Suppliants Summary
List of Characters (In order)
Danaus
The Chorus: Made up of the 50 daughters of Danaus
The King Of Argos
Egyptian Herald
Handmaidens: the Argive women who give the Chorus a new life in their land
The Suppliants arrive in Argos
The scene opens showing a clear stage: there is an open, large orchestra (or dancing area) and in the centre lay an altar with figurines placed around it. These figurines represent the chifs gods of Argos. The first characters on stage are the Chorus of 50 Daniads who dance into position. Behind them follows Danaus, their father.
The Chorus sing their opening ode, asking for Zeus to look on them kindly as they flee in exile. Their father deemed this act of flying overseas the most noble grief. The Chorus use their song to explain why they decided to run to Argos — mainly because it is a freer place than where they are from. They ask Zeus to send them a wind of mercy to befriend the women among them who are suffering.
As the Chorus take their positions for the dance, Danaus seats himself on the steps of the altar.
The daughters of Danaus begin to speak in riddles, calling upon Epaphus (son of Io and their one of their ancestors — he is identified with Egyptian Apis, son of Isis) to hear their voices. They turn to the altar to address the gods in prayer, asking them to take pity on their situation and ensure that men’s pride does not come above god’s power. The Chorus then call out to Zeus, saying that since desire guide’s man’s mortal race, it is now his time to look towards the ungodliness of men and punish them. In addition to Zeus, they also pray to the Earth, Artemis and Athena to beg for protection.
Danaus now speaks and says (something like) “You’ve made it all the way here and it seems that the Argives have been warned of your coming. If you want my advice, I suggest that you all kneel at the altar with an olive branch and wool in hand and pray to Zeus. Make sure you cry to show how guiltlessly you fled from Egypt and do NOT show your boldness. Instead, show the calmness in your eyes because you do not have family here to fall back on … and so schmoozing is really your only option.” Once he’s finished, he sits back down at the steps of the altar.
The Chorus Leader replies and says they will all take their seat next to their father. They do as he says and pray — once again — to Zeus, asking him to pity their sorrows.
Danaus tells his daughters that if Zeus hears their prayers then all of their pain will be forgotten. In response, the Leader says they hail the Sun’s all-seeing eye and know that Apollo understands their exile. Danaus calls up to the god and stresses that only he can feel for any man in this position.
Once they have finished, the Leader asks who they should pray to now to ensure the gods are on their side. Danaus instructs them to call out to Poseidon, causing the Leader to highlight how the Chorus acknowledge Poseidon as their guide across the seas. Danaus then reminds them to call up to Hermes, which the Leader does.
Finally, Danaus orders them to worship all of those gods at the altar and when they are questioned, they should remember the laws that he tells them in his subsequent speech. He tells them that if they can remember these laws, they will not only have help from the gods but also the laws of the land.
The Argive king makes an entrance
The King of Argos now enters the stage with an Argive host.
The King notices that the women and their father are clearly not Greeks and so asks who they are and where they’re from. He expresses his shock that they have come to their lands with no guide and — even more shocking — they are in front of the altar with an olive branch and wool, considering this is not a custom the Greeks have.
The Leader replies and says that they would like to know how to address him before they give their reply. They ask if he is a citizen, a lord of the land or maybe even Hermes himself. The King tells them that his name is Pelasgus and his “sire” was Palaichthon. The parameters of his territory are on one side Perrhaebia and on the other Pindus near Paiones. He then explains the history of this land and where is got its name from (which is Apia). He ends by saying that now he has introduced himself, it’s only right that they do the same.
And so, the Leader steps up to address Pelasgus and explains that they are of Argive blood (not said explicitly in this moment but just in case you didn’t know. this is because of Io). Obviously the King is shocked to hear this because he thinks they seem more Libyan than Greek. This idea is so bizarre to him that he starts presenting alternative options to the Chorus, asking if they could be from near the Nile, possibly from Ethiopia or even Amazonian in lineage. The Leader uses this chance to prove their Greek ancestry by expressing that she knows the secret story of Io. The Chrous explain who Io was and the story surrounding her son, Epaphus. This totally stumps the King, who stands in front of them completely gobsmacked.
