The Death of Hippolytus and the Rebirth of Virbius, [Lactantius, Div. Inst.1.17]

 

Name:  Lactantius Date:  3rd century CE Region:  Numidia [modern Tunisia] Citation:    Div. Inst. 1.17

[Condemning the love affairs of the gods, Lactantius criticizes the relationship between Artemis and Hippolytus, insinuating that it was impure. He follows this passage with wild accusations that will not be published here.] When another goddess [Diana] nearly lost her lover [Hippoluytus / Virbius] who was “torn apart by spooked horses,” she begged the most famous healer Asclepius to heal him. And, once he was healed, she “took him away safely to a remote location, Entrusted him to the nymph Egeria, And abandoned him to the grove, Where he, alone and forgotten in the woods of Italy Would spend the rest of his life Under the changed name Virbius.”

Altera cum pene amatorem suum perdidisset,qui erat "turbatis distractus equis," praestantissimum medicum Asclepium curando iuveni advocavit, eumque sanatum: "Secretis alma recondit / sedibus, et nymphaea Egeriae, nemorique relegate: / solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevum / exigeret, versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset."

 

The Death of Hippolytus & the Rebirth of Virbius, Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.530-546

Name:     Ovid Date:       43 BCE – 17 CE Region:   Sulmo [modern Italy] Citation: Metamorphoses 15.530-546

"You think you can compare your grief to mine, nymph?

I saw the kingdom where no light shines

I soaked my wounded body in the Stygian waves,

And would have died without the intervention of Apollo’s son

Who brought me back to life;

Against He-Who-Rules the Underworld’s wishes

I was revived through Asclepius’ strong medicines

And with the help of Apollo’s skill.

In order to not attract attention to myself

Diana lifted me up into a cloud

And aged my form so I wouldn’t be recognized

In order to keep me safe.

For a while, she debated on whether she should

Give me a new home in Crete or Delos,

But then put me here [in Italy]

And ordered me to change my name

So I wouldn’t be reminded of my old life.

She told me, “You who were once Hippolytus,

Will now be Virbius!”

From that point on, I’ve dwelled in this grove,

One of the minor gods,

Safe under my lady’s protection

I attend her will.”

 

num potes aut audes cladi conponere nostrae,               
nympha, tuam? vidi quoque luce carentia regna
et lacerum fovi Phlegethontide corpus in unda,
nec nisi Apollineae valido medicamine prolis
reddita vita foret; quam postquam fortibus herbis
atque ope Paeonia Dite indignante recepi,               
tum mihi, ne praesens augerem muneris huius
invidiam, densas obiecit Cynthia nubes,
utque forem tutus possemque inpune videri,
addidit aetatem nec cognoscenda reliquit
ora mihi Cretenque diu dubitavit habendam               
traderet an Delon: Delo Creteque relictis
hic posuit nomenque simul, quod possit equorum
admonuisse, iubet deponere "qui" que "fuisti
Hippolytus," dixit "nunc idem Virbius esto!"
hoc nemus inde colo de disque minoribus unus               
numine sub dominae lateo atque accenseor illi.'

Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso; 43 BCE – 17 CE, modern Italy] was one of the most famous love poets of Rome’s Golden Age. His most famous work, the Metamorphoses, provides a history of the world through a series of interwoven myths. Most of his poetry is erotic in nature; for this reason, he fell into trouble during the conservative social reforms under the reign of the emperor Augustus. In 8 CE he was banished to Bithynia [modern Turkey], where he spent the remainder of his life pining for his native homeland.

Hippolytus Reborn: A Christian Author's Account of Hippolytus

Hippolytus perished by the savage accusation of his stepmother

& was ripped to shreds by his own chariot

When sea monsters were stirring up the waves.

Diana’s wrath refused to tolerate the assault on his purity*;  

She brought Hippolytus back from the dead,

But now he exists with the name Virbius.

  -- Theodolus, Eclogue 125-128 [dated to the 10th century CE]

* pudicitia refers both to his physical chastity as well as his reputation.

Hippolytus saeva perit accusante noverca

Discerptus bigis, focas agitantibus undis.

Damna pudicitiae non pertulit ira Dianae:

Hippolytum revocat; modo nomine Virbius extat.

