1. A son of Aegyptus and Argyphia, and husband of the Danaid Hypermnestra, by whom he became
the father of Abas. He was king of Argos, whence that city is called Λυλκήϊον Ἄργος (Apollon. 1.125). His story
is, that when the Danaides, by the desire of their father, killed their husbands in one night,
Hypermnestra alone spared the life of her husband Lynceus. Danaus thereupon kept his
disobedient daughter in strict confinement, but was afterwards prevailed upon to give her to
Lynceus, who succeeded him on the throne of Argos (Apollod.
2.1.5, 2.1; Paus.
2.16.1; Ov. Ep. 14). The cause of Hypermnestra sparing
Lynceus is not the same in all accounts (Schol. ad Pind. Nem. 10.10, ad Eurip. Hecub. 869, ad Pind. Pyth. 9.200). It is also
said that she assisted her husband in his eseape from the vengeance of Danaus, that he fled to
Lyrceia (Lynceia), and from thence gave a sign with a torch that he had safely arrived there;
Hypermnestra returned the sign from the citadel of Argos, and in commemoration of this event
the Argives celebrated every year a festival with torches (Paus.
2.25.4; comp. 2.19.6, 21.1, 20.5). When Lynceus received the news of the death of
Danaus from his son Abas, Lynceus gave to Abas the shield of Danaus, which had been dedicated
in the temple of Hera, and instituted games in honour of Hera, in which the victor received a
shield as his prize (Hyg. Fab. 273). According to some, Lynceus
slew Danaus and all the sisters of Hypermnestra, in revenge for his brothers (Schol. ad Eurip. Hecub. 869; Serv. ad Aen.
10.497). Lynceus and his wife were revered at Argos as heroes, and had a common
sanctuary, and their tomb was shown there not far from the altar of Zeus Phyxius (Hyg. Fab. 168; Paus. 2.21.2). Their
statues stood in the temple at Delphi, as a present from the Argives. (Paus. 10.10.2.)