Hypermnestra

Danaus handed daggers to his fifty daughters after their marriages to the fifty sons of Aegyptus. The marriages had been arranged after Aegyptus’s sons came to Argos and asked to marry the Danaids. Danaus had suspected that they intended to kill his daughters, but accepted the match after they laid siege to Argos. At the wedding feast, the brides received their husbands. During the night, they killed them as they slept, all except Hypermnestra, who spared Lynceus because he had allowed her to preserve her virginity.

Hypermnestra told Lynceus to flee. She asked him to light a beacon when he had reached safety, and promised to answer with another beacon from the citadel. Danaus learned of her disobedience at dawn and imprisoned her under guard. He then brought her to trial for her life, but the Argive judges acquitted her. Hypermnestra raised an image to Victorious Aphrodite in the shrine of Wolfish Apollo, and dedicated a sanctuary to Persuasive Artemis. The Argives continued to light beacon fires each year in memory of the signal between the two lovers.

The other Danaids buried the heads of their bridegrooms at Lerna and gave their bodies full funeral honours before the walls of Argos. Athene and Hermes purified the daughters in the Lernaean Lake with Zeus’s permission. The Judges of the Dead nevertheless condemned them to carry water forever in jars pierced like sieves. Lynceus and Hypermnestra were later reunited.

Danaus then arranged new marriages for his other daughters. He held an athletic contest, and gave them to the victors before noon on the day of the contest. The accounts continue with a new line of marriages after the purification, while Hypermnestra remained the only daughter to have spared her husband.

After their wedding night, the Danaids murdered their husbands, the sons of Aegyptus. Hypermnestra alone disobeyed Danaus. She spared Lynceus and urged him to escape, asking him to light a beacon when he reached safety. She promised to answer it with another beacon from the citadel. At dawn, Danaus learned what she had done. The Argive judges tried Hypermnestra for her life, but acquitted her. Lynceus and Hypermnestra were later reunited.

The murdered men’s heads were buried at Lerna, while their bodies received full funeral honours below the walls of Argos. Athene and Hermes purified the Danaids in the Lernaean Lake, with Zeus’s permission. Their purification did not end their punishment. The Judges of the Dead condemned them to carry water in jars pierced like sieves.

In the Underworld, the Danaids repeatedly filled the leaking vessels. The water escaped through the holes, so the task could never be completed. Hypermnestra was exempt because she had spared Lynceus. The punishment is associated with the Danaids in late accounts, while the pierced vessel also appears as a wider image of futile labour. An account of the Danaids’ story also connects Lerna with the burial of the sons of Aegyptus and with the purification of murderers.