"The Heroines"

“Gather round, welcome guests and good citizens of Athens, gather round. I have a tale to tell you, one close to your heart. It’s about your brave king, Theseus and the evil monster he slew for you. A beast with the torso of a man and the head of a bull: the Cretan crime against nature they called the Minotaur.” 

So starts Shepperson’s retelling of Theseus’ story, except it isn’t about Theseus really, it’s about Phaedra. According to ancient myths, Phaedra, the sister of the Minotaur and wife of Theseus, fell in love with Hippolytus, Theseus’ son, and after he rejected her, claiming not to care for Aphrodite and be wholly devoted to the virgin huntress Artemis, killed herself. This story is known from Euripides’ famous tragedy Hippolytus, his lost tragedy Phaedra, Seneca’s tragedy “Phaedra” and Ovid’s metamorphosis… In these versions, Phaedra is a tool of Aphrodite, used by the goddess to punish the insolent and disrespectful Hippolytus. The focus of Euripides’ tragedy is very much on the tragedy of Phaedra, a poor victim, but also on the plight of man to be so manipulated by gods. Indeed the final scene of the play has a powerful reconciliation between father Theseus and his son Hippolytus, where they reflect on the struggles of mortality and forgive one another.

Shepperson however has cleverly moved Phaedra into the limelight and, as is only fitting with the nature of mythology, maintained the key parts of a myth - Theseus kills the Minotaur and takes Phaedra as his wife to Athens , Hippolytus loudly proclaims his devotion to Artemis, Phaedra kills herself - and plays with the rest. She puts Phaedra at the forefront, and explores what it really must have felt like to be a woman in this world. By alternative the narrative voices, the story unfolds from different perspectives.

Who is this appropriate for?
While there is nothing too graphic, it does deal with rape, infanticide, and suicide. I would suggest year 9 and above but with the warning of these topics.

Which other myths are weaved into the tale?
 

• The myths of Pasiphae and Ariadne, Phaedra’s mother and sister are discussed. Shepperson also has a very clever interpretation of who, or what, the Minotaur really is. 

• Medea is present, the witch from Colchis who helped Jason get the Golden Fleece and once rejected by him kills their children. 

• Theseus’ founding of democracy also plays quite a key role in the narrative and Shepperson cleverly uses this and the infamous law courts as a crucial plot device.
   

The tag line is: 

A trial to make history. 

The women whose lives depend on it. 

How is that relevant?
Phaedra takes Hippolytus to court over her rape and this allows Shepperson to make this into a legal drama. This is a very clever adaptation of the scene in Euripides’ tragedy where Theseus and Hippolytus debate his actions.

Who should read this?
If you liked Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne, give this a go. It deals with similar myths and characters but in a very different way.  

 
It’s relevant for those studying Ancient Greek, those interested in Greek tragedy and mythology, those exploring the lives of women in Ancient Greece and anyone looking at democracy in Athens.

What’s your favourite part?
The clever way Shepperson takes the well-known, established myth of Hippolytus’ death and changes it to put Phaedra at the centre of it. She also then acknowledges why that’s not the version that has gone down in history. Brilliant - but I won’t tell you more…