Acrisius

Acrisius was a king of Argos in Greek mythology, the son of Abas and the father of Danae. An oracle told him that his daughter’s son would kill him. He tried to prevent it by shutting Danae away, but she bore Perseus, and years later Perseus killed him by accident with a thrown discus.

Family

Lynceus reigned over Argos after Danaus and had a son Abas by Hypermnestra, one of the daughters of Danaus. Abas had twin sons, Acrisius and Proetus, by Aglaia, the daughter of Mantineus (Apollodorus, Library 2.2.1; 2.1.5). Acrisius married Eurydice, a daughter of Lacedaemon, and had one daughter, Danae (Library 2.2.2; 3.10.3). Proetus had daughters by Stheneboea and a son, Megapenthes. Acrisius was therefore a great-grandson of Danaus.

Acrisius and Proetus

According to Apollodorus, the twins quarrelled with each other even in the womb. When they grew up they fought for the kingdom, and in the course of the war they were the first to invent shields. Acrisius won and drove Proetus out of Argos. Proetus went to Lycia, to the court of Iobates (some say Amphianax), and married his daughter. His father-in-law brought him back with a Lycian army, and he held Tiryns, which the Cyclopes had fortified for him. The two then divided the Argive land between them, Acrisius reigning over Argos and Proetus over Tiryns (Library 2.2.1). Pausanias tells the story differently: the fight ended in a draw and the brothers were reconciled, and a building on the road from Argos to Epidauria with shields carved on it recalled the battle, where those who fell on both sides were given a common tomb (Description of Greece 2.25.7; 2.16.2). Apollodorus also reports that some say Proetus was the one who seduced Danae, and that this was the cause of the quarrel (Library 2.4.1).

The Oracle and Danae

Acrisius asked the oracle how he might get male children, and the god said that his daughter would bear a son who would kill him. Fearing this, he built a bronze chamber under the ground and kept Danae there under guard (Library 2.4.1). Sophocles mentions Danae’s fate in the Antigone, where she gave up the light of the sky for a bronze-bound house and was held in a tomb-like chamber (Antigone 944–950). Pausanias saw the remains of an underground building at Argos, over which had stood the bronze chamber that Acrisius built to guard his daughter; the tyrant Perilaus pulled it down (Description of Greece 2.23.7).

Zeus came to her in the shape of a stream of gold that poured through the roof into her lap. When Acrisius learned that she had a child, Perseus, he refused to believe that Zeus was the father. He put his daughter and the child into a chest and threw it into the sea. The chest was washed ashore on the island of Seriphus, where Dictys took up the boy and reared him (Library 2.4.1). Dictys and Polydectes were brothers, sons of Magnes by a Naiad, and together they colonized Seriphus (Library 1.9.6). Polydectes later persecuted Danae, and Dictys and Danae took refuge at the altars (Library 2.4.3). Homer already knew Perseus as the son of Danae, the daughter of Acrisius (Iliad 14.319–320).

The Death of Acrisius

When Perseus came with Danae and Andromeda to Argos to see Acrisius, the king learned of it, dreaded the oracle, and left Argos for the Pelasgian land. Teutamides, king of Larissa, was holding athletic games in honour of his dead father, and Perseus came to compete. In the pentathlon he threw the discus and struck Acrisius on the foot, killing him instantly (Library 2.4.4). Pausanias tells it a little differently. In his account Acrisius, having heard that Perseus was alive and achieving great things, withdrew to Larisa on the Peneus. Perseus, wishing to see his mother’s father and greet him kindly, went to Larisa. He was proud of having invented the discus and gave displays before everyone, and Acrisius, as luck would have it, stepped unnoticed into the path of the discus (Description of Greece 2.16.2).

In both accounts the death is an accident, and the oracle is fulfilled in spite of the precautions Acrisius took against his daughter and grandson (Description of Greece 2.16.3).

After the Death

Perseus saw that the oracle had been fulfilled and buried Acrisius outside the city. Perseus was ashamed to return to Argos and claim the kingdom of a man who had died by his hand. He went to Megapenthes, the son of Proetus, at Tiryns and arranged an exchange: Megapenthes reigned over the Argives, and Perseus reigned over Tiryns and fortified Midea and Mycenae (Library 2.4.4). Pausanias also says that Perseus was ashamed of the talk about the killing and that he founded Mycenae (Description of Greece 2.16.3).

Acrisius Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.9.6, 2.1.5, 2.2.1–2, 2.4.1–4, and 3.10.3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.16.2–3, 2.23.7, and 2.25.7; Sophocles, Antigone 944–950; Homer, Iliad 14.319–320.

See Also: Danae, Perseus, Proetus, Danaus, Zeus, Seriphus, Argos