HYPSIPYLE (queen of Lemnos)

When the Argonauts arrived, the island was infamous for the ancient slaughter of husbands and needed to be repopulated by men.^5,6,7,8 Hypsipyle commanded the Lemnian women to gather for an assembly and addressed the crowd with stirring words.⁹ She warned the women about the danger of a Thracian attack and predicted that younger women would reach old age without children.¹⁰ Persuaded to receive the newcomers, she agreed to accept the visitors as evening approached and instructed them to enter the city with friendly intent.^11,12 The city celebrated the arrival of the heroes with dances, banquets, and sacrifices.¹³

A man rested in her embrace, and she gave Jason a dark robe to use as a covering.^14,15 She gave Jason a dark robe as a covering and a memorial of many loving embraces.¹⁵ Before his departure, she was carrying a child in her womb, and she wept because she was losing her lover.^16,17,18 Jason asked her to send any son she bears to Iolcus to care for his parents and requested that she hold a nobler opinion of him.¹⁹ She gave birth to a son named Euneus with Jason.⁵

Later, Hypsipyle devised a cunning plan to steal the golden fleece and return to Aeetes.²⁰ She used witching charms to lure the dragon guarding the fleece and gave the sacred crimson robe to Jason as a guest gift.²⁰ She claimed that the sons of Phrixus had forced her to be carried off by strangers.²⁰ Thoas left two silver bowls to Hypsipyle at his death, which she later bequeathed to her godlike son.²¹

In another account, the Lemnian women sold Hypsipyle into slavery.²² She worked as a purchased slave in the household of Lycurgus, where she was caring for an infant son of Eurydice and Lycurgus.^22,1 Held as a captive, she guided Adrastus and his companions to a water source in Nemea while holding the infant Opheltes at her breast.^23,22,1 Hearing a dying cry, she rushed to the sound, searched for the child, and screamed in horror after seeing a large snake near the baby.²⁴ Her cries alerted the Argive soldiers, and Adrastus carried her on his chariot in front of angry warriors, though some falsely claimed she was being dragged to her death.^24,25 She was the only person who hid her father to save him from the mass murder, and Ovid records that she was accused of betraying her father and deserting her native land.^23,26