In Greek mythology, Phaedra was a Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë and younger sister of Ariadne, who became the wife of Theseus and queen of Athens. She fell in love with her stepson Hippolytus; after he rejected her, she accused him of assault, Theseus called down Poseidon's curse, and both Hippolytus and Phaedra died. The tale is best known from Euripides' Hippolytus, Seneca's Phaedra, Ovid's Heroides, and later Racine's Phèdre. She is distinct from any unrelated namesakes; this atlas entry is the Attic–Cretan queen alone.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Phaedra (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Phaedra was a daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphaë of Crete (some accounts name Crete as mother). Her siblings include Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis, and Xenodice; the Minotaur was her maternal half-brother.
As wife of Theseus she bore Demophon and Acamas. Theseus already had a son, Hippolytus, by an Amazon—Hippolyta or Antiope in conflicting traditions—before marrying Phaedra.
II.Marriage to Theseus
Theseus married Phaedra after the Cretan adventure and his Amazonian exploits. Some wedding narratives say Amazons led by Hippolyta attacked the feast and that Theseus killed Hippolyta in the fight; other traditions place Hippolyta's death earlier or name a different Amazon. Phaedra then reigned as queen at Athens while Hippolytus was often associated with Troezen.
III.Hippolytus
Versions diverge on agency. In one strand Phaedra herself desires Hippolytus, is refused because he has sworn chastity to Artemis, then falsely tells Theseus that the youth assaulted her; Theseus uses a wish from Poseidon, a sea-bull frightens Hippolytus's horses, and the young man is dragged to death; Phaedra's treachery is exposed and she hangs herself.
In Euripides' surviving Hippolytus, Aphrodite curses Phaedra to love the chaste Hippolytus because he scorns the love goddess. Phaedra sickens in silence; her nurse reveals the secret; Hippolytus recoils in horror. Phaedra hangs herself after leaving a letter that accuses him. Theseus curses his son; Artemis later reveals the truth. Sophocles' Phaedra and Euripides' earlier Hippolytus Veiled are lost; Seneca and Ovid vary the psychology and staging.
IV.Cult and reception
Pausanias reports tombs of Phaedra and Hippolytus near each other, and a myrtle at Troezen whose pierced leaves were said to have been pricked by Phaedra's hairpin as she watched Hippolytus exercise. Athens kept a shrine of Aphrodite "for Hippolytus" on the south slope of the Acropolis.
The story shaped European drama from Racine's Phèdre to modern plays, operas, and novels; it is one of the principal tragic treatments of illicit passion and false accusation in the classical tradition.