A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Ἱππούτη).

1. A daughter of Ares and Otrera, was queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore, as an emblem of her dignity, a girdle given to her by her father; and when Heracles, by the command of Eurystheus, came to fetch this girdle, Hippolyte was slain by Heracles. (HERACLES; Hyg. Fab. 30.) According to another tradition, Hippolyte, with an army of Amazons, marched into Attica, to take vengeance on Theseus for having carried off Antiope; but being conquered by Theseus, she fled to Megara, where she died of grief, and was buried. Her tomb, which was shown there in later times, had the form of an Amazon's shield. (Paus. 1.41.7; Plut. Thes. 27; Apollod. 2.5.9; Apollon. 2.968.) In some accounts Hippolyte is said to have been married to Theseus instead of Antiope. Euripides, in his Hippolytus, makes her the mother of Hippolytus.