Author Dr Tony Whitefield answers a few questions about his beloved island of Lemnos, the stories that surround Hypsipyle the heroine of his novel The Queen of Limnos. Dr Whitefield spent several researching for this book which draws together all the strands that relate to the famous ancient queen of Lemnos.
Q: Why was Hypsipyle the subject of so many ancient plays? What was the fascination for them?
A: That is a good question. The ancient plays tended to focus on her time as a slave, at the palace of Nemea, and the incident where Prince Opheltes died as a result of the snake bite. Especially the works by Euripides and Statius.
The fascination perhaps with powerful women, or women who are perceived as powerful. Powerful over men – Medea for example.
What was the fascination of the Hyprsipyle story for you?
The fascination for me was that there was a gap in the literature if you tried to put her life together. There was the story where she was present when all males were killed on Lemnos, a story when the Argonauts arrived on Lemnos, and then a later story when she was a slave, but a paucity of information linking these stories and what happened later.
I think because I live on Lemnos for four months each year, and there are so many references to her life on the island, I became interested in finding out more on her story, and what people had written about her.
Her connection to Jason of the Argonauts story was also of interest to me. The story that Lemnians are descendants of the best males in the whole of Greece is also a story in itself.
It is that story that gets the Hollywood attention in films. The island of women visited by a boat load of men is a story that a good filmmaker cannot walk past.
What was her fate after the child under her care was killed by the snake?
The story is that she was pardoned because Amphiarus spoke on her behalf when the King and Queen were hearing evidence on what happened to their son. Various stories have the other Generals speaking on her behalf as well, as she was helping them find water for their thirsty soldiers when the boy died. After she was pardoned, she was asked to leave Nemea, and she did. But her sons were also present at the time of the trial, but there is no story as to how they came to being there, or what happened after.
How easy was to immerse yourself as a modern narrator in Ancient Limnos? How much of modern Australian sensibility would you have to discard in delving into this world?
It was easy to immerse myself into the storylines once I decided that the voice of the book was to be a storyteller, who had made his life’s work re-telling her story. The book is written in his voice. So, I am not a modern narrator – I am a narrator telling the story in about 1150 BC, so if you have that mind set, it is easy to go with it. That voice idea took me a year to work out.
READ MORE: Ancient chapter is added to the Lemnos story in a novel by Aussie academic and writer
How do you think the women of Lemnos got away with getting rid off their husbands?
The women kept the Argonauts in the dark about the fate of their men, which leads one to assume they kept it quiet from the rest of the world.
The women got away with it because they concocted a story about their men and sons going to a nearby island, and must have encountered pirates, thus all males were killed.
The story only held tight for a few years until they found out that Hypsipyle’s father (King Thoas) was alive on another island. How they found out, was never truly explained, which is why I wanted to invent a reason and a way for it to be found out.
Thoas was the only known male to get away (Hypsipyle helped him). I have another male and his son who could see what was coming, so they escaped before the killings. I have them hiding on the north of the island for many years in isolation – well away from the main town and women.If the Argonauts found out about the fate of the men-folk, what might they have done?
That is a question for scribes later to ponder. But the story is that they did not find out!!
As for the (Olympian) gods, I purposely left out references to the gods playing any active role in my story. They are mentioned a lot, but only in a religious sense, and not an active sense, like in The Iliad.
How was it possible is it to have kept such a secret?
Keeping the secret is not a story that was written about, not that I have found anyway. Mythologically speaking, the story must have been known after about 100 years, with enough time having passed to not have a bearing on the future.
But the lasting legacy is this – don’ t mess with Lemnian women!
There is a more modern female hero in Lemnian history (not mythology) called Maroula. Her story is that in 1478, she picked up the sword of her dead father (General Isodoros) and held off the invading Turkish marauders.
Her valour inspired the fleeing Lemnian men to turn around and re-join the battle. They won the day. In the village of Kotsinas on Lemnos, there is a statue to Maroula.
How important is the Hypsipyle story to the people of Lemnos today?
Hard to say – as a foreigner. There are females named Hypsipyle on Lemnos. I think people are proud of her, but when you ask them why, many would be hard pressed to explain why.
What I have found is that people either don’t know the ancient stories/authors, and therefore don’t know much of the story. All they know, is that she was in charge of killing men. Not entirely accurate, but that is what they know.
I have spoken to hundreds of Aussie Lemnians, and they don’t know much about their history or mythology at all. How Lemnians who live there feel about her story, I cannot say.
What does her story tell us in the modern world about Ancient Greece?
Never give up. Even when life gets you down, never give up.
♦The Queen of Limnos by Dr Tony Whitefield is a self-published novel which can be obtained through his email: whitefield.tony@gmail.com. Cost $25.
