Hypermnestra
The only one of the fifty Danaids who refused to murder her husband Lynceus on their wedding night.
The Legend of Hypermnestra
Forty-nine sisters obeyed their father and killed — she alone defied him and became the mother of kings. While all her sisters stabbed their husbands with hidden daggers, Hypermnestra could not bring herself to kill Lynceus. Some say it was because he respected her; others say she fell in love. Danaus imprisoned her for disobedience, but Aphrodite herself spoke in her defense at the trial. Lynceus eventually killed Danaus in revenge for his brothers. Hypermnestra and Lynceus founded the Argive royal dynasty that produced Acrisius, Danae, Perseus, and ultimately Heracles. Her single act of defiance created the bloodline that produced Greece's greatest hero.
Parents
Danaus
Children
Abas
Symbols
Fun Fact
Aphrodite personally defended Hypermnestra at trial — one of the rare times a goddess testified for a mortal.
Explore Further
Lynceus of Argos
🗡 heroSight, Survival, Revenge
Danaid husband with supernaturally sharp sight, sole male survivor of the massacre of the fifty sons of Aegyptus.
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Danaus
🗡 heromurder
Egyptian-born king of Argos whose fifty daughters murdered their fifty husbands on their wedding night — all except one.
Neleus
🗡 herokingship
Son of Poseidon and Tyro, founder of Pylos, father of Nestor, killed by Heracles for refusing purification.
Haemon
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Creon and fiancé of Antigone who died beside her in defiance of his father
Clytemnestra
🗡 heroQueen who murdered Agamemnon
Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon on his return from Troy, driven by rage over Iphigenia's sacrifice.
Electra
🗡 heroAvenger of Agamemnon
Daughter of Agamemnon who plotted with her brother Orestes to avenge their father's murder by killing their mother Clytemnestra.
Niobe
🗡 heroQueen punished for boasting about her children
A queen who boasted that her fourteen children made her superior to the goddess Leto, who had only two. Apollo and Artemis killed all fourteen, and Niobe wept until she turned to stone.
Penthesilea
🗡 heroAmazon queen who fought at Troy
Penthesilea was the Amazon queen who came to fight for Troy after Hector's death — killed by Achilles, who wept when he saw her beauty.
Anaxibia
🗡 heroMarriage, royalty
Mycenaean princess who married Strophius of Phocis and raised the young Orestes in secret
Ismene
🗡 heroNone recorded
Daughter of Oedipus and sister of Antigone, cautious where Antigone was defiant
Alcimede
🗡 heroMotherhood, nobility
Noble Thessalian woman and mother of Jason, leader of the Argonauts