Daily Deity #60 Twelve Labors: Girdle of Hippolyta

Of course Hercules is not able to catch his breath for the moment that he returns to Eurystheus to tell him that the mares are no longer a problem and that Diomedes is dead, the King of Mycenae decides that Hercules needs to set out again. This time, he requests for the girdle of Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons.

A quick word on the Amazons. They are a race of warrior women that participate in multiple conflicts and events in Greek mythology (and comic books. Go Wonder Woman!) The basic overview is that they are epic women who can kick some serious butt and have some serious restrictions on men. Yes, this is a super fast and sparse overview and that's because I plan on going over them solely in the future.

Back to the story at hand!

The girdle was given to Hippolyta as a gift from her father, the war god Ares. So, if you were asking before "Why does Eurystheus want the girdle?" The reason is that it was gold and pretty and shiny and Eurystheus's daughter, Admente, asked for it and her father had no qualms about giving his lovely little princess what she wanted. For Hippolyta, considering that the girdle was a gift from her own dad, it's understandable why the Amazonian queen might not be too keen on handing over the belt.

Hippolyta really had no need to think about losing the girdle until Hercules showed up, having collected a decent amount of other warriors on the way, including his old buddy Theseus, as he had done some other adventures on the side.

Just picture this huge strongman with a lion's pelt around his shoulders and a club over his shoulder sauntering towards you with a group of also burly and armed men flanking him. It's easy to see this as an act of war. Or, at least, the threat of conflict.

But Hippolyta was a queen, not some uncivilized brute. So she calmly goes out to meet Hercules and the two begin speaking very congenially. Hippolyta knows that she has to respect someone of such great strength and accomplishment as the strongman demigod, and Hercules feels the same way. She approves of the hero so much that when he asks for the girdle, she agrees to give it to him.

Then Hera comes to join the party. She still has her lingering hatred for Hercules and decides to come down and disguise herself as one of the Amazons. In her guise, Hera begins to spread rumors amongst the Amazons of how the men are only at their home to take over and how the men believe that these women are weak and on and on until the Amazons are no longer so pleased with their guests.

Hippolyta then decides to attack the men before they attack her people. Hercules thinks that the Amazons had always been planning to get him and his men since the minute that they arrived on the island. So as Hippolyta's army of warriors charges Hercules, he rallies his men and they return the charge.

Mass, bloody fighting ensues, as one can assume from two fronts of amazing fighters engaging in battle.

It lasts some time, but ends when Hercules is finally able to cut Hippolyta down. He then takes the girdle from the fallen queen, and him and his companions rush back to their boat and get out of there as fast as they could.

Hercules eventually returns back to Eurystheus and I can imagine that he kinda just throws the belt at the feet of the king, says "Happy?" and heads off to drink some wine and sleep.