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The Suppliants (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)

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The Story:

Danaüs and his fifty maiden daughters fled from Egypt after Danaüs’ brother, Aegyptus, had decided that his fifty sons should take their cousins to wife. The fugitives finally reached the shores of Argos, the land of their illustrious ancestress Io, a mortal who had been loved by Zeus. Holding olive branches wrapped in wool before an Argive altar, the maidens sought Zeus’ protection of their purity. Their supplications to the father of the gods included the wish that the sons of Aegyptus might meet disaster at sea between Egypt and Argos. In fear of being...

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