and the picture gallery of the AcropolisBelow the Acropolis are the temple of Themis, the barrow of Hippolytus with the Troezenian version of Phaedra’s love, and shrines of Vulgar Aphrodite, Earth and Green Demeter. Pausanias describes the single approach, the white marble Propylaea and the temple of Wingless Victory, where Aegeus is said to have thrown himself down. In the chamber of pictures he lists Polygnotus’ paintings of Diomede, Ulysses, Orestes and Polyxena, a portrait of Musaeus, and Hermes and the Graces by Socrates.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.6.1–7Sicyon: Epopeus and Antiope, and the later kings of SicyonPausanias relates how Epopeus carried off Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, and how Lycus and Lamedon settled the quarrel, with Antiope giving birth to Zethus and Amphion at Eleutherae. He continues the Sicyonian kings, including Sicyon himself, Polybus and Adrastus, Phaestus, Zeuxippus, Hippolytus under Agamemnon and Lacestades, whose rule was shared with the Dorian Phalces.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.27.1–7Epidaurus: sanctuary of Asclepius, the Tholos, healing tablets and the theatrePausanias describes the grove of Asclepius at Epidaurus, where no one may die or be born, and Thrasymedes’ gold and ivory image of the god. He lists the Tholos with Pausias’ paintings, the tablets recording cures, the tablet of Hippolytus and the Aricia story, and the theatre by Polyclitus. He also names the other buildings and the works of the Roman senator Antoninus, including a house where women may give birth and the sick may die, and the sanctuary of Maleatian Apollo on Mount Cynortium.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.31.1–10Troezen: Saviour Artemis, Pittheus’ tomb and the purification of OrestesIn the market-place of Troezen Pausanias describes the temple of Saviour Artemis founded by Theseus and the altars of the gods below, the tomb and judgment seats of Pittheus, the sanctuary of the Muses and the temple of Wolfish Artemis. Near these are the sacred stone and the booth where Orestes was purified, the sanctuary of Thearian Apollo, the colonnade with statues of the Athenian women and children, the fountain Hippocrene, the Hermes Polygius with the sprouting club of Hercules, and the temple of Saviour Zeus.