In ancient Athens, King Theseus ruled. Like Hercules, he had two fathers - the earthly king Aegean, and the heavenly god Poseidon. He made his main feat on the island of Crete: he killed the monstrous Minotaur in the maze and freed Athens from tribute to him. The Cretan princess Ariadne was his assistant: she gave him a thread, following which he emerged from the maze. He promised to marry Ariadne, but the god Dionysos demanded her for himself, and for this Theseusa was hated by the goddess of love Aphrodite.

Theseus' second wife was an Amazon warrior; she died in battle, and Theseus left her son Hippolytus. The son of an Amazon, he was not considered legal and was brought up not in Athens, but in the neighboring city of Tresene. The Amazons did not want to know men - Hippolytus did not want to know women. He called himself the servant of the virgin goddess-hunter Artemis, who was ordained to the underground sacraments, about which the singer Orpheus told people: a person should be clean, and then beyond the grave he will find bliss. And for this, the goddess of love Aphrodite also hated him.

Theseus's third wife was Fedra, also from Crete, the younger sister of Ariadne. Theseus married her in order to have legitimate children-heirs. And here begins the revenge of Aphrodite. Fedra saw her stepson Hippolytus and fell in love with him with mortal love. At first, she overpowered her passion: Hippolytus was not nearby, he was in Tresen. But it happened that Theseus killed relatives of the rebels who had rebelled against him and had to retire into exile for a year; together with Fedra he moved to the same Tresen. Here the stepmother's love for the stepson flared up again; Fedra was distraught from her, fell ill, fell ill, and no one could understand what was happening with the queen. Theseus went to the oracle; in his absence, a tragedy occurred.

Actually, Euripides wrote two tragedies about this. The first has not survived. In it, Fedra herself revealed herself to Hippolytus in love, Hippolytus rejected her in horror, and then Fedra slandered Hippolytus to the returning Theseus: as if this stepson had fallen in love with her and wanted to dishonor her. Hippolytus died, but the truth was revealed, and only then Fedra decided to commit suicide. This story is best remembered by posterity. But the Athenians did not like him: Fedra was too shameless and angry here. Then Euripides composed the second tragedy about Hippolytus - and it is before us.

The tragedy begins with the monologue of Aphrodite: the gods punish the proud, and she punishes the proud priest Ippolit, who abhorred love. Here he is, Hippolytus, with a song in honor of virgin Artemis on his lips: he is joyful and does not know that punishment will fall on him today. Aphrodite disappears, Hippolytus comes out with a wreath in his hands and dedicates it to Artemis - “pure from pure”. “Why don't you honor Aphrodite?” - asks his old slave. “I read, but from afar: the night gods are not to my heart,” Hippolytus answers. He leaves, and the slave prays for him to Aphrodite: "Forgive his youthful arrogance: you gods are wise to forgive." But Aphrodite will not forgive.

A choir of Tresen women enters: they heard a rumor that Tsarina Fedra is ill and raving. From what? Anger of the gods, evil jealousy, bad news? To meet them carry Fedra, tossing about on the bed, with her an old nurse. Fedra raves: “I would like to hunt in the mountains!” on the flower meadow Artemidin! to the coastal horse range ”- these are all Ippolitov places. The nurse persuades: “Wake up, open, take pity on your children, if not yourself: if you die, they will not reign, but Hippolytus.” Fedra shudders: "Do not call this name!" Word for word: “the cause of the disease is love”; “The reason for love is Hippolytus”; "One salvation is death." The nurse opposes: “Love is the universal law; to resist love is barren pride; and there is a cure for every disease. ” Fedra understands this word literally: maybe the nurse knows some healing potion? The nurse leaves; the choir sings: “Oh, yes, Eros is blowing me!”

