Virbius
In Roman mythology, Virbius (or Virbio) was the name of the reborn Hippolytus.
Legend had it that, before becoming Virbius, Hyppolytus was a chaste and fair Greek hero, who spent all his days in the greenwood chasing wild beasts with the huntress virgin Artemis. He spurned the love of women, and this proved his bane. Aphrodite, stung by his scorn, made his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him. When Hyppolytus disdained Phaedra's advances, she falsely accused her stepson to Theseus. Theseus believed Phaedra's false accusation, and asked Poseidon to avenge the imagined wrong done to the woman. While Hyppolytus drove in a chariot by the Saronic Gulf, the sea god sent a fierce bull from the waves. The terrified horses bolted, throwing Hyppolytus from the chariot and killing him.
However, according to the belief of the cult of Virbius, Artemis asked Asclepius to resurrect the young man, since he had vowed chastity to the goddess. He was brought to Latium, Italy, where he reigned under the name of Virbio or Virbius. After being resurrected, he married Aricia. According to another tradition, he lived in a sacred forest near Aricia in Latium.
His name means "twice a man", in reference to the fact that he was mortally wounded, but brought back to life. He was worshipped as a god of the forest.
External links
"Virbius". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
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