In Greek mythology, Demonassa or Demonassae (Ancient Greek: Δημώνασσα) was a name attributed to five women.

Namesake

In his Περί Τύχης Δεύτερος (On Fortune II) discourse, Greek orator, Dion Chrysostom, tells the story of a Cypriot stateswoman and lawgiver by that name. She enacted three strict laws, the first, if a woman was guilty of adultery her hair should be cut off and she should become a prostitute, the second, whoever commits suicide shall be cast out without a burial and the third law forbade the slaughter of a plough-ox with death of the perpetrator as punishment. Demonassa had three children, a daughter and two sons and each of them transgressed one of the laws their mother had enacted. Unable to live with her grief but also respecting her own laws, she leaped into molten copper

Notes

  • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912.
  • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. .
  • Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies.
  • Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Moralia with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. . .
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN0-674-99328-4.
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. .