Twice A Man: The Story of Hippolytus and Virbius, Serv. In Aen. 7.761

Name: Servius Date: 4th – 5th century CE Region: [modern Italy] Citation:   Commentary on the Aeneid, 7.761

And Virbius, the beautiful child of Hippolytus, came for war:

When Hippolyte died, Theseus put his son Hippolytus in the care of [his new wife] Phaedra. When Hippolytus rejected Phaedra’s sexual advances, she lied and told Theseus that he had tried to rape her. Theseus sought vengeance from his father Aegeus. When Hippolytus was driving his chariot, Aegeus* sent a seal to spook the horses, and the chariot crashed. Then Diana, moved by Hippolytus’ chastity, brought him back to life through the work of Aesculapius. 

[Aesculapius was the child of Apollo and Coronis, who was cut from his dying mother’s womb. It happened when Apollo heard from the crow he’d sent to spy on Coronis that she had cheated on him. Angered, he killed the heavily pregnant Coronis with his arrows, changed the crow’s color from white to black, and cut Aesculapius from Coronis’ womb. Aesculapius grew up and  became skilled in medicine. Later on, Jupiter killed him because he’d restored Hippolytus to life. And because of that, Apollo got angry and killed Jupiter’s ironworking cyclopes with his arrows. And because of that, Jupiter stripped Apollo of his divine powers and made him a shepherd of King Admetus’ flocks for nine years.]

Once Hippolytus was restored to life, Diana entrusted him to the nymph Aricia, and ordered him to now be called Virbius [‘twice a man’]. Now his son, called the same name, comes to battle: but this is really unbelievable. For Hippolytus was chaste, and always lived alone, but somehow has a son? Actually, as I said previously, Virbius is the name of a divinity linked with Diana, just like Cybele is linked with Attis, Minerva is linked with Erichthonis, and Venus is linked with Adonis.

7.[761] IBAT ET HIPPOLYTI PROLES PULCHERRIMA BELLO VIRBIUS: Theseus mortua Hippolyte Phaedram, Minois et Pasiphaae filiam, superduxit Hippolyto. qui cum illam de stupro interpellantem contempsisset, falso delatus ad patrem est, quod ei vim voluisset inferre. ille Aegeum patrem rogavit ut se ulcisceretur. qui agitanti currus Hippolyto inmisit focam, qua equi territi eum traxerunt. tunc Diana eius castitate commota revocavit eum in vitam per Aesculapium, filium Apollinis et Coronidis, qui natus erat exsecto matris ventre, ideo quod, cum Apollo audisset a corvo, eius custode, eam adulterium committere, iratus Coronidem maturo iam partu confixit sagittis—corvum vero nigrum fecit ex albo—et exsecto ventre Coronidis produxit ita Aesculapium, qui factus est medicinae peritus. hunc postea Iuppiter propter revocatum Hippolytum interemit: unde Apollo iratus Cyclopas fabricatores fulminum confixit sagittis: ob quam rem a Iove iussus est Admeti regis novem annis apud Amphrysum armenta pascere divinitate deposita. sed Diana Hippolytum, revocatum ab inferis, in Aricia nymphae commendavit Egeriae et eum Virbium, quasi bis virum, iussit vocari. cuius nunc filium cognominem dicit in bellum venire: adeo omnia ista fabulosa sunt. nam cum castus ubique inductus sit et qui semper solus habitaverit, habuisse tamen fingitur filium. re vera autem, ut et supra diximus, Virbius est numen coniunctum Dianae, ut matri deum Attis, Minervae Erichthonius, Veneri Adonis.

Servius [Maurus Servius Honoratus; 4th – 5th century CE] Servius’ name is unfortunately the only thing we know of this author. Little is known about the author or manuscript tradition for the grammatical commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid.

New Body, New Name, Same Me: The Rebirth of Hippolytus as Virbius, Lact. Plac. Narr.15.45

Name: Lactantius Placidus Date:  5th or 6th century CE Region:    Unknown Citation:  Plots of Ovid’s Myths, Book 15, Story 45

When Hippolytus was exiled from his homeland due to his stepmother’s hostility,* he set out for Troezen. Suddenly, a bull rose up from the sea (just as his father had prayed for**), and gave him a fright. It spooked his horses; they trampled him and he died.  Since he had been a longtime companion of Diana, the goddess saw to it that Asclepius revived him. Brought back to life by the goddess, he gave up his mortal life and remained in the Arician grove as a god with a new name: Virbius.

