The Argo, Danaus, and Sesostris: On Allusions to Two First-Ship Traditions in Apollonius’s Argonautica

Abstract

Against recent skepticism, this article proposes that Apollonius’s Argonautica alludes to the variant traditions that regarded either the Argo or the ship of Danaus as the first that ever sailed. Both variants predate Apollonius, and the poet nods to each at different points in his epic. Most novel is my argument that the rare word Δαναΐς (1.137) constitutes a subtle allusion to the tradition that Danaus’s ship, the “Danais” (Δαναΐς, scholium ad Argonautica 1.1–4e), was the world’s first ship. Neither tradition jibes with Apollonius’s mythological chronology, but Danaus’s voyage nevertheless provides a resonant Greco-Egyptian exemplar for the Argonautic expedition.