In Greek mythology, Hypsipyle ()Grimal, s.v. Hypsipyle. was a queen of Lemnos, and the daughter of King Thoas of Lemnos, and the granddaughter of Dionysus and Ariadne. When the women of Lemnos killed all the males on the island, Hypsipyle saved her father Thoas. She ruled Lemnos when the Argonauts visited the island, and had two sons by Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. Later the women of Lemnos discovered that Thoas had been saved by Hypsipyle and she was sold as a slave to Lycurgus, the king of Nemea, where she became the nurse of the king's infant son Opheltes, who was killed by a serpent while in her care. She is eventually freed from her servitude by her sons.Grimal, s.v. Hypsipyle; Tripp, s.v. Hypsipyle; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Adrastus, s.v. Hypsipyle.
Family Hypsipyle's father was Thoas,Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.620–621; Apollodorus, 1.9.17; Hyginus, Fabulae 15, 254; Statius, Thebaid 5.38–39. who was the son of Dionysus and Ariadne.Grimal, s.v. Thoas 1; Tripp, s.v. Thoas 2; Parada, s.v. Thoas 3; Smith, s.v. Thoas 2; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.424–426; Ovid, Heroides 6.114–115; Apollodorus, E.1.9; Statius, Thebaid 4.775–776, 5.265–266. According to the Iliad, Hypsipyle was the mother, by Jason, of Euneus.Gantz, p. 345; Homer, Iliad 7.467–469. Later sources say that Hypsipyle had, in addition to Euneus, a second son by Jason.Gantz, p. 346; Parada, s.v. Hypsipyle; Grimal, Table 21, p. 542. In Euripides' partially preserved play Hypsipyle, she and Jason had twin sons: Euneus and Thoas.Euneus and Thoas, appeared as characters in Euripides' play, see Collard and Cropp, pp. 251–255; Euripides Hypsipyle test. iiia (Hypothesis) [= P. Oxy. 2455 frs. 14–15, 3652 cols. i and ii.1-15], fr. 752d, fr. 759a.58–110 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 310–317); so also Statius, Thebaid 5.463–465, 6.340–345; First Vatican Mythographer 196 Pepin, p. 83. According to Apollodorus, the second son was Nebrophonus,Apollodorus, 1.9.17. while according to Hyginus, the second son was Deipylus,Hyginus, Fabulae 15. Ovid says simply that Hypsipyle bore Jason twins, without naming them.Ovid, Heroides 6.119–122, 6.143.
The Lemnian crime and the rescue of Thoas
The women of Lemnos killed all the males on the island, except for Thoas, who was saved by Hypsipyle.Hard, p. 384; Gantz, p. 345; Homer, Iliad 14.230, 7.467–469; Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers (458 BC) 631-638; Pindar, Pythian 4.252; Herodotus, 6.138.4; Euripides Hypsipyle fr. 759a.72–78 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 310–313); Aristophanes, Lemnian Women; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.609-630; Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.77–310; Statius, Thebaid 5.28–334; Hyginus, Fabulae 15; Apollodorus, 1.9.17, 3.6.4; First Vatican Mythographer 130 Pepin, p. 62; Second Vatican Mythographer 141 Bode [= Euripides, Hypsipyle test. va = 164 Pepin, pp. 166–167]. Traces of the story can be found in the Iliad (c. 8th century), where Lemnos is referred to as the "city of godlike Thoas",Homer, Iliad 14.230. and Euneus, Jason's son by Hypsipyle, is mentioned.Homer, Iliad 7.467–469. As early as Aeschylus the story was famous: "the Lemnian holds first place among evils in story: it has long been told with groans as an abominable calamity. Men compare each new horror to Lemnian troubles."Aeschylus, The Libation Bearers (458 BC) 631-638. And by the time of the mid-5th-century BC historian Herodotus, the story had given rise to the proverbial phrase "Lemnian crime" used to mean any cruel deed.Herodotus, 6.138.4. Aeschylus probably dealt with it in his' lost tragedies Hypsipyle and Lemniai (late 6th century-early 5th century BC).Gantz, p. 345; Sommerstein, pp. 126, 250. The lyric poet Pindar (late 6th century-early 5th century BC) mentions "the race of the Lemnian women, who killed their husbands."Pindar, Pythian 4.252.
Hypsipyle There is a brief mention of the story in Euripides' partially preserved play Hypsipyle (c. 410 BC), in an exchange between Hypsipyle and her son Euneus:Euripides Hypsipyle fr. 759a.72–78 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 310–313). Hypsipyle Alas, the flight that I fled, my son—if you only knew it—from sea-girt Lemnos, because I did not cut off my father’s grey head! Euneus Did they really order you to kill your father? Hypsipyle I am gripped by fear of those evil events—O my son, like Gorgons they slew their husbands in their beds!
Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica The earliest extant telling of the story in detail occurs in the 3rd-century BC Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.609-630. According to this account, the women of Lemnos had long neglected the worship of Aphrodite, and because of this the goddess caused their husbands to spurn them in favor of captive Thracian women. In revenge, the women massacred all the males on the island, except for the "aged" Thoas, whom Hypsipyle put into a "hollow chest," setting him adrift on the open sea. Fishermen pulled him ashore on the island of Sicinus. The Lemnian women took over all the previous work of the men, cattle-herding, plowing, and warfare.
Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica The 1st-century AD Latin poet Valerius Flaccus, in his Argonautica, gives a different reason for Aphrodite (Venus) causing the Lemnian men to reject their wives. He says it was because of the goddess' anger with her husband, the god Hephaestus (Vulcan)—who had a home on Lemnos—for his having caught her in a tryst with Ares (Mars).Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.98–107, with Mozley's note. He also gives a more detailed account of Thoas' rescue and escape.Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.242–303. During the night of the massacre, Hypsipyle woke Thoas, covered his head, and took him to Dionysus' temple where she hid him.Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.249–259. The next morning, Hypsipyle disguised Thoas as the temples' cult statue of Dionysus, placed him on the ritual chariot (used to parade the statue). She then took Thoas through the streets of the city, crying aloud that the god's statue had been polluted by the night's bloody murders, and needed to be cleansed in the sea. By this subterfuge, and with the god Dionysus' help, Thoas was safely hid outside the city.Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.265–280. But fearing discovery, Hypsipyle finds an old abandoned boat, in which Thoas put to sea, eventually reaching the land of the Taurians, where "Diana put a sword in his hand, and didst appoint him warden of thy cheerless altar".Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.280–303. And the women of Lemnos bestow on Hypsipyle "the throne and sceptre of her father as by right".Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.306–310.
Other accounts Other accounts tell similar stories, with variations. According to the 1st-century AD Latin poet Statius, Hypsipyle hid Thoas on a ship,Statius, Thebaid 5.287–289. Statius has Hypsipyle give a detailed account of the story at Thebaid 5.28–334. while according to the late 1st-century BC Latin mythographer Hyginus, who identifies Thoas with the Thoas who was the Taurian king, Hypsipyle put Thoas onto a ship which a storm carried to the "island Taurica".Hyginus, Fabulae 15.
According to the Greek mythographer Apollodorus (first or second century AD), the women of Lemnos were rejected by their husbands because Aphrodite had caused them to emit a foul odor. Apollodorus also gives a different ending to the story: while Thoas was saved when Hypsipyle hid him,Apollodorus, 1.9.17. when, sometime later, the Lemnian women discovered that Thoas had escaped the initial slaughter, they killed Thoas, and sold Hypsipyle into slavery.Apollodorus, 3.6.4.
Affair with Jason The first adventure (usually) of Jason and the Argonauts, on their quest for the Golden Fleece, is their visit to the island of Lemnos, where Hypsipyle was then queen.Gantz, p. 345; Hard, p. 384; Homer, Iliad 7.467–469; Simonides fr. 547 PMG; Pindar, Pythian 4.251–254, Olympian 4.18–23; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.609-910, 4.423–427; Propertius, Elegies 1.15.17–20; Ovid, Heroides 6; Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.311–425; Statius, Thebaid 5.335–474; First Vatican Mythographer 130, 196 Pepin, pp. 62, 83. The story seems at least as old as the Iliad, since Euneus is said to be a son of Jason and Hypsipyle,Gantz, p. 345; Homer, Iliad 7.467–469. and was dealt with in Aeschylus' lost tragedies Hypsipyle and Lemniai, although the only surviving detail is that the Lemnian women "in arms" refused to allow the Argonauts to land until they agreed to mate with them.Gantz, p. 345; Sommerstein, pp. 250–251. Pindar refers to the visit, mentioning the Argonauts engaging in athletic contests, receiving garments made by the Lemnian women as prizes, and sharing the women's beds.Gantz, pp. 345, 346; Pindar, Pythian 4.251–254, Olympian 4.18–23. According to a scholion to Pindar, Pythian 4.253, Simonides also told of the Argonauts competing on Lemnos with "a garment for a prize", see Gantz, p. 346; Simonides fr. 547 PMG. In Sophocles' lost play Lemniai, there was apparently a battle between the Argonauts and the Lemnian women.Gantz, p. 345; Lloyd-Jones, p. 205. The story also played a part in Euripides' partially preserved play Hypsipyle, where Hypsipyle is reunited with her twin sons by Jason, Euneus and Thoas, and learns, to her sorrow, of Jason's death.Collard and Cropp, pp. 251–255; Euripides Hypsipyle test. iiia (Hypothesis) [= P. Oxy. 2455 frs. 14–15, 3652 cols. i and ii.1-15]; fr. 759a 58–110 (Collard and Cropp, pp. 310–317).
Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica The first complete account of the Argonauts encounter with Hypsipyle on Lemnos is given in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica. According to Apollonius of Rhodes' version of the story, when the Argonauts first arrive, Hypsipyle and the women, fearing that the Argonauts' were Thracians coming to attack them, put on armour and rush to the beach, to defend their island.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.630–639. However the Argonauts herald Aethalides was able to persuade Hypsipyle to allow the Argonauts to stay for one night on the island.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.650–651.
The next day, sitting on her father's throne, Hypsipyle spoke to the assembled women of the Island:Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.653–668. My friends, come, let us give these men gifts to their liking, such things as men ought to take with them on a ship, provisions and sweet wine, so that they might forever remain outside our walls, lest out of need they may come among us and get to know us all too accurately, and an evil report may travel far and wide. For we have done a terrible deed, and it will not be at all heart-cheering to them either, if they were to learn of it.
However, Hypsipyle's old nurse Polyxo said that, rather than live in continual fear of attack, they should take the Argonauts as their mates and protectors. All the women agreed to this plan, and so Hypsipyle received the Argonauts as welcome guests.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.668–707.
Hypsipyle told Jason the Lemnian women's story, saying that because of Aphrodite, the men of Lemnos had come to hate their wives, expelling them from their homes, and replacing them with Thracian girls captured on their frequent raids on nearby Thrace. Finally, after enduring terrible hardship, the women found the courage to take action. But Hypsipyle did not tell of the massacre, instead she deceived Jason, saying that one day when the men were returning from a raid, the women refused to allow the men to reenter the city, so the men took their sons and resettled in Thrace. Hypsipyle then asked Jason and his men to stay and take up residence on the island.Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.793–835.