ARTEMIS 213
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APHRODITE: I am called Cypris, a mighty and renowned goddess both in
heaven and among mortals. Everyone who looks upon the light of the sun
throughout the whole world (from the eastern boundary of the Black Sea to the
western limit of the straits of Gibraltar) is at my mercy; I reward those who cel-
ebrate my power, but I destroy all who with arrogant pride appose me. For gods,
just like mortals, enjoy receiving honor. I will show you the truth of these words
directly.
Hippolytus, the illegitimate son whom the Amazon woman bore to The-
seus, this Hippolytus, brought up by the good Pittheus, is the only citizen of
this place Troezen who declares that I am the worst of deities. He renounces sex
and rejects marriage, and reveres Artemis, the sister of Apollo and daughter of
Zeus, believing her the greatest of deities. Throughout the green woods, he rids
the land of wild animals with his swift dogs, always intimate with the virgin
goddess and experiencing a greater than mortal relationship. I am not envious.
Why should I be? But for his sins against me I will take vengeance upon Hip-
polytus this very day. I have long since made great progress; I need exert little
more effort. For once, when Hippolytus came from the house of Pittheus to Pan-
dion's city of Athens to witness the sacraments of the holy mysteries, Phaedra
looked upon him; and she the noble wife of his father was struck to the heart
by a terrible desire, in accordance with my plans.These last lines beautifully and succinctly epitomize the tragedy, with their
swift series of powerful images. In one fatal moment, sensuous and mature Phae-
dra glimpses the beautiful, young, chaste, and religious Hippolytus and is over-
whelmed by her lust (the Greek word used is eros), which is hopeless, impossi-
ble, and can only lead to catastrophe.
Aphrodite tells us that Theseus is absent from Troezen on a self-imposed
exile and that Phaedra, tortured by her guilt, is determined to die without re-
vealing her love for her stepson. She goes on to outline the course of the drama.
Although Phaedra before leaving Athens for Troezen had built a shrine to
Aphrodite on the Acropolis, she must die so that vengeance may be exacted
against Hippolytus; Aphrodite is more concerned about punishing her enemy
Hippolytus than she is about the suffering and death of the unfortunate Phae-
dra. As Hippolytus enters with a throng of servants singing the praises of
Artemis, "most beautiful of the Olympian deities," Aphrodite withdraws with
the dire pronouncement that the joyous youth does not realize that this is the
last day of his life.
The prayer with which Euripides introduces us to Hippolytus defines the
essential nature of the young man and of Artemis; he stands before a statue of
the goddess offering her a diadem of flowers (73-87):
f
HIPPOLYTUS: For you, my mistress, I bring this garland which I have fash-
ioned of flowers plucked from a virgin meadow untouched by iron implements,
where no shepherd has ever presumed to graze his flock—indeed a virgin field
which bees frequent in spring. Purity waters it like a river stream for those who
have as their lot the knowledge of virtue in everything, not through teaching
but by their very nature. These are the ones for whom it is right to pluck these