About the work
Tragedy by Euripides, first performed in 428 BC at the Athenian City Dionysia, where it won first prize. It is the surviving second version of the story; an earlier version, known by the epithet 'Kalyptomenos', had drawn criticism for showing Phaedra's advances toward her stepson too openly.
Plot
Hippolytus, son of Theseus, worships only the virgin goddess Artemis and scorns Aphrodite, who takes revenge by making his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him. Ashamed of a passion betrayed to Hippolytus by her nurse, Phaedra hangs herself, leaving behind a letter that falsely accuses him of rape. Theseus curses his son, who is fatally injured by a sea monster; only then does Artemis reveal the truth to Theseus in time.
Cultural significance
The play is considered one of ancient tragedy's most psychologically searching studies of desire, shame and divine caprice, and it influenced later works from Seneca's 'Phaedra' to Jean Racine's 'Phèdre' (1677).