Hypsipyle
Queen of Lemnos who saved her father when the women of the island murdered every other man, later becoming the lover of Jason during the Argonauts' voyage
The Legend of Hypsipyle
Hypsipyle was the queen of Lemnos, daughter of King Thoas. The women of Lemnos had been cursed by Aphrodite with a terrible odour because they had neglected the goddess's rites. Their husbands, repelled, took Thracian concubines instead. In revenge, the women of Lemnos murdered every man on the island in a single night. Only Hypsipyle showed mercy — she secretly saved her father Thoas by hiding him in a chest and setting him adrift on the sea. When Jason and the Argonauts landed on Lemnos during their voyage to Colchis, they found the island populated entirely by women. Hypsipyle became Jason's lover, and their union produced twin sons, Euneus and Thoas. Jason eventually departed to continue his quest, and when the Lemnian women discovered that Hypsipyle had spared her father, they sold her into slavery. She ended up as a nurse in the household of King Lycurgus of Nemea, where she played a fateful role in the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes by inadvertently causing the death of the infant Opheltes, which was taken as an omen.
Parents
Thoas
Children
Euneus and Thoas
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Lemnian women's murder of every man on the island is one of the most extreme acts of collective violence in all of Greek mythology
Explore Further
Tenes
🗡 heroPurity, Betrayal, Apollo
Prince of Colonae and first ruler of Tenedos, killed by Achilles despite his divine protection by Apollo.
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts
Theseus
🗡 heroheroism
Athenian prince who entered the Cretan Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, then abandoned her on Naxos.
Agraulos
🗡 heroNone recorded
A daughter of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, who disobeyed Athena by opening a forbidden chest and was driven to leap from the Acropolis
Aethra
🗡 heroMotherhood, Captivity, Loyalty
Princess of Troezen, mother of Theseus, who became a captive slave in Troy.
Omphale
🗡 heroNone recorded
Lydian queen who owned Heracles as a slave and made him wear women's clothing
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Ariadne
🗡 heroPrincess who saved Theseus from the Labyrinth
Daughter of King Minos who fell in love with Theseus and gave him the thread that allowed him to escape the Labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Althaea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Calydon and mother of Meleager who killed her own son by burning the magical brand that the Fates had tied to his life at birth
Arsinoe
🗡 heroNursing, protection
Nurse or foster-mother of Orestes who saved the prince from Clytemnestra's murderous designs
Hecuba
🗡 heroQueen of Troy
Hecuba was the queen of Troy who watched her husband, sons, and city destroyed — embodying the total devastation that war inflicts on women.