Suppliants

Suppliants refers to people who seek mercy, help, or asylum from others, often invoking protections owed to those who appeal for refuge. In classical usage, a suppliant pleads for safety and is protected by guest-host obligations and sacred or legal oaths. The term is used in modern contexts to describe asylum seekers or refugees.

In literature, The Suppliants is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, traditionally dated to the mid-5th century BCE. It is the first play in a trilogy about the Danaids, a cycle largely lost with only fragments surviving. The plot centers on fifty Danaid sisters who flee Egypt to Argos to escape arranged marriages to the sons of Aegyptus. They seek asylum from King Pelasgus and the Argive people, invoking the sacred duty of hospitality and the rights of suppliants. The drama explores the tension between hospitality, political sovereignty, and divine sanction, with the chorus of Argives and the king weighing the legal and religious obligations to grant refuge. The sanctuary is ultimately granted, and the matter is referred to the gods for final judgment.

The Suppliants, along with The Egyptians and The Danaids, forms part of the Danaid trilogy. Much of the trilogy is lost, but The Suppliants remains a foundational text for discussions of asylum, ritual hospitality, and early Greek conceptions of refuge in law and religion.