A pretender to the throne back from afar. Moreover, with 50 dependent children. And a damn hurry to settle in the city to resist the war-Arrival of 50 grandchildren, sons of his brother. Here is a summary of the story of Danaus and his daughters to date.
The story of a "returning migrants" (although, perhaps, his ancestors were a bit dubious), which, as a good cultural hero, INNOVATION port and new cults in Greece, but the problem has to marry their daughters with local population.
will originate from him so that the Greek nobility came to be descended from, indeed, an immigrant, the authors of mass murder and a group of runners.
But let's see how it was done.
We have said that with the omen of wolves attacking a herd Argive, Dana becomes king of Argos. In gratitude, the Egyptian-founded a sanctuary of Lycian Apollo (Apollo the Wolf), and then wait. Because the new king is sure that the children of Egypt the brother are chasing, and is confident that, as good kinds, once married daughters, kill the father and take the throne. Argo
But not many guarantees in the event of war: there is no water, and everyone can imagine how important this is in a city under siege in the hot Greek summer. It is said that the plan had been cursed by Poseidon, who retired all waters dall'Argolide because the city chose to declare his protecting deity
It was rather that the "shaker of the earth." So Danao sends out his daughters (foreign) to look for what the locals have found no means a source.
While wandering alone Amymone, one of Danaides, was assaulted by a satyr that wanted to use violence, but the cries of the girl appeared to Poseidon himself, who rejected the satyr hurling his trident. The trident missed the shot and stuck in the rock, but the satyr fled.
Now Poseidon raped (or seduced, the confusion about what is happening among young people and the gods anciulle is a must!) Amymone, and then allowed to mine the trident: rock flowed from the source Amymone, which gave rise to the river (and swamp) of Lerna.
And the dreaded day arrived: 50 young people disembarked from a ship, the sons of Egypt. They wanted what they had asked for time before: to marry a Danaide each. In this myth (as well as in many others) the inheritance of the throne seems to go through the female line ...
Perhaps Egypt does not feel sure of his right to the throne, and then wants the union between his sons and daughters of his brother to remove all doubt. Some mischievous author assumed that the intention of the 50 bold young women was to kill (And uncle \\ father in law) after the wedding night. Danao suspect that, whatever the fate of the daughters, however, he will soon be deleted. So he refuses, and his warlike grandchildren asssediano Argo. Though it
Danaids ingegnino once again, digging wells (including at least four sacred), the city must surrender at the end of thirst, and Dana gave in to the children of Egypt.
So 50 weddings are celebrated, with selection criteria of the spouses rather unusual: sometimes a Danaide was bound to a son of Egypt because their mothers had the same rank, other times because the name of another was similar to that of the future bridegroom: in the most "desperate" it was necessary to fate, with extraction of names from a helmet.
During the wedding feast, however, the diffident \\ provident father gave each child a pin from her hair: a unique wedding gift was intended to hit her husband to death as soon fell asleep after the fatigues of the first night. So
49 Danaids the night and at midnight they obeyed his father killed their husbands. Ipermestra only spared her husband Linceo: he had respected her virginity, and the bride, grateful, asked the board to the goddess (virgin huntress) Artemis. At the suggestion of God, fled to Linceo sixty stadia from the city, at a place called ... Lincei (the name is doubtful whether there was first or after his escape), where, in the absence of cell, lit a torch to signal that the bride had arrived safe and sound.
Danao Ipermestra put on trial for disobedience, but the court acquitted the grounds that marital fidelity prevailed on obedience to the orders of his father. So Linceo could return to Argos, and be recognized as heir to the throne. Athena and Hermes, with the approval of his father Zeus, the daughters purified from crime, with water from the swamp of Lerna.
The heads of the sons of Egypt killed were buried at Lerna, and the bodies to Argos. Egtto When, later, arrived in Greece, after news of the end of children took refuge in Aroe, where he died.
Danao now a good father, had the problem to "fix" the daughters. Banned as a race between the contenders: Who would come first would have the right of first choice among the girls, under the laws of the second choice and so on up to forty-ninth ranked. Only that the contestants were well under 49! And with good reason: the prize was his marriage to noble women, yes, but they were
a) foreign
b) homicidal
c) maybe even crazy and willing to repeat the exploit of the probe with new husbands .. .
So only a few took the risk. But the first night of the (second) wedding went well, without any new or dead. So the father said the race and this time the success was guaranteed: all found Danaids husband.
The descendants of this marriage were called Danai, a name that spread to all the nobility of the heroic age of Hellas, which in many ways even married them.
So the Greeks were able to say good title to the descendants of an immigrant, of runners and a group of murderous!
happy ending, then?
Well, not really. Even if his intentions were not those from the beginning, soon Linceo killed his stepfather. Apparently he wanted to do the same with the cognate but the Argives (imagine we agree with the new husbands Danaids) prohibited it. As for
Danaides, once deceased had different fates: Ipermestra was rewarded for his loyalty to her husband, and the others were sentenced by the Judges of the Dead (the other descendants of immigrants ...) to pick up in eternal hell-water from a river ... riddled with the pitchers as sieves.
Their punishment was, therefore, eternal.
