Faith between the covers

Hippolytus cuts a rather tragic figure in Greek antiquity.

- ARUNDHUTI DASGUPTA

He was the son of a powerful father, Theseus, who was king of Athens and one of its most valorised heroes, widely feted for his slaying of the Minotaur. But the story of Hippolytus, the one with which this book begins, is more of a cautionary tale. It was widely used as a parable against abstinence.

Hippolytus had earned the wrath of the goddess of love and sexuality, Aphrodite, because he had sworn allegiance to her rival, Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Like his patron goddess, he chose life in the wilderness, with animals and nature for company, and even declared that Aphrodite was not worthy of anyone's attention.

The gods are particularly sensitive to such insults, and an enraged Aphrodite set out to destroy the young man. She conspired to have his stepmother, Phaedra, fall in love with him and then falsely charge him with rape. Left with no option but to flee the palace, Hippolytus sped away on his chariot, hoping to ride far from his father's executioners.

Aphrodite sent a monster chasing after him, whose appearance so rattled the horses drawing the chariot that they flung Hippolytus into the sharp rocks of the cliffs around them, bringing about his instant, violent death.