''Danais'' (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Δαναΐς) refers to a lost

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

epic written by one of the cyclic poets. The Danaid tetralogy of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

undoubtedly draws its material from this particular literary work. Danais is represented in the table of epics in the received canon on the very fragmentary "Borgia table" as "Danaides". The subject of the epic is the

Danaïdes In Greek mythology, the Danaïdes (; ), also Danaides or Danaids, were the fifty daughters of Danaus, king of Ancient Libya, Libya. Danaus and the Danaids feared that Danaus's twin brother, Aegyptus, was plotting to overthrow and kill them. So, t ...

, the fifty daughters of Danaus, a king in Lybia. A description of them preparing for a battle in Egypt (they were to be married off to fifty brothers, the children of Danaus's twin brother) is the only detail left of the poem.

References

{{reflist Ancient Greek epic poems Lost poems Mythology of Argos, Peloponnese