Eventually, the Leader drops to her knees in front of the King, begging for his help. In response, the King raises her up to her feet, telling her that he is now convinced that they come from their Greek line. But now he’s even more confused — if they are Greeks and have returned to the mainland, what is it they fled from? When the Leader tells him that her and her sisters fled out of fear, the King presses her for more details.
This is when we get a real explanation for why the women are in Argos: as it turns out, the women of the Chorus are of age to get married but they have no desire to do such a thing. She begs the King to help them find a new home in Argos and further pleads with him to protect them if the Egyptians come to bring them back.
The Chorus as a whole now ask the King to take them in and to look on the offerings that they have made to the gods at the altar.
There is a long back and forth between them, but what you need to know is that the King is really doubtful about his ability to help the women. You see, he doesn’t know if his promise to keep the women safe will put his own people in harm’s way. He also stresses throughout the conversation that since he is just a man he can not predict his fate, meaning he doesn’t know what the right decision truly is. After all, the King asks that if the sons of Egypt do come to claim the women … what exactly can he do? It’s technically within the Egyptian men’s right to have these women — not the King’s. All in all, he finds making a decision too difficult.
The Chorus essentially tell the King that if he cannot promise their protection, they will continue to fly from land to land in order to escape marrying these men. The King instructs them to pray again and ask for the gods help.
A Decision Is Made
Following this, there’s a bit of a back and forth between the Leader and the King, where the Leader is speaking in riddles. As you can expect, the King quickly gets lost as to what the Leader is speaking about. Finally the Leader makes herself clear, saying that if they cannot run from these men then the ladies will be forced to hang themselves to avoid such a fate. This causes the King to freak out, yelling at the girls not to do this as there has to be another option. Swiftly he comes to his own conclusion, stating that because they are of Argive blood, he will protect the Chorus. He tells Danaus to take the olive branches and to go to all the altars in the land, spreading the branches among them so that all the locals understand their new presence. However, he warns Danaus NOT to speak of the King. This may cause people to feel pity towards the women and wrath towards the King.
Danaus says his thanks to the King and then asks if he could tell them whiner the god’s altars are. He accentuates that they are foreign and that these streets are alien to them. The King then turns to his guide and instructs him to show Danaus the altars where the gods of Argos dwell in silence. They are NOT to greet any man who passes them. They agree and Danaus exits the stage.
The King now turns to the Chorus and tells them to pick up branches of their own and to go through the grove with them.
The Leader replies, telling the King that literally any animal could be out there so this doesn’t sound like a terribly safe plan to let a bunch of ladies out into the wilderness with lousy branches (which is a totally valid point). The King retorts that he’s not sending them off as offerings to any scary birds of prey. There’s a back and forth on the topic until the King says to the Leader that he’s going to go and tell his people about his decision so that they can be prepped to give the girls’ father the right welcome. In the meantime, he instructs them to stay within the area until he returns. He then exits the stage.
The Chorus, now left alone on stage, launch into another ode about the mystery of the dealings of Zeus with Io. At the end, Danaus and his retinue return on stage.
Danaus explains that the people have all voted on whether they think the women should be protected by their laws. Although they are strangers in their land, the people have voted that the Chorus have the right to remain there. Therefore, if anyone tries to take them from Argos then their local laws will protect them. He announces that if anyone does not protect his daughters they will be dishonoured and exiled from the land; the King went so far as to tell his civilians that they should remember the eternal wrath of Zeus before they act out against the Chorus.
The Leader takes a moment to thank Zeus for their acceptance into Argos.
The Chorus then take up their positions for the ceremonial dance while Danaus mounts the altar steps. The whole Chorus sing about how wonderful it is that the people have voted for their safety. Because of their kindness, the Chorus pray for things they wish the land be rewarded: no wars, no plague, no pests, no strife — that sort of stuff. The Leader rounds this song off by saying that the gods have written this happy ending into their plans.
