DANAO, dit-nii/O: A town of Cebfi, Philip pines, situated four miles north of Cebfi, on the coast, near the mouth of the Danao River. The town is very old, having existed from the time of the conquest. Population, in 1898, 15.483.
DANAttS, dan'ti-fis (Lat., from Gk. _Samos). A mythical personage, according to the MI11111011 genealogy, the son of Belus and Anchinoe, grand son of Poseidon, brother of _Egyptus, and origi nally ruler of Libya. Thinking his life in dan ger from the machinations of his brother, he tied to Argos, accompanied by his fifty daugh ters, known as the Danaides, where he was chosen king, after the banishment of Gelanor, the last of the Inachidie. The fifty sons of followed him. and sought the hands of his daughters in marriage. Danaiis consented, lint in fear of treachery or in revenge for his exile, gave each of his daughters a dagger, and made them prondse to murder their husbands on their wedding night. All did so. except llyperm nestra, who saved her husband. Lynceus. The
future of the Danaides was variously told. Ac cording to one version, Danaiis found no suitors for his daughters, and finally offered them as prizes in a contest. They were thus married to the Argive youth and became the ancestors of the Danai. The story of Lynceus was also variously told; according to one version Ilype•m nestra was forgiven, and Lynceus chosen by Danaiis as his The other version wits that Lyncens later slew Danaiis and his guilty daughters. The Danaides in the lower world were condemned to the never-ending task of fill ing with water a vessel full of holes. The Danahles seem to have been regarded as nymphs of the springs in the plain of Argos, and Danaiis is said to have been the first to dig wells for the inhabitants, who thereupon (-hose him king. The tomb of Danaiis, in the Agora of Argos. was shown as late as the time of Pansanias.