Polydectes

Polydectes was the king of the island of Seriphos in Greek mythology, the man who sent Perseus to fetch the head of the Gorgon Medusa because he wanted Perseus’ mother Danae for himself. He is the villain of the Perseus story, and the Gorgon’s head that Perseus brought back was the means of his downfall.

Family

In Apollodorus, Magnes married a Naiad nymph and had two sons, Polydectes and Dictys, who colonized Seriphos (Library 1.9.6). Pherecydes made them sons of Peristhenes and Androthoe instead (Pherecydes, fragment 13), and in another of his fragments Polydectes is Dictys’ brother on his mother’s side (fragment 26). In the main tradition he never wins a wife; only Hyginus makes him Danae’s husband (Fabula 63, see below).

Danae and Perseus on Seriphos

Acrisius of Argos did not believe that his daughter Danae had borne her son to Zeus, and shut mother and child in a chest and threw it into the sea. The chest washed ashore on Seriphos, and Dictys took up the boy and reared him (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1). Hyginus tells it a little differently: the fisherman Dictys found the chest, broke it open, and took Danae and the child to King Polydectes (Fabula 63).

Polydectes, who was then king of Seriphos, fell in love with Danae but could not get near her, because Perseus had grown to manhood (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2). Pindar speaks of Danae’s long servitude and forced bridal bed on the island (Pythian 12.13–15), and Strabo says that Polydectes, with the help of the Seriphians, meant to marry her against her will (Geography 10.5.10).

The head of the Gorgon

To get rid of Perseus, Polydectes called his friends together, Perseus among them, on the pretext of collecting contributions towards a wedding gift for Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus. Perseus declared that he would not stick even at the Gorgon’s head. Polydectes then required the others to furnish horses, and when he did not get a horse from Perseus, he ordered him to bring the Gorgon’s head (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2). In the version known to Pherecydes, Polydectes says that if Perseus fails to bring the head, he will marry Danae himself (Pherecydes, fragment 26).

Guided by Hermes and Athena, Perseus found the daughters of Phorcus, got the winged sandals, the kibisis and the cap of Hades from the nymphs, and cut off Medusa’s head while Athena guided his hand (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2). Medusa’s story is told on the page of Medusa.

The return to Seriphos

When Perseus came back to Seriphos, he found that his mother and Dictys had taken refuge at the altars because of the violence of Polydectes. He went into the palace, where Polydectes had gathered his friends, and, with his own face turned away, showed the Gorgon’s head. All who looked on it turned to stone, each in the attitude he happened to have struck (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3). Ovid tells how Polydectes, who had mocked the story of Medusa’s death, was answered with the words “I will give you proof of the truth”, and turned to bloodless stone when Perseus showed him the head (Metamorphoses 5.242–249). Strabo adds that Perseus turned all the Seriphians to stone, and that the island’s rocks gave rise to jokes that it was the Gorgon’s work (Geography 10.5.10; compare Pindar, Pythian 10.46–48 and Pythian 12.11–14).

Perseus made Dictys king of Seriphos, returned the sandals, wallet and cap to Hermes, and gave the Gorgon’s head to Athena, who set it in the middle of her shield (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3).

Hyginus’ version

Hyginus tells a gentler story with no petrification. Polydectes married Danae and had Perseus brought up in the temple of Minerva. When Acrisius learned that they were living with Polydectes and came to fetch them, Polydectes pleaded for them, and Perseus promised his grandfather that he would never kill him. While Acrisius was held on the island by a storm, Polydectes died, and at his funeral games a discus thrown by Perseus was carried by the wind onto the head of Acrisius and killed him (Fabula 63).

Polydectes Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.9.6, 2.4.1–3; Pindar, Pythian 10.46–48, Pythian 12.11–15; Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.242–249; Strabo, Geography 10.5.10; Hyginus, Fabula 63; Pherecydes, fragments 13 and 26.

See Also: Danae, Perseus, Medusa, Gorgons, Athena, Hermes