“... So too with one of the most famous emendations in the texts of the Apostolic Fathers, this one in 1 Clement’s reference to women who were martyred as Δαναΐδες καὶ Δίρκαι (1 Clem. 6. 2). The author’s meaning is unclear. Some scholars have suggested that he is referring to Christian women martyred under Nero, who was known for his creatively brutal excesses. If so, women executed as Dircae may have been dragged to death in the arena, bound to the horns of a bull, like Dirce of Greek myth. The reference to the Danaids is more puzzling. Some scholars have seen it as an allusion to the legend that the daughters of Danaus were taken by men against their will—i.e., that the Christian women were publicly raped before being put to death. Others have thought that it refers to the punishment of Danaus’s daughters in the afterlife, where they were compelled perpetually to fill leaking vessels—i.e., that the Christian women were subject to pointless and seemingly endless torments prior to their deaths. ...”