Source Verification: Hippolyta

Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

What the Sources Attest

What was Hippolyta known for?

She is known above all for her belt. Apollodorus describes Hippolyte as queen of the Amazons by the river Thermodon, wearing the belt of Ares as a sign of her rank over the other Amazons. Eurystheus sent Heracles to bring that belt back as his ninth labor, because his daughter Admete wanted it. A second, Athenian tradition remembers her as the Amazon who became the wife of Theseus, though most ancient writers give that role to Antiope instead.

Source: Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9

What did Hercules do to Hippolyta?

It depends on the source. In Apollodorus, Hippolyte welcomes Heracles at Themiscyra and promises him the belt, but Hera, disguised as an Amazon, spreads a rumor that the strangers are kidnapping the queen. When the Amazons charge, Heracles suspects treachery, kills Hippolyte and takes the belt. Apollonius of Rhodes tells a gentler story. Heracles ambushes her sister Melanippe, and Hippolyte hands over her belt as ransom. He then releases his captive unharmed, and no one dies.

Source: Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.966-969

Who killed Hippolyta in Greek mythology?

The best-known answer is Heracles, in Apollodorus's account of the ninth labor, after Hera's rumor turns a peaceful meeting into a fight. But the ancient sources do not agree. Apollonius has her survive by ransoming her sister. The Megarians told Pausanias that Hippolyte outlived Heracles, led the Amazons against Athens, and after their defeat fled to Megara, where she died of grief. Stories of Theseus's Amazon wife, sometimes named Hippolyte, have her killed at his wedding to Phaedra or in battle.

Source: Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.41.7

Who is Hippolyta in love with?

In the ancient sources that give her a love story, it is Theseus. Isocrates says Hippolyte broke the laws of the Amazons, fell in love with Theseus and followed him to Athens as his consort, which provoked the Amazon invasion of Attica. Plutarch reports that the historian Cleidemus also named Theseus's Amazon wife Hippolyta. Most writers, though, give Theseus a different bride, Antiope. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream keeps the pairing: its Hippolyta is about to marry Theseus.

Source: Apollodorus, Epitome 1.16-1.17

Where Accounts Differ

whether Heracles killed Hippolyta
how the belt changed hands
Theseus's Amazon bride: Hippolyta or Antiope
how Theseus's Amazon wife died

Whether Heracles killed Hippolyta is disputed. Apollodorus's Library has him kill her after Hera, disguised as an Amazon, provokes an attack on his ship. Apollonius of Rhodes has no killing at all: Heracles captures her sister Melanippe and Hippolyte pays the belt as ransom. Diodorus Siculus (Library of History, Book 4) also has Melanippe ransomed for the girdle and does not report Hippolyte's death. The Megarian tradition in Pausanias has her survive to lead the Amazons against Athens.
The name of Theseus's Amazon bride differs by source. Apollodorus's Epitome gives Antiope, or Melanippe, and notes that Simonides called her Hippolyte. Plutarch's Life of Theseus prefers Antiope but reports that Cleidemus named her Hippolyta, and Isocrates's Panathenaicus also calls her Hippolyte. Pausanias treats them as two women, with Hippolyte as Antiope's sister, and Diodorus has Heracles give Antiope to Theseus as a captive.
The death of Theseus's Amazon wife is told in several ways. Apollodorus's Epitome has her killed by the guests at Theseus's wedding to Phaedra, or by Theseus in battle. Plutarch and Pausanias record that she was shot by the Amazon Molpadia while fighting beside Theseus, Pausanias under the name Antiope. Plutarch also reports, and rejects as invention, a Theseid in which Heracles killed the invading Amazons.
Isocrates's Panathenaicus and Diodorus Siculus's Library of History are named in prose only. Neither is yet a registered, line-checkable source on this site, so no passage number from them is cited.

Sources

Primary sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9
Apollodorus, Epitome 1.16-1.17
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.776-779
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.966-969
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 2.987-1000
Euripides, Heracles 408-415
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.2.1
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.41.7
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.10.9
Plutarch, Life of Theseus 26-28
Virgil, Aeneid 11.648-663