Phaedra

A daughter of Minos by Pasiphaë or Crete, and the wife of Theseus.1 She was the stepmother of Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, by Antiope or Hippolyte, and having fallen in love with him he repulsed her, whereupon she calumniated him before Theseus. After the death of Hippolytus, his innocence became known to his father, and Phaedra made away with herself.

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The story of Phaedra is told in Euripides' Hippolytus, Seneca's Phaedra, and Racine's Phèdre.

Iconography

Phaedra is occasionally depicted on murals as a sad young woman whose love is unrequited.

References

Notes

  1. Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library iii, 1.2.

Sources

  • Euripides. Hippolytus. Homer. Odyssey xii, 325.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.