Hippolyte

This article deals with the Amazon - for other meanings see Hippolyte (disambiguation) .

Heracles kills Hippolyte (black-figure Attic amphora , around 530 BC)

Hippolyte or Hippolyta ( ancient Greek Ἱππολύτη Hippolýtē ) is the daughter of the Amazon queen Otrere and the Olympic god of war Ares in Greek mythology . In the Theseus - and in the Heracles - myth she is herself queen of the Amazons .

Theseus myth

In the myth about Theseus, who takes part in Herakles' campaign against the Amazons, Hippolyte is kidnapped by him - in some versions, however, the kidnapped is called Melanippe or Antiope and is her sister. At first, when Theseus lands with his ship at the Amazons, they expect no harm, and Queen Hippolyte comes to his ship with presents. When she is on board, Theseus sets sail and makes her his bride.

Theseus' behavior ignites the Amazonian War between the Athenians and the Amazons, in which many heroes of ancient Greece participate. Hippolyte finally gives birth to Theseus a son, Hippolytos , who is part of a separate saga. However, this does not prevent Theseus from rejecting Hippolyte and turning to Phaidra , the sister of Ariadne and granddaughter of the sun god Helios . Hippolyte then goes back to her people, the Amazons.

Heracles myth

In the Herakles myth , Heracles is supposed to steal the belt (ζωστήρ, balteus) of the Amazon queen Hippolyte, the precious belt of her father Ares, as the ninth task for Admete , daughter of King Eurystheus . When Heracles lands with the Amazons, they give him a warm welcome and Hippolyte comes to the ship to greet him. When she hears of his job, she promises to give him the belt voluntarily. But Hera does not agree with this handover. To stop Heracles, she mingles with the crowd disguised as an Amazon and spreads the news that he wants to kidnap Hippolyte. This stirs up the Amazons and they attack the ships of Heracles to save their queen. Heracles kills many of her best female warriors, including Alcippe , and takes some prisoner. In exchange for her captured sister Melanippe, Hippolyte finally hands over the belt to Heracles, who then sails back to Greece.

See also

• List of mythical Amazon queens

literature

• Wilhelm Drexler : Hippolyte 1 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1, 2, Leipzig 1890, Col. 2679-2681 ( digitized version ).
• Samson Eitrem : Hippolyte. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VIII, 2, Stuttgart 1913, Sp. 1863-1865.

Retelling:

• Gustav Schwab : The Amazon War. In: The same: sagas of classical antiquity. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1982 (original 1838), ISBN 3-458-31827-5 (Theseus myth; online at Projekt Gutenberg-DE ).
• Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : The legends of the classical antiquity. Tales from the old world. 2nd Edition. Volume 1, Teubner, Leipzig 1868, pp. 124-125: Herakles. 8. Hippolyte's belt ( side view at archive.org ).
• Louis Couperus : Chapter 32. In: Herakles. Translated from the French by Else Otten. Wegweiser-Verlag, 1923 (Herakles-Mythos, further chapters on Hippolyta: 19 and 33-36; online at Projekt Gutenberg-DE ).

Web links

• Entry: Hippolyte. In: Greek Myth Index. 2007, accessed January 26, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Scholion to Homer's Iliad 3, 189; Hyginus Mythographus , Fabulae 30. 223.
2. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 4,1,16.
3. ↑ Euripides, Hippolytus: Tragedy of Euripides. Transferred by Franz Fritze. Förstner, Berlin 1846, p. 65 ( side view in the Google book search).
4. ↑ Euripides , Heracles 415; Apollonios Rhodios 2.968; Diodorus 4.16; Libraries of Apollodorus 2,5,9,2
5. ^ Hyginus Mythographus, Fabulae 30
6. ↑ Libraries of Apollodorus 2,5,9,2
7. ↑ Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : The legends of classic antiquity. Tales from the old world. 2nd Edition. Volume 1, Teubner, Leipzig 1868, pp. 124–125 ( side view at archive.org ).