Hippolytus by Euripides (428 BCE)

Euripides is not a playwright known for his happy endings and Hippolytus is no exception.  They don't call it tragedy for nothing.  I have not read Euripides since high school, but have been immersed in Classical Mythology with my youngest son this past several months, and it is well worth revisiting these stories later in life.  I had forgotten just how brutal they are, and how little people have changed over the last 3,000 years.

Hippolytus is the son of the great Athenian hero Theseus.  He is like Adonis, not much for the women, and more focused on the hunt.  Artemis is his godess of choice.  Aphrodite does not take kindly to men who are not easily woed by sex, and she takes offense at his disdain for the pleasures of the flesh. 

Aphrodite's revenge is to make Phaedra, Hippolytus' stepmother, fall desperately in love with him.  She is literally sickened by her lust, and is torn beween starving herself to death and a vow of silence.  Her nurse is worried about her, and managed to get her to confess the etiology of her illness.  This is where the story goes wrong--the nurse, rather than keeping her moth shut and stopping at giving Phaedra a potion to end her infatuation with Hippolytus, decides to tell him, saying that showing it to the light of day will cause it to go away.   No such luck and Phaedra is so embarrassed she kills herself--but not without first leaving a note for Theseus that Hippolytus raped her.

Oh, the Greeks leave trouble in their wake.  Theseus confronts Hippolytus, who tries to reason with Theseus, stating he is a virgin, and not stupid enough to think that raping the King's wife would be a good idea, but to no avail.  Theseus uses one of Poseidon's curses to mortally would Hippolytus as he exited on horses.  Artemis tells Theseus the truth, and vows to take revenge on Aphrodite, but it is too late for Hippolytus.