Hypsipylē According to Greek myth, the women of the island of Lemnos, in consequence of neglecting the rites of Aphroditē, were inflicted by the goddess with a foul smell and so were deserted by their husbands who preferred to have concubines from Thrace. The women jealously killed all the men on the island, except that Hypsipyle spared her father, king Thoas, son of the god Dionysus, and aided his escape. When the Argonauts came to Lemnos they spent a year there and married the women, fathering the next generation of Lemnians. Hypsipyle bore twin sons to Jason called Euneōs and Thoas. Some time after, she was driven away from Lemnos when it was discovered that she had saved her father; she was captured by pirates and sold to Lycurgus, king of Nemea. When the Seven were marching against Thebes (see SEVEN AGAINST THEBES) and their army halted near Nemea, Hypsipyle, who was nurse of the king's infant son Opheltēs (or Archemorus), laid the child on the ground in order to lead them to a spring. During her absence the child was killed by a serpent. The Seven gave him a splendid funeral and founded the Nemean games in his honour. Hypsipyle was saved from the anger of Lycurgus by the army and finally rescued by her sons who arrived and recognized her. The story is told in the Thebaid of Statius.
Hypsipyle
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In Greek mythology, Hypsipyle (Ὑψιπύλη) was the Queen of Lemnos.
During her reign, Aphrodite cursed the women of the island for having neglected her shrines. All the women developed extreme body odor that made them repugnant to the men of the nation. The men took up with female slaves taken on raids on Thrace. The women of the island decided upon revenge and, in one night, killed all their male relatives. Hypsipyle alone spared a male. She hid her father, Thoas, from the vengeful plan.
Soon after the androcide, Jason and the Argonauts stopped at Lemnos on their way to Colchis. The Argonauts remained on Lemnos for several months and, during that time, had extensive relations with the women of Lemnos. Jason impregnated Hypsipyle and swore eternal fidelity to her. The product of that pregnancy was twins, Euneus and Nebrophonus (or Deiphilus or Thoas).
Jason sailed away and quickly forgot his vows.
The Lemnian women, angry at her having spared her father, forced Hypsipyle to flee for her life. She and her sons were taken by pirates and sold to Lycurgus, king of Nemea. She was given charge of Lycurgus's son, Archemorus.
When the Argives (of Aeschylus's "Seven Against Thebes" or Statius' "Thebaid") marched against Thebes, they met Hypsipyle and made her show them a fountain where they could get water. She set down Archemorus when she did this, and he was killed by a snake in her absence. Lycurgus wanted revenge upon Hypsipyle, but she was protected by Adrastus, the leader of the Argives.
Primary sources
- Euripides, Hypsipyle (fragmentary)
- Ovid, Heroides 6
- Hyginus, Fables 15, 74
- Statius, Thebaid 5.28-721
- Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica II, 72-427
- Apollodorus, Bibliotheke I, ix, 17; III, vi, 4
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica I, 609-909
- Lactantius Placidus, Commentarii in Statii Thebaida iv.717, v.613-675
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Mentioned in
- Euneus
- 586 Thekla
- Jason and the Argonauts (2000 film)
- 588 Achilles
- Thomas Ashe (poet)
- Argonautica
- The Legend of Good Women
- Heroides
- Euripides
- Antiope (DC Comics)
