(), a son of Belus and Anchinoe, and a grandson of
Poseidon and Libya. He was brother of Aegyptus, and farther of fifty daughters, and the
mythical ancestor of the Danai. (Apollod. 2.1.4, &c.)
According to the common story he was a native of Chemnis, in the Thebais in Upper Egypt, and
migrated from thence into Greece. (Hdt. 2.91.) Belus had given
Danaüs Libya, while Aegyptus had obtained Arabia. Danaus had reason to think that the
sons of his brother were plotting against him, and fear or the advice of an oracle (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 37), induced him to build a large ship
and to embark with his daughters. On his flight he first landed at Rhodes, where he set up an
image of Athena Lindia. According to the story in Herodotus, a temple of Athena was built at
Lindus by the daughters of Danaüs, and according to Strabo (xiv. p.654) Tlepolemus built the towns of Lindus, Ialysus and Cameirus, and called
them thus after the names of three Danaides. From Rhodes Danaüs and his daughters sailed
to Peloponnesus, and landed at a place near Lerna, which was afterwards called from this event
Apobathmi. (Paus. 2.38.4.) At Argos a dispute arose between
Danaüs and Gelanor about the government, and after many discussions the people deferred
the decision of the question to the next day. At its dawn a wolf rushed among the cattle and
killed one of the oxen. This occurrence was to the Argives an event which seemed to announce
to them in what manner the dispute should terminate, and Danaus was accordingly made king of
Argos. Out of gratitude he now built a sanctuary of Apollo Lycius, who, as he believed, had
sent the wolf. (Paus. 2.19.3. Comp. Serv. ad Aen. 4.377, who relates a different story.)
Danaüs also erected two wooden statues of Zeus and Artemis, and dedicated his shield in
the sanctuary of Hera. (Paus. 2.19.6; Hyg. Fab. 170.) He is further said to have built the acropolis of Argos and to have
provided the place with water by digging wells. (Strab. i.
p.23, viii. p. 371; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 461.)
The sons of Aegyptus in the mean time had followed their uncle to Argos; they assured him of
their peaceful sentiments and sued for the hands of his daughters. Danaüs still
mistrusted them and remembered the cause of his flight from his country; however he gave them
his daughters and distributed them among his nephews by lot. But all the brides, with the
exception of Hypermnestra murdered their husbands by the command of their father. [DANAIDES.] In aftertimes the Argives were called Danai. Whether
Danaüs died a natural death, or whether he was killed by Lynceus, his son-in-law, is a
point on which the various traditions are not agreed, but he is said to have been buried at
Argos, and his tomb in the agora of Argos was shewn there ae late as the time of Pausanias.
(2.20.4; Strab. viii. p.371.) Statues of Danaus,
Hypermnestra and Lynceus were seen at Delphi by Pausanias. (10.10.2.)