Editing Hypermnestra

{{Short description|Daughter of Danaus in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses|Hypermnestra (mythology)}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Hypermnestra
| abode = [[Libya]], later [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]
| father = [[Danaus]]
| mother = [[Elephantis (mythology)|Elephantis]] or [[Melia (mythology)|Melia]]
| spouse = [[Lynceus (son of Aegyptus)|Lynceus]]
| image = Hypermnestre BnF Français 599 fol. 14.jpg
| children = [[Abas (son of Lynceus)|Abas]]
| caption = An image of Hypermnestra at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Francais
| member_of = the 50 [[Danaids]]
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Hypermnestra''' ({{langx|grc|Ὑπερμνήστρα}}, ''Hypermnēstra'') was by birth a [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] princess and by marriage a queen of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]. She is a daughter of [[Danaus|King Danaus]], and one of the 50 [[Danaïdes|Danaids]]. Hypermnestra is most notable for being the only Danaid that betrayed her father and refused to kill her husband [[Lynceus (son of Aegyptus)|Lynceus]], the future king of Argos.

== Family ==
Hypermnestra was one of two daughters born of King Danaus of Libya and [[Elephantis (mythology)|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 [[Belus (Egyptian)|King Belus]] of [[Egypt]] and either the [[naiad]] [[Achiroe|Archiroe]], daughter of the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river god]] [[Nilus (mythology)|Nilus]], or [[Side (mythology)|Side]], the namesake of [[Sidon]].<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], [https://topostext.org/work/793#2.30 2.30]</ref>

In other versions of the myth, all of the Danaids were born of [[Melia (mythology)|Melia]], daughter of [[Agenor|King Agenor]] of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]].<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' Notes on Book 3.1689</ref>

==Mythology==
Hypermnestra's father, King Danaus of Libya had a twin brother [[Aegyptus]], an [[Egypt|Egyptian]] king.<ref name=":0">Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.1.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Danaus 2.1.4]</ref> Both men fathered 50 children, with Danaus having 50 daughters (the Danaids) and Aegyptus having 50 sons.<ref name=":1">Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.1.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Danaus 2.1.5]</ref> 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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Commentary on the Heroides of Ovid: Hypermnestra |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0061:poem=14&highlight=hypermnestra |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> King [[Pelasgus (king of Argos)|Pelasgus]] of Argos surrendered the city to Danaus, and he became king.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":2">Pausanias. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%202.24.2&lang=original 2.24.2]</ref>
[[File:Hypermnestra Folio.jpg|thumb|An illumination of Hypermnestra imprisoned by Danaus]]
While all 49 other sisters followed through with their father's command and killed their husbands, Hypermnestra refused because her husband Lynceus<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last=William Smith, Mahmoud Saba |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJIfAAAAMAAJ&dq=Lyrcus&pg=PA231 |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (volume II) |publisher=Walton and Maberly |year=1857 |location=Original from the University of Michigan |pages=231}}</ref> honored her wish to remain a [[Virginity|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.<ref name=":3">[[Ovid]], [[Heroides|''Heroides'']]. 14</ref> After sparing her husband, Hypermnestra helped Lynceus flee back to safety<ref name=":3" /> either with his father in Egypt<ref name=":42">{{Cite web |title=Commentary on the Heroides of Ovid: Hypermnestra |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0061:poem=14&highlight=hypermnestra |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> or to [[Lyrceia|Lynceia]], a city in the [[Argolid]].<ref name="Smith2">{{cite book |last=William Smith, Mahmoud Saba |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tJIfAAAAMAAJ&dq=Lyrcus&pg=PA231 |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (volume II) |publisher=Walton and Maberly |year=1857 |location=Original from the University of Michigan |pages=231}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Holinshed |first=Raphael |title=The Historie Of England, From The Time That It Was First Inhabited, Vntill The Time That It Was Last Conquered |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.03.0084:book=1:chapter=3&highlight=lynceus |access-date=2025-04-05 |website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> 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 (Argos)|Larissa]], the [[citadel]] of Argos. The city was later named Lynceia in his honor.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=paus.+2.25.4 25.4]</ref> 

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."<ref>Pausanias. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=19&highlight=hypermnestra 2.19.6]</ref> 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.<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#273 273]</ref> 

Together Lynceus and Hypermnestra had a son, [[Abas (son of Lynceus)|Abas]], the first king of the [[List of kings of Argos#Abantiad Dynasty|Abantiad Dynasty]] and the founder of [[Abae]].<ref>Apollodorus. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D1 2.2.1]</ref><ref>John Conington, ''Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid'', Volume 1, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0050:book=3:commline=286&highlight=hypermnestra 3.286].</ref><ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.35.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=10:chapter=35&highlight=Abas 10.35.1]</ref>

[[Apollodorus of Damascus|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]].<ref name=":1" /> However, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] claims the heads were instead buried at [[Larisa (Argos)|Larisa]], and the headless bodies were buried in Lerna.<ref name=":2" /> 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]].

==Cultural depictions==
[[Ovid]] wrote a letter from Hypermnestra to Lynceus, which appears in his ''[[Heroides]]''.<ref name=":3" />

[[Geoffrey Chaucer]] wrote a ''Legend of Hypermnestra''.<ref>[http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/chaucer_review/v036/36.1aloni.pdf A Curious Error?: Geoffrey Chaucer’s Legend of Hypermnestra, The Chaucer Review, Vol 36, Number 1, 2001, accessed 2 May 2013]</ref>

[[Francesco Cavalli]] wrote ''[[Hipermestra]]'', first performed at Florence on 12 June 1658, as a [[festa teatrale]] opera.

Hypermnestra is referred to in [[John Webster]]'s tragedy '[[The White Devil]]', in a speech by the scheming courtesan Flamineo:
''"...Trust a woman? never, never... We lay''
''our souls to pawn to the devil for a little pleasure, and a woman makes''
''the bill of sale. That ever man should marry! For one Hypermnestra''
''that saved her lord and husband, forty-nine of her sisters cut their''
''husbands' throats all in one night."''

[[Charles-Hubert Gervais]] composed the opera ''[[Hypermnestre]]'', first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera) on 3 November 1716.

[[Ignaz Holzbauer]] composed a German opera entitled ''Hypermnestra'' with a German libretto by Johann Leopold van Ghelen that was performed in [[Vienna]] in 1741.

[[Antonio Salieri]] composed the opera ''[[Les Danaïdes]]'' with a French libretto by [[François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet]] and [[Louis-Théodore de Tschudi]] in 1784, premiering in [[Paris]].

==Argive genealogy==
{{Argive genealogy in Greek mythology}}

==See also==
{{Commons category|Hypermnestra (mythology)}}
*[[Lyrcus#City of Lyrceia|City of Lyrceia]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
*[[Ovid]], ''[[Heroides]]'' 14.
*Eusebuis, ''Chronicon'' 46.8-12, 47.22-23.
*Orosius, ''Historiae adversus paganos'' I.ii.i.
*Lactantius Placidus, ''Commentarii in Statii Thebaida'' II.222.

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Danaïdes]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]