Danaus now chimes in to bring his daughters some bad news: out in the distance he can see a ship from Egypt fast approaching. He says that he will go and seek a champion or advocate from the embassy to help fight off the Egyptian men. He instructs his daughters to remain confident in the Argive’s ability to protect them, and says that the safest place for them to sit is by the altar (ah confidence, what a wonderful and insanely helpful piece of advice!)
The Leader tells her father that she’s scared and the Chorus echo this thought. Danaus replies that it’s silly to be fearful because the men of Argos will now face this war for them. However, the Leader highlights just how wild the Egyptians are and asks her father not to leave them because, left alone, a woman is helpless. Danaus tells them all not to worry because bringing a ship into land safely takes time anyways, so for that reason alone they should remain calm. In the meantime, he will to go find help. Danaus leaves the stage.
The Egyptians come for their women
Now that the Chorus are alone, another ode erupts. They sing of all the other things they would rather be victim to than this exact situation. At the end of the ode the Chorus see the Egyptian herald, followed by fifty slaves, running towards them.
The Egyptians enter the stage as the Chorus run about with confused cries. They scream that their slaver is here and that this is the day they will die — the day that everything will end. Chaos erupts on stage. After a while, the women flock to the great altar for safety.
The Egyptian herald now speaks to the ladies, telling them they need to move their little booties to the ships so they can return to Egypt. He threatens them with violence and calls them the “children of the curse”.
As you have probably predicted, dear reader, the Chorus do not simply follow such orders. No — there is quite a long back and forth between the Chorus and the Herald, where the Chorus refuses to move and the Herald continues to threaten them.
Eventually, the Herald moves towards the altar and catches the Leader by her foot. He says something menacing like “YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!” (not an exact quote*) and this causes the Chorus to SPIRAL. They call out, asking the chiefs of the city for help. The Herald says that since these women care so little for his words, he should be dragging them by the hair to the ship. And so, he grabs the Leader’s hair and pulls her down to his level.
Just as the scene was getting horrendous to watch, the King reenters the stage with an Argive host. The King asks the Herald why he’s so confident to come to this land and act out when there are local, tough men here (I mean, did he assume only WOMEN occupied such a place???)
The Herald can’t understand what wrong he has done. He explains to the King that he has come for the women he originally lost.
The King challenges him and the two engage in a heated debate. The purpose of this is to accentuate the cultural and heavenly differences between Egypt and Greece, but I won’t be divulging the details as it’s rather long. The most important point within this argument is that the King tells the Herald he should respect this land’s laws since this is now where their feet are planted.
Having the King protect the Chorus really startles the Herald. However, realising he has now lost the fight, the Herald asks what he should tell the Egyptians back home: who is this King before him and by what powers is he preventing the ladies coming back to Egypt? The King replies that all the men of the land have voted to protect these women no matter what, and so to avoid any trouble he advises the herald to leave.
Hearing this, the Herald and his followers exit the stage.
Conclusion
The King tells his daughters that they can take comfort now as they are safe, mentioning that they all have safe shelter in the city. He then leads onstage a group of Handmaidens.
Understanding the “introduction”, the Leader instructs the rest of the Chorus to each stand beside a mistress.
Danaus says that his daughters must pray and give thanks to these Argive people for being so welcoming. They have been amazing in protecting the ladies and NOW they have allowed them to be their helpers. With these maidens is the choice to have a safe dwelling.
The daughters of Danaus and their Handmaids compose a dance together, praying of fruitfulness for Argos and virginity — or at least, no marriage without love—for themselves.
When the Chorus sing their prayers for the rivers and Artemis, the Handmaidens remind them not to forget Aphrodite.
After the song is completed, the daughters of Danaus end the play by asking the gods to shield them. They ask Zeus to give freedom to their woman’s will, saying “As Justice is let Judgement be! / For this shall God's hand set us free / For this our prayer we raise.”
Exit all.
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Thumbnail Image Link: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/248802
Marble disk with two theater masks in relief
3rd quarter of 1st century CE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 162
“Marble disks known as oscilla decorated the peristyles of Roman villas. Most were carved on both sides with images related to the world of Dionysus and were designed to hang freely between the columns that surrounded interior gardens.” (Copied from the Met Museum Website).