Some small notes ... According to other
mythographers Ipermestra was not only (or Hypermestra) to save her husband but also her sister Amymone. In fact, according to sources, the sentence of only 48 hits Danaids sisters (Ipermestra Amymone and are not condemned by the Judges of the Dead). But we must not forget that
Amymone had a son by Poseidon, and this could be enough to get the exemption penalty. But
sopetta that "Amymone" or "no fault" is just a nickname, and then the Danaide that saved her husband in the end was precisely and only Amymone \\ Ipermestra ... The Argives
celebrating the various rites associated with this story: a Lincei celebrated an annual festival with the lighting of bonfires to remember the various drain Lincei, also celebrated the so-called race Hymen (Hymen, the son of Apollo and a Muse, or Dions and dean of Aphrodite at the wedding) to commemorate the two events that led to the remarriage of Danaids.
It is said that the Danaides imported from Egypt, the Mysteries of Demeter, the Thesmophoria: they were celebrated in Argos until the return of the Dorians. After then these Mysteries survived in Acadia.
Poseidon had been defeated in competition for the "sponsorship" of Argos: he and his sister had fought for this land, but the river Inachus (the ancestor of Danaus second version "Greek" original), and his brothers Asterion Cephisus rivers and preferred the goddess. The god of water and earthquakes did not take it, as we said.
The story of the patronage of Argos was not the only case where Poseidon was defeated: the Attica's preferred Athena, Dionysus went to Naxos, Aegina to Zeus, the Acropolis of Corinth fell to Elio. Poseidon received only the Isthmus of Corinth and Trezene half (the other half fell to Athens ... and the myth of Theseus incorporates this dual protectorate).
Apparently the only land that was obtained without problems Atlantis ... that it is taken with earthquakes and floods result of chance impiety of its inhabitants. Provided that Plato did not invent everything! From
Amymone and Poseidon Nauplius was born the old man, who was a great navigator: it was the first to navigate the Great Bear and founded the port of Nafplion. He was the grandfather of Nauplius (II) was the father of Palamedes and bearer of many misfortunes (especially maritime) to the heroes returning from Troy.
Some of the events preceding the seizure of power Amymone on Argo.
It 'true that the history of Danaids binds to the concept of water
missing: coming from the sea, looking for a source and are the source of the river and the swamp of Lerna (whose emblem was the monstrous Hydra), one of them has a relationship with Posedione, god of water, and I was born a Navigator son and founder of the port of Argos, dig wells for eternity are constrained to try to carry the water ... The story of Danaus and Egypt is part of a succession struggle between siblings or relatives that will be continued and a typical family: they will rival the grandchildren of Lincei (Acrisius and Preto) and will be Heracles and Eurystheus (cousins).
The race for a noble woman (often the king's daughter) in marriage is found in many myths: that of Oenomaus and Pelops, Eurytus and of Heracles, in the race for Atalanta's hand. In the story of Odysseus and Icarus have a variant (the "fuitina" of the spouses), and if we are in this area is also part of the challenge proposed by the suitors to Penelope, with the race of the arc.
Slightly different is the case of Pelias and Admetus, where the groom had to yoke the chariot of the fairs for the wedding.
E 'to remember how, in the case of Oenomaus and Eurytus, these competitions resulted in the death of the old king.
The myth of Danaus is a variant: Linceo not a race but still kills the father.
The killing of the old king seems to be the new king \\ paredro of the woman who was guaranteed the kingship and then two variants: first, the killing is made by his son, the other is the son or grandson. When the killing stems from a rivalry sucoero \\ son, the intent is often stated (see the myth of Pelops) When was the direct relationship, the mythographer "softens" the story and adds an element of inevitability that the killer does not recognizes the killing.
Indeed, often, the future is looking for the future murder victim to reconcile with him. This is what happens in the myth of Perseus and Acrisius (grandson and grandfather), and in that of Odysseus and Telegono (son and father), and of Altemene Catreo (son and father) ... Oedipus kills his father Laius, not knowing who he faced.
Yet another variant is that the myth of Theseus and the Aegean: the son is the indirect cause of his father's death (suicide).
The number of daughters of Danaus (and children of Egypt) is an unconventional Tespiadi 50 are the children of Heracles, the set of 50 sons and daughters of Priam, the Nereids are 50 (but sometimes reaching 100, or 50 +50).
According to Graves (The Greek Myths, 60.3) 50 was the number of the priestesses of the Moon, brought together in college and in charge of making it rain at home with magical rites.
The idea that the children of Egypt intends to marry the daughters of Danaus and then kill his father in law consistent with the logic that sees the king \\ husband of the goddess, an old man, was killed and replaced by the new king \\ new husband of the priestess representing the goddess, so you always have a ruler "vigorous" and so fertile that ensured the fertility of the soil. The fact that Dana
anticipate genres puts him in the lineage of Cain, Cain was not according to some the most evil of Abel, but only faster, and his brother killed before they could do the same with him!
As we mentioned, the root of "migrants" Dana \\ Danaids can be connected to that of the Celtic Goddess Danu, which descended from the Tuatha de Dannan, the people who invaded Ireland divine mythical age. Other immigrants ...
0 comments:
Post a Comment