I've been born into a strange world. I am son of Theseus. You know Theseus, yes? The King of Athens? The by-product of sea god Poseidon raping grandmother Aethra? Theseus, slayer of the Minotaur? Friend of Zeus' favourite son, Heracles*? .. You have no idea who I speak of; this does not matter. Theseus is my father, and I am his eldest son. My name is Hippolytus, which means 'loose horse'. I am a prince.
*Hercules

I am definitely Theseus' son, but there is some debate over who was my mother. She was an Amazonian royal, but they're not sure which one. It was during Heracles' mission to retrieve a magical girdle from the Amazons, Theseus met my mother, the daughter of war god Ares.

Was it Antiope? Theseus kidnapped Antiope to Athens, where he forced her into marriage and laid my seed in her. The Amazons were not pleased about Antiope being forced to marry Theseus, and launched an attack to rescue her. During the attack, Antiope was injured, and unable to escape. In order to save her from a life as Thesus' wife-slave, the Amazon Molpadia killed Antiope with a spear, in an act of mercy. In this scenario, I would have been born sometime after the kidnapping and before Antiope's death.

But, Antiope may have died an alternate way; Theseus was preparing to take a second wife in Phaedra, which greatly angered Antiope. Antiope, Amazon princess, threatened Theseus that she would kill every single wedding guest if he married Phaedra. It took every single attendee, including the mighty Heracles, all attacking at once, to finally slay Antiope.

Or, was my mother Antiope's older sister, Hippolyta? The Amazon queen Hippolyta fell in love with Heracles during his quest for the magic girdle. As a joke, Heracles used Hippolyta, and then gave her to Theseus as a trophy wife. Theseus may have killed Hippolyta while fleeing from the Amazons, but this theory doesn't really explain how Hippolyta is my mother.

There is also a possibility that Hippolyta was taken with Theseus to Athens, and later died giving birth to me.

To add more confusion, Hippolyta may have been the 'first wife' mentioned before, instead of Antiope. In this case, Hippolyta was angry with Theseus for planning on marrying Phaedra, promised to kill all attending the wedding, and was eventually killed by the wedding guests.

Why is there so much confusion about my mother's identiy? Or how she died? Theseus, Heracles, and all the rest tell a lot of stories, but the stories do not always make sense; they overlap, they contradict, they are altered everytime they are told, and I would reckon most are nothing but make-believe. As a boy, when I asked too many questions, I would be mocked by Theseus and his companions. I've learnt that history doesn't really matter, because it's passed already. It is irrelevant who birthed me, for I never met my mother or my aunt, or any Amazons for that matter. The only mother I have ever known is Phaedra.

Phaedra is a granddaughter to Zeus, a Crete princess. By Theseus, Phaedra has given me two step brothers, in Demophon and Acamas. (Much later in life, as part of an army, my brothers would infiltrate the city of Troy inside a wooden Trojan horse.)

Phaedra is much younger than Theseus, and just a bit older than me. She is a beautiful step-mother, kind and gentle. Not only does she fill the place of my dead mother, Phaedra is my friend.

While growing up, I would sit for hours, listening to Theseus and Heracles tell epic tales of conquest and lust, while they drank numerous bottles of wine. I sat stunned, listening to a boastful Heracles gloating over murdering his first three children during one of his 'mood swings'. Theseus would jovially recall the time he violentally killed a thief at the gates of the Netherworld, before raping the thief's daughter.

While Theseus and the rest of them had no truths to tell me, Phaedra told me all she knew. It turns out that Ariadne, Phaedra's older sister, helped Theseus to defeat the Minotaur, by supplying Theseus with a magic sword. Ariadne helped again, by supplying Theseus with thread, so that he wouldn't get lost in the Minotaur's maze. I was astonished, because Theseus had told the Minotaur story many times, and he was always the lone heroic character involved. Phaedra explained bitterly how Theseus promised to marry Ariadne, but then abandoned her on Naxos, an isle of wild beasts. Phaedra went on to explain how her brother Deucalion, had given her to Theseus. Theseus showed his gratitude by killing Deucalion and crushing his bones to dust.

I knew that I didn't want to become Theseus, a violent and lustful King. Such chauvinistic and misogynistic tales had lead me to my eventual decision: I would be chaste.

To Be Continued.....

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Originally posted September 15th 2006

EDIT: If you want a better idea of the geneology, email me and I'll give you the link to the map.