Danaüs

Danaüs, in Greek Mythology, the son of Belus and twin-brother of Ægyptus, originally ruler of Libya. Fearing his brother, he fled to Argos, with his fifty daughters, the Danaides, and here he was chosen king, in place of Gelanor. The fifty sons of Ægyptus followed him, and under the pretence of friendship, sought the hand of his daughters in marriage. Danaüs consented, but on the bridal night he gave his daughters each a dagger, and urged them to murder their bridegrooms in revenge for the treatment he had received from Ægyptus. All did so, except one, Hypernestra, who allowed her husband, Lynceus, to escape. The poets tell how in the under-world the Danaides were compelled, as a punishment for their crimes, to pour water for ever into a vessel full of holes. From Danans, the Argives were called Danai.