Euripides' play tells the story of Phaidra's love for her step-son Hippolytos, Theseus's illegitimate son, a man so devoted to his chastity and the cult of Artemis that he spurns the goddess of love Aphrodite. To return the insult, she condemns him via his stepmother's passion, causing the subsequent fall of the royal house. A play that at once cautions people not to disregard the strength of the divine, but also illustrates the futility of trying to second-guess its intention, 'Hippolytos' is an astonishing and disturbing tragedy.