From behind the scene there is noise: Fedra hears the voices of the nurse and Hippolytus. No, it was not about the potion, it was about Hippolytus’s love: the nurse opened everything to him - and in vain. Here they go on stage, he is indignant, she prays for one thing: "Just not a word to anyone, you swore!" “My tongue has sworn, my soul has nothing to do with it,” Hippolytus answers. He pronounces a cruel denunciation of women: “Oh, if you could continue your family without women! The husband spends money on the wedding, the husband accepts the relatives, the stupid wife is hard, the smart wife is dangerous - I will keep my vow of silence, but I curse you! ” He's leaving; In desperation, Fedra stigmatizes the nurse: “Curse you! by death I wanted to be saved from dishonor; now I see that death cannot be saved from him. There is only one last resort left, ”and she leaves without calling him. This means is to bring blame on Hippolytus before his father. The choir sings: “This world is terrible! to flee from it, to flee! ”

Because of the scene - crying: Fedra in the loop, Fedra passed away! There is alarm on the stage: Theseus appears, he is terrified of an unexpected disaster. The palace swings open, a general cry begins over Fedra's body, But why did she commit suicide? In her hand are writing tablets; Theseus reads them, and his horror is even greater. It turns out that this is Hippolytus, the criminal stepson, encroached on her bed, and she, unable to bear dishonor, laid hands on herself. “Father Poseidon! - Theseus exclaims. “You once promised me to fulfill my three wishes, - this is the last of them: punish Hippolytus, let him not survive this day!”

Hippolytus appears; he, too, is struck by the sight of the dead Fedra, but even more so by the reproaches that his father rains on him. “Oh, why are we not given to recognize a lie by the sound! Theseus shouts. - Sons are more deceitful than fathers, and grandchildren are sons; soon there will not be enough room for criminals on earth. ” Lies are your holiness, lies are your purity, and here is your accuser. Get out of my sight — go into exile! ”-“ “Gods and people know - I have always been clean; here is my oath to you, but I am silent about other excuses, ”Hippolytus answers. - Neither lust pushed me to Fedra, stepmother, nor vanity - to Fedra the Queen. I see: the wrong came out of the work clean, but the truth and truth did not save. Execute me if you want. " - “No, death would be mercy to you - go into exile!” - "I'm sorry, Artemis, I'm sorry, Tresen, I'm sorry, Athens! you have not had a man with a purer heart than me. ” Hippolytus leaves; the choir sings: “Fate is changeable, life is terrible; God forbid that I know cruel world laws! ”

The curse comes true: the messenger comes. Hippolytus in a chariot drove out of Trezene with a path between the rocks and the seashore. “I do not want to live as a criminal,” he called upon the gods, “but I only want my father to know that he is wrong, and I am right, alive or dead.” Then the sea roared, a shaft rose above the horizon, a monster arose from the shaft, like a sea bull; the horses shied away and carried, the chariot hit the rocks, the young man dragged along the stones. The dying man is carried back to the palace. “I am his father, and I am dishonored by him,” Theseus says, “let him not expect from me either sympathy or joy.”

And here above the stage is Artemis, the goddess Hippolyta. “He's right, you're wrong,” she says. - Fedra was not right, but the evil Aphrodite moved her. Cry king; I share your grief with you. ” Hippolytus is brought in on a stretcher, he groans and prays to finish him off; Whose sins does he pay for? Artemis leans over him from above: “This is the wrath of Aphrodite, it was she who killed Fedra, and Fedra Ippolit, and Hippolytus left Theseus inconsolable: three victims, one more unfortunate than the other. Oh, what a pity that the gods do not pay for the fate of people! There will be grief and Aphrodite - she also has a favorite hunter, Adonis, and he will fall from my arrow, Artemidina. And you, Hippolytus, will have eternal memory in Tresen, and each girl will sacrifice a strand of hair as a sacrifice before marriage. Hippolytus dies by forgiving his father; the choir finishes the tragedy with the words: "Tears will flow in tears about him - / If the rock of the great husband has overthrown - / His death is unforgettable forever!"