A Chorus of One Danaid

Abstract

At the end of the Suppliant Women of Aeschylus, a lyrical argument develops which is without any exact parallel in Greek tragedy. Our single, badly corrupted, manuscript does not name the combatants; at the most crucial section it does not even indicate change of singer by the customary dash; it has no list of dramatis personae. The chorus of Danaids has long been arguing against a forced marriage, and it is generally accepted that they are one of the participants in the argument. But who are their antagonists? On the older view, the chorus is divided against itself; on the more recent one, another group of singers is disputing with them. Who these singers are is not generally agreed, though the majority vote is for a chorus of handmaidens. It will be my concern in this paper to argue that the antagonist is one person and that person is Hypermnestra, who, in the sequel, alone of the Danaids spared her husband, Lynceus, and thus founded the royal line of Argos, where the play is set. The exact way in which Aeschylus portrayed her action, and the fate of her sisters, are quite uncertain.