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Historical person

Danaus

Danaus was a legendary king associated with Argos and the father of the Danaids. His flight from Egypt and the forced marriages of his daughters create a mythic cycle of migration, dynastic conflict and murder.

Greek myth makes Danaus the father of the fifty Danaids and a claimant to kingship at Argos; the story of his daughters killing their husbands on their wedding night became a major subject of Greek tragedy and later mythography.

In Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Other Plays, The Suppliants follows the daughters of Danaus as they flee forced marriages and seek protection at Argos, where the king must decide whether defending refugees justifies exposing his city to war.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Danaus (1 series)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World in Order

by various authors 32 books 4.6(13,212)

Penguin Classics: Ancient World brings together foundational works of literature, history, philosophy, drama and poetry from the earliest civilisations through classical Greece and Rome. The wider Penguin Classics series began in 1946 with E. V. Rieu’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, reflecting its original aim of making important texts…

All books in this series