 

 * Because Hippolytus was devoted to Artemis and rejected Aphrodite (i.e., he was asexual), Aphrodite cursed him by making his stepmother Phaedra fall violently in love with him. When he rejected her advances, she took her own life, leaving behind a letter that accused Hippolytus of assaulting her.

**Believing his wife's false accusations against his son Hippolytus, Theseus prayed to his father Poseidon to cause the youth's death.

Hippolytus cum propter novercale odium propulsus esset patria et Troezan proficisceretur ex inproviso mari elatus taurus, sicut parens optaverat, gravissimum ei obiecit timorem. Exasperatis equis tractus interiit. Quem Aesculapus Dianae voluntate, cuius initio comes fuerat, reduxit ad superos. Hinc eiusdem deae revocatus in nemus Aricinum mortalitatem exuit. A converso itaque nomine deus Virbius est nominatus. 

 Lactantius Placidus [5^th or 6^th century CE] is the name of the author attributed to a prose summary of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but little is known about the author or his time period.

The Life and Afterlife of the Asexual Hippolytus, Vatican Mythographers I.46

The Life and Afterlife of Hippolytus /Virbius

Name:  Vatican Mythographers Date:   10th century CE Region:   Unknown Citation:   Vatican Mythographers 1.46

When Hippolyte died, Theseus put [his wife] Phaedra in charge of Hippolytus. When Hippolytus rejected her wooing, he was falsely accused of inappropriate behavior and brought to his father for punishment.  Theseus asked his father Aegeus to avenge him, and he sent a monster onto the shore where Hippolytus was driving his chariot. This monster spooked Hippolytus’ horses and killed him.  Then Diana, moved by his purity, used Asclepius to restore him to life. Once Diana brought Hippolytus back from the dead, she entrusted his care to the nymph Egeria, and ordered that he now be called “Virbius” [“twice a man”].

The Life and Afterife of Hippolytus / Virbius

Theseus, mortua Hippolyte, Phaedram Minois et Pasiphae filiam superduxit Hippolyto, qui cum de strupro illam interpellantem contempsisset, falso delatus ad patrem est quod ei vi vellet inferre. Theseus rogavit Aegeum patrem ut se ulcisceretur, qui agitanti currus Hippolyto immisit phocam in litore, qua equi territi eum distraxerunt. Tunc Diana eius castitate commota revocavit eum in vita per Aesculapium filium Apollinis et Coronidis, qui natus erat exsecto matris ventre...Sed Diana Hippolytum revocatum ab inferis nymphae commendavit Egeriae et eum Virbium quasi “bis virum” iussit vocari.

Vatican Mythographers [10th century CE?] Little is known about the author or origin of the collection of myths known as the Vatican Mythographers, but the work’s first editor Angelo Mai found the collection on a manuscript dating back to the 10th century CE. This volume is a collection of three different mythographers who have assembled various Greco-Roman myths; although many of these myths are basic summaries in Latin, some of them are either analyzed as allegories or compared to Christian thought.

Can I Forgive Him? The Afterlife of Hippolytus, Pausanias, Desc. Graec. 2.27.4

Can I Forgive Him? The Rebirth of Virbius

Name:  Pausanias Date:        110 – 180 CE Region:    Lydia [modern Turkey] Citation:      Description of Greece 2.27.4

[There are columns within the temple that are inscribed with the names of people healed]. Separate from these is an old column with an inscription stating that Hippolytus dedicated twenty horses to the god [Asclepius]. The Aricians say something similar to the story posted on this column. They say that after Hippolytus was killed by Theseus, Asclepius brought him back from the dead. As soon as Hippolytus was revived, he was unable to forgive his father, and rejected his apologies. Instead he went to Italy, where he ruled among the Aricians and dedicated a temple to Artemis.

χωρὶς δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων [στῆλων] ἐστὶν ἀρχαία στήλη: ἵππους δὲ Ἱππόλυτον ἀναθεῖναι τῷ θεῷ φησιν εἴκοσι. ταύτης τῆς στήλης τῷ ἐπιγράμματι ὁμολογοῦντα λέγουσιν Ἀρικιεῖς, ὡς τεθνεῶτα Ἱππόλυτον ἐκ τῶν Θησέως ἀρῶν ἀνέστησεν Ἀσκληπιός: ὁ δὲ ὡς αὖθις ἐβίω, οὐκ ἠξίου νέμειν τῷ πατρὶ συγγνώμην, ἀλλὰ ὑπεριδὼν τὰς δεήσεις ἐς Ἰταλίαν ἔρχεται παρὰ τοὺς Ἀρικιεῖς, καὶ ἐβασίλευσέ τε αὐτόθι καὶ ἀνῆκε τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι τέμενος.

