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Hippolytus (play)

Hippolytus
Hippolytus Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema.jpg
The Death of Hippolytus (1860)
by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Written by Euripides
Chorus 1. Troezenian women
2. Slaves to Hippolytus
Characters Aphrodite
Hippolytus
Attendants
Nurse
Phaedra
Theseus
Messenger
Artemis
Place premiered Athens
Original language Ancient Greek
Genre Tragedy
Setting Before the royal palace at Troezen

Hippolytus (Ancient Greek: Ἱππόλυτος, Hippolytos) is an Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. The play was first produced for the City Dionysia of Athens in 428 BC and won first prize as part of a trilogy.

Euripides first treated the myth in a previous play, Hippolytos Kalyptomenos (Ἱππόλυτος καλυπτόμενοςHippolytus Veiled), which is now lost; what is known of it is based on echoes found in other ancient writings. The earlier play, and the one that has survived are both titled Hippolytus, but in order to distinguish the two they have traditionally been given the names, Hippolytus Kalyptomenos ("Hippolytus veiled") and Hippolytus Stephanophoros ("Hippolytus the wreath bearer"). It is thought that the contents to the missing Hippolytos Kalyptomenos portrayed a shamelessly lustful Phaedra who directly propositioned Hippolytus, which apparently offended the play's audience.

Euripides revisits the myth in Hippolytos Stephanophoros (Ἱππόλυτος στεφανοφόρος – "Hippolytus who wears a crown"), its title refers to the crown of garlands Hippolytus wears as a worshipper of Artemis. In this version Phaedra fights against her own sexual desires, which have been incited by Aphrodite.

The play is set in Troezen, a coastal town in the northeastern Peloponnese. Theseus, the king of Athens, is serving a year's voluntary exile after having murdered a local king and his sons. His illegitimate son is Hippolytus, whose birth is the result of Theseus's rape of the Amazon Hippolyta. Hippolytus has been trained since childhood by the king of Troezen, Pittheus.

At the opening of the play Aphrodite, Goddess of love, explains that Hippolytus has sworn chastity and refuses to revere her. Instead, he honors the Goddess of the hunt, Artemis. This has led her to initiate a plan of vengeance on Hippolytus. When Hippolytus went to Athens two years previously Aphrodite inspired Phaedra, Hippolytus' stepmother, to fall in love with him.


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