Dana, a large town of Cappadocia.
Danăce, the name of the piece of money which Charon required to convey the dead over the Styx. Suidas.
Dănae, the daughter of Acrisius king of Argos by Eurydice. She was confined in a brazen tower by her father, who had been told by an oracle that his daughter’s son would put him to death. His endeavours to prevent Danae from becoming a mother proved fruitless; and Jupiter, who was enamoured of her, introduced himself to her bed, by changing himself into a golden shower. From his embraces Danae had a son, with whom she was exposed on the sea by her father. The wind drove the bark which carried her to the coasts of the island of Seriphus, where she was saved by some fishermen, and carried to Polydectes king of the place, whose brother called Dictys educated the child called Perseus, and tenderly treated the mother. Polydectes fell in love with her; but as he was afraid of her son, he sent him to conquer the Gorgons, pretending that he wished Medusa’s head to adorn the nuptials which he was going to celebrate with Hippodamia the daughter of Œnomaus. When Perseus had victoriously finished his expedition, he retired to Argos with Danae, to the house of Acrisius, whom he inadvertently killed. Some suppose that it was Prœtus the brother of Acrisius who introduced himself to Danae in the brazen tower; and instead of a golden shower, it was maintained that the keepers of Danae were bribed by the gold of her seducer. Virgil mentions that Danae came to Italy with some fugitives of Argos, and that she founded a city called Ardea. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 611; Ars Amatoria, bk. 3, li. 415; Amores, bk. 2, poem 19, li. 27.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 16.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 14, li. 319.—Apollodorus, bk. 2, chs. 2 & 4.—Statius, Thebiad, bk. 1, li. 255.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 410.——A daughter of Leontium, mistress to Sophron governor of Ephesus.——A daughter of Danaus, to whom Neptune offered violence.
Dănai, a name given to the people of Argos, and promiscuously to all the Greeks, from Danaus their king. Virgil, & Ovid, passim.
Dănaĭdes, the 50 daughters of Danaus king of Argos. When their uncle Ægyptus came from Egypt with his 50 sons, they were promised in marriage to their cousins; but before the celebration of their nuptials, Danaus, who had been informed by an oracle that he was to be killed by the hands of one of his sons-in-law, made his daughters solemnly promise that they would destroy their husbands. They were provided with daggers by their father, and all, except Hypermnestra, stained their hands with the blood of their cousins, the first night of their nuptials; and as a pledge of their obedience to their father’s injunctions, they presented him each with the head of the murdered sons of Ægyptus. Hypermnestra was summoned to appear before her father, and answer for her disobedience in suffering her husband Lynceus to escape, but the unanimous voice of the people declared her innocent, and in consequence of her honourable acquittal, she dedicated a temple to the goddess of Persuasion. The sisters were purified of this murder by Mercury and Minerva, by order of Jupiter; but according to the more received opinion, they were condemned to severe punishment in hell, and were compelled to fill with water a vessel full of holes, so that the water ran out as soon as poured into it, and therefore their labour was infinite, and their punishment eternal. The names of the Danaides and their husbands were as follows, according to Apollodorus: Amymone married Enceladus; Automate, Busiris; Agave, Lycus; Scea, Dayphron; Hippodamia, Ister; Rhodia, Chalcedon; Calyce, another Lynceus; Gorgophone, Proteus; Cleopatra, Agenor; Asteria, Chætus; Glauce, Aleis; Hippodamia, Diacorytes; Hippomedusa, Alcmenon; Gorge, Hippothous; Iphimedusa, Euchenor; Rhode, Hippolytus; Pirene, Agaptolemus; Cercestis, Dorion; Pharte, Eurydamas; Mnestra, Ægius; Evippe, Arigius; Anaxibia, Archelaus; Nelo, Melachus; Clite, Clitus; Stenele, Stenelus; Chrysippe, Chrysippus; Autonoe, Eurylochus; Theano, Phantes; Electra, Peristhenes; Eurydice, Dryas; Glaucippe, Potamon; Autholea, Cisseus; Cleodora, Lixus; Evippe, Imbrus; Erata, Bromius; Stygne, Polyctor; Bryce, Chthonius; Actea, Periphas; Podarce, Œneus; Dioxippe, Ægyptus; Adyte, Menalces; Ocypete, Lampus; Pilarge, Idmon; Hippodice, Idas; Adiante, Diaphron; Callidia, Pandion; Œme, Arbelus; Celena, Hixbius; Hyperia, Hippocoristes. The heads of the sons of Ægyptus were buried at Argos; but their bodies were left at Lerna, where the murder had been committed. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.—Horace, bk. 3, ode 11.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 16.—Hyginus, fable 168, &c.
Danăla, a castle of Galatia.
Danapris, now the Nieper, a name given in the middle ages to the Borysthenes, as Danaster the Neister, was applied to the Tyras.
Dănaus, a son of Belus and Anchinoe, who, after his father’s death, reigned conjointly with his brother Ægyptus on the throne of Egypt. Some time after, a difference arose between the brothers, and Danaus set sail with his 50 daughters in quest of a settlement. He visited Rhodes, where he consecrated a statue to Minerva, and arrived safe on the coast of Peloponnesus, where he was hospitably received by Gelanor king of Argos. Gelanor had lately ascended the throne, and the first years of his reign were marked with dissensions with his subjects. Danaus took advantage of Gelanor’s unpopularity, and obliged him to abdicate the crown. In Gelanor, the race of the Inaehidæ was extinguished, and the Belides began to reign at Argos in Danaus. Some authors say that Gelanor voluntarily resigned the crown to Danaus, on account of the wrath of Neptune, who had dried up all the waters of Argolis, to punish the impiety of Inachus. The success of Danaus invited the 50 sons of Ægyptus to embark for Greece. They were kindly received by their uncle, who, either apprehensive of their number, or terrified by an oracle which threatened his ruin by one of his sons-in-law, caused his daughters, to whom they were promised in marriage, to murder them the first night of their nuptials. His fatal orders were executed, but Hypermnestra alone spared the life of Lynceus. See: [Danaides]. Danaus at first persecuted Lynceus with unremitted fury, but he was afterwards reconciled to him, and he acknowledged him for his son-in-law and successor, after a reign of 50 years. He died about 1425 years before the christian era, and after death he was honoured with a splendid monument in the town of Argos, which still existed in the age of Pausanias. According to Æschylus, Danaus left Egypt, not to be present at the marriage of his daughters with the sons of his brother, a connection which he deemed unlawful and impious. The ship in which Danaus came to Greece was called Armais, and was the first that had ever appeared there. It is said that the use of pumps was first introduced into Greece by Danaus. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 1.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 19.—Hyginus, fable 168, &c.—Herodotus, bk. 2, ch. 91, &c.; bk. 7, ch. 94.
Dandări and Dandarĭdæ, certain inhabitants near mount Caucasus. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, ch. 18.
Dandon, a man of Illyricum, who, as Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 48, reports, lived 500 years.