Does any one know what the sieve of danaides was and what its story was?

Answer 1

Danaides
(4 syl.). Daughters of Danaos (King of Argos). They were fifty in number, and married the fifty sons of Ægyptos. They all but one murdered their husbands on their wedding-night, and were punished in the infernal regions by having to draw water everlastingly in sieves from a deep well.

This is an allegory. The followers of Danaos taught the Argives to dig wells, and irrigate their fields in the Egyptian manner. As the soil of Argos was very dry and porous, it was like a sieve.

Answer 2

The version I have speaks of a barrel of the Danaides, saying that their punishment in Tartarus was to try and fill a barrel that had no bottom. The part earlier about their crime and drawing the water to fill the barrel with using sieves is correct.

Answer 3

The fifty daughters of King Danaus of Argos, who were married on a single occasion to fifty suitors. As instructed by their father, all but one of them murdered their husbands on their wedding night. As a result, they were condemned to an afterlife of unending labor, carrying water from the Styx in a jug with holes, or a sieve, so the water always leaked out.

Answer 4

Take a look at this: http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Danaides&offset=0