The Hippolytus, crowned with the first prize in 428 B.C., is not only one of the best tragedies of Euripides, considered as a work of art, but is of unique interest as the first extant Greek play in which the passion of love is the chief motive.
The hero, Hippolytus, was the son of Theseus, the legendary founder of Athens, by his union with the Amazon queen Hippolyta. He grew up to manhood in purity, paying worship to the chaste goddess Artemis, the huntress, and disdaining Aphrodite. Aphrodite is resolved to punish him. She therefore puts into the head of Phaedra, the wife of Theseus, a love for her step-son.
Phaedra struggles against the sinful passion until brought to death's door, when it is revealed unto Hippolytus be her nurse. Hippolytus is filled with horror by the disclosure. Phaedra hangs herself for shame, accusing Hippolytus in a letter which Theseus finds. The father invokes upon his son a curse which Poseidon fulfills before the innocence of Hippolytus is established by Artemis. [Source: From Homer to Theocritus; A Manual of Greek Literature, Edward Capps. 1907, pp. 246-246.]
