Danaus kneels before Lynceus in the middle.
Danaus was a villain in Greek mythology. He was the father of the Danaides.
Biography[]
Danaus was the son of the Egyptian king Belus and the Naiad Achiroe. He had 50 daughters, known as the Danaides, via his wives and concubines Polyxo, Pieria, Elephantis, Europa, Atlanteia, Phoebe, Memphis, Herse and Crino.
After Belus died, his successor Aegyptus asked that his 50 sons be allowed to marry the Danaides. Danaus refused and built a ship, which author Pliny the Elder stated was the first ship that ever was, with which he and his daughters fled to Argos. They were granted permission to reside there by King Pelasgus, but Danaus soon laid claim to the throne himself based on his ancestry (he was descended from the Argive princess Io). The council deliberated for a day before witnessing a solitary wolf killing a bull, which they took as a sign that Danaus should be king because as the wolf does not live with men, so he had not lived with the Argives until then. Danaus credited the god Apollo with sending the wolf and dedicated the shrine of Apollo Lykeios to him in thanks.
However, it was not long before Aegyptus arrived at Argos to once again demand that his sons be allowed to marry the Danaides. Danaus consented to the marriage, but instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on the wedding night. Forty-nine of them did so, cutting off their husbands' heads and subsequently burying them at Lerna, but the fiftieth, Hypermnestra, fell in love with her husband Lynceus and refused. Furious at Hypermnestra for her disobedience, Danaus threw her in prison, but she was saved by the goddess Aphrodite. Lynceus then killed Danaus in revenge for the deaths of his brothers and took the throne of Argos from him.
