Danaides

Danaides, Waterhouse

Danaus, or Danaos (Δαναός) ("sleeper") was a Greek mythological character, twin brother of Aegyptus and son of Belus, a mythical king of Egypt. The myth of Danaus is a foundation legend (or re-foundation legend) of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's Iliad, "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and "Argives" commonly designate the Greek forces opposed to the Trojans.

Danaus had fifty daughters, the Danaides, and his twin brother, Aegyptus, had fifty sons. Aegyptus commanded that his sons marry the Danaides. Danaus elected to flee instead, and to that purpose he built a ship, the first ship that ever was. In it he fled to Argos, to which he was connected by his descent from Io, the maid wooed by Zeus and turned into a heifer and pursued by Hera until she found asylum in Egypt. So in a sense this was a homecoming for the sailor from Egypt. Argos at the time was ruled by King Pelasgus, the eponym of all autochthonous inhabitants who had lived in Greece since the beginning, also called there Gelanor (he who laughs). The Danaides ask Pelasgus for protection when they arive, the event portrayed in The Suppliants by Aeschylus. Protection is granted after a vote by the Argives. When Aegyptus and his fifty sons arrived to take the Danaides, Danaus gave them, to spare the Argives the pain of a battle. However, he instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Forty-nine followed through, but one, Hypermnestra (or Amymone, the "blameless" Danaid) refused because her husband, Lynceus, honored her wish to remain a virgin. Danaus was angry with his disobedient daughter and threw her to the Argive courts. Aphrodite intervened and saved her. (Lynceus later killed Danaus as revenge for the death of his brothers). Lynceus and Hypermnestra then began a dynasty of Argive kings (the Danaan Dynasty).