Seorsum est ab aliis antiqua pila. In ea incisum, dicasse Aesculapio Hippolytum equos XX.  Huius pilae inscriptioni consentanea Aricini dicunt, discerptum ob Thesei imprecationes Hippolytum, in vitam ab Aesculapio revocatum: neque postea patri unquam ignoscere voluisse [1]; verum omni eius deprecatione spreta, in Italiam venisse, ibique dicato Aricinae Dianae templo regnasse. Translated into Latin by Romulus Amaseus

---

[1] According to myth, Theseus had his son Hippolytus condemned to death after believing the false rumor that he had attacked his stepmother Phaedra.

Pausanias [110 -180 CE, modern Turkey] was a Greek writer from Lydia who lived during the era of the “Five Good Emperors.” His work, the Description of Greece, is an important source for geographical, historical, archaeological, and cultural information about ancient Greece.

Punished, then Rewarded, for his Asexuality: Hippolytus' Tale in Vat. Myth. 2.151

Name:  Vatican Mythographers Date:   10th century CE Region:   Unknown Citation:   Vatican Mythographers 2.151

After [Hippolytus' Amazon mother] Hippolyta died, Theseus put [his son] Hippolytus in the care of [his new wife] Phaedra. When Hippolytus rejected Phaedra’s sexual advances, she falsely accused him of rape. Theseus beseeched his own father Egeus (at that time a sea god)* for vengeance, who sent a seal [sea monster?] into Hippolytus’ path as he was driving his chariot on the shore. This terrified Hippolytus' horses; and after he was ejected from his chariot, he was trampled to death.  

Once Hippolytus was killed, Phaedra could not longer endure her love [for him] and hanged herself.

Moved by Hippolytus’ chastity, Diana brought him back to life with the help of Asclepius, (a man born via C-section)…

Once he was brought back to life, Diana put him into the care of the nymph Egeria in Aricia. She ordered him to be renamed “Virbius” [“twice-a man,” i.e., “reborn”].

But the following is nonsense: although Hippolytus is always depicted as chaste and always lives alone, he nevertheless is generally thought to have a son.

There are some variations of this myth: in Virgil’s version, Hippolytus was allowed to come back from the dead, but Horace says the opposite: “Diana couldn’t free the chaste Hippolytus [from death].”

* Theseus canonically has one mother (Aethra) and two fathers: a human father Egeus and a godly father Neptune. This myth conflates both parents. 

Theseus, Egei et Etre filius, mortua Hippolite, Phaedram Minois et Pasiphae filiam superduxit Hippolito, qui cum de stupro illam interpellantem contempsisset, ab illa falso accusatus est apud patrem quod vim et voluisset inferre. Theseus autem Egeum patrem tunc marinum deum rogavit ut se ulcisceretur, qui agitanti currus Hippolito immisit focam in littore, qua equi territi eum curru proiectum discerpserunt. Sed Hippolito interempto Phaedra amoris impatientia laqueo vitam finivit. Diana autem castitate Hipppoliti commota revocavit eum in vitam per Aesculapium filium Apollonis et Coronidis filiae Phlegie natum exsecto matris ventre. ..Sed Diana Hippolitum revocatum ab inferis in Aricia nyphae commendavit Egerie et eum “Virbium” quasi “bis virum” iussit vocari. Sed haec fabulosa sunt, nam hic cum castus ubique introductus sit et solus semper habitaverat, habuisse tamen filium dicitur. ... Variantur autem a poetis fabulae, nam Virgilius perhibet Hippolitum ab inferis esse revocatum, Horatius econtra: neque enim Diana pudicum Liberat Hippolitum (Horace, Odes IV.7.25). 

Vatican Mythographers [10th century CE?] Little is known about the author or origin of the collection of myths known as the Vatican Mythographers, but the work’s first editor Angelo Mai found the collection on a manuscript dating back to the 10th century CE. This volume is a collection of three different mythographers who have assembled various Greco-Roman myths; although many of these myths are basic summaries in Latin, some of them are either analyzed as allegories or compared to Christian thought.