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Theseus, who was actually the son of Poseidon, begat a son Hippolytus from Hippolytê the Amazon and took a second wife, Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, who thus became a stepmother. Phaedra fell in love with her stepson, and sent her nurse to him; but he left Athens and, coming to Troezen, devoted himself to hunting. But when the wanton woman failed to obtain her cherished desire, she indited a false letter against the chaste youth and ended her life with a halter. Theseus believed the letter and asked from Poseidon the destruction of Hippolyto as fulfilment of one of the three wishes which he had as a concession from Poseidon. The god sent a bull to confront Hippolyto as he was driving along the shore in his chariot and terrified the horses, which crushed Hippolytus. Cf. Stobaeus, Florilegium, lxiv. 38 (iv. 474 Hense), and Euripides, Hippolytus.
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Comminius Super of Laurentem begat a son Comminius from the nymph Egeria and took a second wife Gidica, who thus became a stepmother. She fell in love with her stepson and, failing to obtain her desire, put an end to her life with a halter, leaving behind her a lying letter. Comminius read the accusations, believed the invidious charge, and called upon Neptune, who placed a bull in the youth’s path as he was riding in a chariot; and the young man’s horses ran away with him and killed him. So Dositheüs in the third book of his Italian History.
