Phaedra

Family

Phaedra was a daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphaë of Crete, who had a total of eight children together. This included three daughters: Acacallis, Ariadne, and Xenodice, and four sons: Androgeus, Deucalion, Glaucus and Catreus. Additionally, the Minotaur would have been her maternal half-brother and she had several paternal half-siblings.

Phaedra was the wife of Theseus, a Greek hero and the legendary founder of Athens. She gave birth to two sons: Demophon and Acamas. Before Theseus married Phaedra, he had a son, Hippolytus, with the queen of the Amazons, either Hippolyta or Antiope.

Mythology

Marriage to Theseus

Theseus married Phaedra some time after he aided Heracles in stealing the belt of Hippolyta, killed the Minotaur, and returned to Athens with her. During the journey to steal the belt from the Amazons, Theseus carried off Hippolyta (or Antiope) and she bore him a son, Hippolytus. Alternately, Hippolyta fell in love with Theseus and left with him voluntarily. When Theseus and Phaedra were celebrating their marriage at a feast, a group of the Amazons led by Hippolyta attacked the hall where the reception was being held. During the ensuing fight, Theseus killed Hippolyta.

Relationship with Hippolytus

Much of what we know about the mythology and story of Phaedra is from a collection of ancient Greek and Roman plays and poems. Many of these earlier sources such as Phaedra, a play by Sophocles, and Hippolytus Veiled, a play by Euripides, have been lost. However, works such as Phaedra, written by Roman statesman and philosopher Seneca the Younger, Heroides, a collection of poems written by Ovid, and Hippolytus, a play by Euripides, give details of the story. As a result, there are many different versions of the story of Phaedra and Hippolytus, but they all share the same general structure, with two distinct versions becoming more prominent over time: one where Phaedra acts alone on her desires, and one where she is cursed by Aphrodite to fall in love with her stepson.

In the more traditional version of the story, Phaedra is the primary cause of misfortune in the tale. In the story, Phaedra falls in love with her stepson Hippolytus and decides that she will try to entice him into a sexual relationship. However, Hippolytus refused because he was a follower of Artemis, and had sworn to preserve his virginity. Phaedra was humiliated when he refused her advances. However, she was aware of the consequences she would suffer if Theseus learned about her actions. She lied to her husband and claimed that Hippolytus attempted to rape her. Theseus was angered by Hippolytus's supposed actions and cursed his son with one of the three wishes granted to him by Poseidon. Poseidon granted this wish. While Hippolytus was riding in his chariot along the seashore, Poseidon sent up a monster or sea-bull from the sea, which scared the horses. The horses panicked and began to run off with the chariot, dashing it to pieces. Hippolytus, who was tangled in the reins, was dragged to death.

In the end, Phaedra's treachery is discovered, and she hangs herself.

In this version of the story popularized by Euripides, Phaedra has a reputation as a virtuous queen and is not entirely responsible for her actions. She gets caught in the crossfire between Hippolytus and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Hippolytus is a devout follower of Artemis, a virgin goddess. He hails her as the greatest of all deities and in a show of devotion to honor the goddess, Hippolytus vows eternal chastity, swearing that he will never love or marry. He additionally refuses to worship Aphrodite. This offends the goddess, and to punish Hippolytus, she curses Phaedra to fall madly in love with him. Theseus was abroad at the time.

Cultural influence

Phaedra has been the subject of many notable works of art, literature, music and film.

In art

Figure 8 Phaedra, wall painting, early first century CE, Pompeii, now Antiquarium di Pompeii, Pompeii, inv. no. 20620,

Second century Roman Sarcophagus of Beatrice of Lorraine in the Camposanto in Pisa. This was the model for Nicola Pisano's work on the Pisa Baptistery in the mid-thirteenth century.

Alexandre Cabanel's Phaedra (1880)

In literature

Phaedra's story appears in many acclaimed works of literature, including:

Euripides, Hippolytus, Greek play

Ovid, Heroides IV, Epistolary poetry

Seneca the Younger, Phaedra, Latin play

Jean Racine, Phèdre (1677), French play

Algernon Charles Swinburne, Phaedra (1866), English lyrical drama

Herman Bang, Fædra (1883), Danish novel.

Thomas Sturge Moore, Aphrodite against Artemis (1901), English play

Willa Cather, The Marriage of Phaedra (1905), American short story

Gabriele D'Annunzio, Fedra (1909), Italian play

Miguel de Unamuno, Fedra (1911), Spanish play

Eugene O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms (1924), American play

Marina Tsvetaeva, Fedra (1928), Russian play

Mary Renault, The Bull from the Sea (1962), English novel

Sarah Kane, Phaedra's Love (1996), English play

In music

Phaedra is also the subject of a number of musical works, including:

Hippolyte et Aricie, opera (tragédie en musique) by Jean-Philippe Rameau, 1733

Phèdre, opera by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, 1786

Fedra, opera by Giovanni Paisiello, 1788

Fedra, opera by Simon Mayr, 1820

Phèdre, overture by Jules Massenet,1873 also appearing as a protagonist in his 1907 opera Ariane

Fedra, opera by Ildebrando Pizzetti, 1915, based on D'Annunzio's 1909 play

Some Velvet Morning Song by Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra 1967

Phaedra, LP recorded by Tangerine Dream, 1974

Phaedra (cantata) by Benjamin Britten, 1975

Phaedra, opera by Hans Werner Henze, 2007

Tragedy, avant-pop album by Julia Holter, 2011