Hippolytus

Unrequited love, deceit, and wrongful death are the themes of this play by Euripides. Hippolytus, who leads a celibate life as a follower of Artemis, rejects the advances of the married Phaedra, who is passionately in love with him. Despondent, Phaedra commits suicide by hanging and leaves a letter falsely declaring that Hippolytus had seduced her and that she cannot live with the shame. Consequently, Hippolytus is banished. On his way out of town, his horses are startled, and he is thrown from the chariot and dragged to his death.