Greek Mythology

The Classical Gods of Ancient Greece

HIPPOLYTUS

Greek legendary mortal

Also known as Hippolytos, Hippolytta, Hyppolyta, Hyppolyte

Son of Theseus the Minotaur Slayer and his mistress Antiope

He was not a happy lad and did not like life in the palace where he grew up. When a trumped-up charge of attempting to rape his stepmother Phaedra reached his ears he fled in a chariot.

Theseus prayed to the Gods to stop him, and Poseidon, being nearest as the chariot was hurtling along a coastal road, sent a huge wave, which startled the horses into causing a crash with fatal results.

For a time, anyway. When Artemis, his patron Goddess, heard about it she was livid. She demanded that her client be restored to life as he was innocent of any crime and Poseidon had not been asked to destroy him anyway.

She raised such a commotion that Asclepius rushed to the accident spot with his first aid kit. A shot of Ambrosia had Hippolytus sitting up and twisting his broken neck until the pain went.

This in turn upset the Fates, who had not been consulted on this emergency raising of the dead. It meant taking in a lot of extra sewing and having to unpick lots of threads — and someone would have to pay. They threatened to go on strike unless someone was stitched up, so Zeus had to kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt to keep them happy.

Artemis took Hippolytus away declaring she would make a new man of him. Which she did by marrying him off to Egeria, one of the Nymphs, and changing his name to the Roman Virbius.

The Fates are still wondering about this, but the Ambrosia is never going to wear off and Hippolytus is now an ancient hippy sitting in the sun and enjoying the simple life forever.

Hippolytus Facts and Figures

Name: Hippolytus
Pronunciation: Coming soon
Alternative names: Hippolytos, Hippolytta, Hyppolyta, Hyppolyte

Gender: Male
Type: legendary mortal
Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present

Role: Unknown at present

Good/Evil Rating: Unknown at present
Popularity index: 4297

Copy this link to share with anyone:



Share this page on social media:


Link to this page:

HTML: To link to this page, just copy and paste the link below into your blog, web page or email.

BBCODE: To link to this page in a forum post or comment box, just copy and paste the link code below:

Cite this article

Here's the info you need to cite this page. Just copy the text in the box below.


Article last revised on September 06, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

Permissions page


Oh woe. Javascript is switched off in your browser.
Some bits of this website may not work unless you switch it on.