In Greek mythology, Hypermnestra (Ancient Greek: Ὑπερμνήστρα, meaning: "great wooing" or "high marriage") and by marriage a queen of Argos. She is a daughter of King Danaus, and one of the 50 Danaids. Hypermnestra is most notable for being the only Danaid that betrayed her father and refused to kill her husband Lynceus, the future king of Argos.
Family[]
Hypermnestra was one of two daughters born of King Danaus of Libya and Elephantis, with her only full sister being Gorgophone, as the rest of the 48 Danaids were begotten by other women. Danaus was the son of King Belos of Egypt and either the naiad Achiroe, daughter of the river god Nilus, or Side, the namesake of Sidon.[1]
In other versions of the myth, all of the Danaids were born of Melia, daughter of King Agenor of Tyre.[2]
Mythology[]
Hypermnestra's father, King Danaus of Libya had a twin brother Aegyptus, an Egyptian king.[3] Both men fathered 50 children, with Danaus having 50 daughters (the Danaids) and Aegyptus having 50 sons (the Aegyptids).[4] Aegyptus proposed marriages between all their children, but Danaus refused and fled with his family to Argos, as an oracle once foretold that he would die by the hand of his son-in-law.[5] King Pelasgus of Argos surrendered the city to Danaus, and he became king.[3]
Aegyptus was enraged by his brother's betrayal. He organized an army led by all his sons, and sent them to Argos with the command that they should not return until either Danaus was dead or he had consented to let the brothers marry the Danaids. Danaus, facing siege and a probable loss, agreed to let the brothers marry his daughters in a large wedding feast where every couple was married on the same night.[4] However, he gave all the Danaids swords, and instructed them to kill their husbands after they had fallen asleep on their wedding night and bring their heads to him as proof of the deed.[6]
While all 49 other sisters followed through with their father's command and killed their husbands, Hypermnestra refused because her husband Lynceus[7] honored her wish to remain a virgin. However, in Ovid's telling of the story, Hypermnestra does not mention her virginity, but believes the act of murdering her husband is barbarous and immoral. She states she would rather be found guilty of betraying her father than committing murder, for she believes it to be an unforgivable act.[8] After sparing her husband, Hypermnestra helped Lynceus flee back to safety[8] either with his father in Egypt[5] or to Lynceia, a city in the Argolid.[7] In the version of the myth where he flees to Lynceia, Lynceus informed his wife of his safety by lighting a torch: she then informed him of her safety by lighting a torch from Larissa, the citadel of Argos. The city was later named Lynceia in his honor.[9]
Danaus was enraged by Hypermnestra's disobedience. He imprisoned her and tried her in the Argive courts. However, she was acquitted— alternatively, saved by Aphrodite— and to commemorate her escape, commissioned an image of Aphrodite, "Bringer of Victory."[10] In some versions of the myth, Lynceus killed Danaus for his treachery, and in others, Danaus died years later and passed the kingdom to Lynceus.[11]
Together Lynceus and Hypermnestra had a son, Abas, the first king of the Abantiad Dynasty and the founder of Abae.[12][13][14]
Apollodorus claims the heads of the murdered husbands were buried at Lerna, where Athena and Hermes then purified the ground at the command of Zeus.[4] However, Pausanias claims the heads were instead buried at Larisa, and the headless bodies were buried in Lerna.[6] Additionally, in some versions of the myth, the Danaides were punished in the underworld by being forced to carry water in a jug with holes, or a sieve, so the water always leaked out. Hypermnestra, however, went straight to Elysium.
Ovid wrote a letter from Hypermnestra to Lynceus, which appears in his Heroides.[8]
Argive genealogy[]
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| Preceded by: Pieria |
Queen of Argos Mythic |
Succeeded by Ocalea |
References[]
- ↑ Malalas, Chronicle 2.30
- ↑ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica Notes on Book 3.1689
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Apollodorus, The Library 2.1.4
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Apollodorus, The Library 2.1.5
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Commentary on the Heroides of Ovid: Hypermnestra". Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece 2.24.2
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 William Smith, Mahmoud Saba (1857). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (volume II). Original from the University of Michigan: Walton and Maberly. p. 231.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Ovid, Heroides. 14
- ↑ Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece 25.4
- ↑ Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece 2.19.6
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 273
- ↑ Apollodorus, The Library 2.2.1
- ↑ John Conington, Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid, Volume 1, 3.286
- ↑ Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece 10.35.1