In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...
, Lynceus (; grc, Λυγκεύς, Lynkeús, lynx-eyed) was a king of
Argos, succeeding
Danaus
In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; grc, Δαναός ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and ...
on the throne.
Family
Lynceus was named as a descendant of
Belus through his father
Aegyptus
In Greek mythology, Aegyptus or Ægyptus (; grc, Αἴγυπτος) was a legendary king of ancient Egypt. He was a descendant of the princess Io through his father Belus, and of the river-god Nilus as both the father of Achiroe, his mother ...
, who was the twin brother of
Danaus
In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; grc, Δαναός ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and ...
, father of fifty daughters called
Danaïdes
In Greek mythology, the Danaïdes (; el, Δαναΐδες), also Danaides or Danaids, were the fifty daughters of Danaus. In the ''Metamorphoses'', Ovid refers to them as the Belides after their grandfather Belus. They were to marry the 50 s ...
. He had forty-nine
siblings and out of them had five full brothers namely
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...
,
Busiris,
Enceladus
Enceladus is the sixth-largest moon of Saturn (19th largest in the Solar System). It is about in diameter, about a tenth of that of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Enceladus is mostly covered by fresh, clean ice, making it one of the most refle ...
Lycus and
Daiphron through their mother
Argyphia, a woman of royal blood. By
Hypermnestra, Lynceus became the father of Abas, who succeeded him as king.
Mythology
Lynceus's father Aegyptus commanded that his sons should marry the Danaïdes but Danaus together with his daughters fled to
Argos where King
Pelasgus
In Greek mythology, Pelasgus ( grc, Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'' means "ancient") was the eponymous ancestor of the Pelasgians, the mythical inhabitants of Greece who established the worship of the Dodonaean Zeus, Hephaestus, the Cabeiri, and o ...
ruled. Then Lynceus together with his brothers and father arrived to take the Danaïdes. Danaus gave them to spare the Argives the pain of a battle. However, he instructed his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night. Forty-nine followed through, but one,
Hypermnestra refused because Lynceus honored her wish to remain a virgin. Danaus was angry with his disobedient daughter and threw her to the Argive courts but
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...
intervened and saved her. Lynceus later killed Danaus as revenge for the death of his brothers. Lynceus and Hypermnestra then began a dynasty of Argive kings (the
Danaid Dynasty) beginning with
Abas. In some versions of the legend, the Danaïdes, minus Hypermnestra (or sometimes alternately
Amymone) were punished in
Tartarus
In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; grc, , }) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's ''Gorgias'' (), souls are judg ...
by being forced to carry water through a jug with holes, or a sieve, so the water always leaked out.
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
, ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...
'' 8.304
Argive genealogy in Greek mythology
See also
*
City of Lyrceia
References
{{Authority control
Kings of Argos
Sons of Aegyptus
cs:Lynkeus#Lynkeus - syn Aigyptův