Hippolytus (son of Theseus)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Death of Hippolytus , by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), private collection
The Death of Hippolytus , by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1679–1731), Louvre

Hippolytos ( ancient Greek Ἱππόλυτος who lets go of the horses ), son of Theseus and the Amazon Hippolyte , according to other authors the Antiope , was a hero revered in Troizen and Athens in Greek mythology , the v. a. was associated with birth and marriage , although he remained virgin and childless.

In Roman mythology , he was identified with Virbius , a deity associated with Diana Nemorensis .

myth

According to Euripides , Hippolytos worshiped Artemis , the goddess of the hunt and chastity , because he himself wanted to live chaste for life and despised the goddess of love Aphrodite . She punished Hippolytos for it in a deceitful way: she awakened longing and lasting love for him in his stepmother Phaidra when she saw him walking to the Eleusinian Mysteries during training in the stadium or on the way . When she was rejected by him, she committed suicide, not without first leaving her husband with a suicide note in which she claimed that Hippolytus wanted her. Hippolytus fled from the vengeance of his father, who incited Poseidon against him. He sent a sea ​​monster to the beach where Hippolytos was traveling in a horse-drawn cart. At Ovid it is described as follows:

Suddenly the sea rose, and a surge of uplifted waters
seemed to arch in the form of a mountain and to grow gigantically
And at the top to burst with a terrible roar,
And a horned bull emerged from the split waves,
He, himself up to the Chest erect in the softening air,
parts of the sea spit out of nostrils and yawning throat.

The suggestive description is reminiscent of the huge waves of a tsunami , which leads to speculations about a connection between the legend and the eruption of the Thera volcano in the 17th century BC. Chr. Offered occasion. In any case, the monster sent by Poseidon made the horses of Hippolytus shy, so that the chariot was hurled against a wild olive tree and Hippolytus himself was crushed.

Some sources say that Phaidra only now took her own life out of repentance, and still others let Hippolytus survive so that Artemis could clear up the intrigue and father and son reconciled before Hippolytus died shortly afterwards. Apollodor tells that the hero was brought back to life by Asklepios at Artemis' request . Then he either emigrated to Italy and founded the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis there, or transferred from Artemis to where he was venerated by the Latins under the name Virbius, together with Diana and Egeria. According to another variant, it was moved to the sky as a constellation, which is now referred to as a carter ( Greek  Ἠνίοχος Heniochos , Latin Auriga ).

cult

According to Pausanias , Diomedes laid out a Temenos in Troizen for Hippolytus . This district also included a temple for Apollon Epibaterios , the "seafaring Apollon", as well as Aphrodite Kataskopia , the "downward looking Aphrodite", since Phaidra is said to have seen Hippolytos here for the first time. In addition, the sanctuary of Damia and Auxesia is within the district. Hippolytus had a priest called for life. Brides or (according to Lukian ) bridal couples consecrated a lock of hair to the hero who was worshiped as god. According to Pausanias, visitors to the city were shown Hippolytus' tomb and the fateful olive tree; elsewhere he says that no grave exists, as Hippolytus was transported to heaven. Phaidra's grave was also here.

The alleged tomb of Hippolytus, which was west of the Asklepieion, was also shown in Athens . Because Asklepios - like Damia and Auxesia - was also considered the god of birth, the birth can be considered the area of ​​responsibility of the hero Hippolytos alongside the wedding.

Hippolytus in literature

Essential sources of the myth are Pausanias and Euripides ' tragedy The wreathed Hippolytus . Euripides took up the myth twice. The older work, The Veiled Hippolytus , has been lost. However, Euripides probably had little success with this piece because it was too offensive. With the more recent work, The wreathed Hippolytus , Euripides won the 1st prize of the Dionysia of 428 BC. A tragedy Phaidra des Sophocles is lost. Also Ovid uses the substance of Euripides in its metamorphosis , the Fasti (III., IV., And VI. Book) and the Heroides (letters mythical women in their lover or Husbands). Seneca wrote a tragedy Phaedra , which focuses on Phaidra's fate and which served as the basis for several adaptations in the 16th and 17th centuries .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Hippolytus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Plutarch , Theseus 28
  2. ^ Hyginus , Fabulae 251
  3. ↑ Euripides, Hippolytos 1092
  4. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphosen 15, 506-511. Translation by Reinhart Suchier. Goldmann, Munich 1959
  5. ↑ The Minoan catastrophe - a volcano changes the world ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article by Volker J. Dietrich from Neue Zürcher Zeitung , Research and Technology, April 26, 2000, No. 97 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ksbuelach.ch
  6. ↑ Apollodorus 3,121
  7. ^ Pausanias 2:27 , 4
  8. ↑ Virgil , Aeneis 7, 761-783; Ovid, Fasti 6, 735-762
  9. ↑ Eratosthenes , Katasterismoi 6
  10. ^ Pausanias 2, 32, 1
  11. ↑ Lukian, De Syria dea 60
  12. ↑ Pausanias 2, 32, 1-4
  13. ↑ Pausanias 1, 22, 1
  14. ↑ Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff : Euripides Hippolytos. Weidmann, Berlin 1891 (Greek and German).