In Greek mythology, Hippolyta (also Hippolyte) was a queen of the Amazons, a daughter of the war god Ares and Otrera and sister to Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father's zoster — a war belt also rendered as "girdle" — which became the prize of Heracles' ninth labour. She figures prominently in the cycles of both Heracles and Theseus, though ancient accounts contradict one another so thoroughly that scholars suspect more than one figure underlies the name.
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I.Ninth Labour of Heracles
Hippolyta's belt was the object of Heracles' ninth labour. He was tasked with retrieving it for Admete, daughter of King Eurystheus. In most versions Hippolyta is so impressed by Heracles that she willingly offers him the belt — in some tellings after they become intimate.
The goddess Hera, however, disguises herself as an Amazon and spreads the rumour that Heracles is abducting their queen, provoking an attack. Among Hippolyta's warriors, Aella is the first to charge but is defeated. Heracles, wearing the invulnerable skin of the Nemean lion, overpowers Hippolyta, strips her of the belt, and sails away, completing the labour.
II.Adventure of Theseus
In the myths of Theseus, he either joins Heracles' expedition or mounts a separate one, and becomes Hippolyta's chief partner. The accounts vary: some say Theseus abducts her, others that Heracles abducts her and gives her to Theseus as spoils, and still others that she leaves willingly after falling in love with him. She is brought to Athens and married to Theseus.
From there the narratives diverge sharply. Some describe the other Amazons attacking Athens — the Attic War — in revenge, only to be defeated. Others say Theseus later marries Phaedra, prompting Hippolyta to lead her forces against the wedding. Her death is told in several incompatible ways: slain directly by Theseus, killed accidentally by the Amazon Molpadia, or struck down by her sister Penthesilea; some versions hold she was already dead before the marriage, so that the battle never happened.
Complicating matters, many ancient writers name the Amazon in question Antiope, Melanippe, or Glauce rather than Hippolyta. Combined versions have Heracles abduct and kill Hippolyta while Theseus abducts and marries Antiope. Some traditions say Hippolyta or Antiope bore Theseus a son, Hippolytus of Athens.
III.In Shakespeare
In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hippolyta is betrothed to Theseus, Duke of Athens. In Act I, Scene 1 they speak of their approaching wedding, set four days hence under the new moon; Theseus declares he "wooed her with his sword" but will wed her "with pomp, with triumph, and with revelling."
The pairing draws on Plutarch's Parallel Lives, specifically the Life of Theseus, in which Hippolyta herself ends a four-month war between Athens and the Amazons with a treaty sealed by her marriage to Theseus. Shakespeare's particular portrait of the couple appears to be his own invention. Hippolyta also appears in The Two Noble Kinsmen, co-written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher.
IV.Other Literary Treatments
Hippolyta features prominently in Mary Renault's novel The Bull from the Sea, the second book of her Theseus cycle. She also appears in The Rape of the Belt, a lightly comic play and television adaptation that retells Heracles' ninth labour.