Gelanor Yields Argos to Danaus

Catalogue ID: 03-heroes/251-gelanor-danaus-argos-apollodorus

Cycle: Heroes / Argive — Danaid arrival and transfer of kingship

Version line: Apollodorean / Pausanian — last pre-Danaid king; omen of the wolf

Sources: Apollodorus, *Library* 2.1.4; Pausanias 2.16.1, 2.19.3–4 (Gelanor; wolf omen; Danaus as king)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/03-heroes/251-gelanor-danaus-argos-apollodorus.md

Characters

Argives — assembly that weighs the omen
Danaids — daughters accompanying Danaus
Danaus — Egyptian exile who becomes king of Argos
Gelanor — Argive king who yields the throne
Wolf and bull — omen animals (symbolic)

Places

Egypt — land fled by Danaus
Mycenae — scene of debate, omen, and transfer of rule

Themes

Narrative

When Danaus and his fifty daughters fled Egypt and sought asylum at Argos, the land was ruled by Gelanor (or Pelasgus in Aeschylean tragic naming). Apollodorus and Pausanias preserve a transfer story: the Argives debated whether to receive the strangers as rulers; a wolf attacked a bull among the herds, and the wolf’s victory was read as an omen that the newcomer (likened to the wolf) should prevail over the native king (the bull). Gelanor accordingly yielded the kingship to Danaus. Danaus named the people Danaans and established the line through which Hypermnestra and Lynceus continue toward Abas, Acrisius, and Perseus. Catalogue Gelanor’s abdication apart from the wedding-night murders and apart from Amymone’s spring.