Hypsipyle- Greek FigureMortal"Queen of Lemnos"
Also known as: Ὑψιπύλη and Hypsipylē
Titles & Epithets
Description
When the women of Lemnos murdered every man on the island, Hypsipyle alone spared her father. She hid him in a chest and set him adrift. She ruled as queen until the Argonauts arrived, and when the other women discovered her secret, they drove her out.
Mythology & Lore
Queen of Lemnos
The women of Lemnos had neglected Aphrodite's worship, and the goddess punished them with a stench that drove their husbands to Thracian concubines. The women murdered every man on the island. Hypsipyle alone refused. She hid her father Thoas in a chest and set him adrift on the sea. He reached safety. She became queen of an island without men.
The Argonauts at Lemnos
The Argonauts landed on Lemnos during their voyage to Colchis and found an island of women. Hypsipyle took Jason as her lover and bore him twin sons, Euneus and Thoas. The heroes stayed longer than they meant to, until Heracles, who had refused to leave the Argo, shamed them into sailing on.
Exile and Nemea
When the Lemnian women learned that Hypsipyle had spared her father, they drove her from the island. She ended up as a slave in Nemea, where she nursed the infant son of King Lycurgus. When the army of the Seven against Thebes passed through and asked her to lead them to water, she set the baby down to guide them to a spring. A serpent killed the child while she was gone. The seer Amphiaraus named the dead infant Archemorus, Beginner of Doom.
Her sons by Jason survived. Euneus grew to rule Lemnos and supplied wine to the Greek army at Troy.