Adventures of Perseus

Perseus was the hero of Argos and Mycenae, the son of Zeus and Danae. His adventures begin with an exile at sea, lead to the beheading of the Gorgon Medusa and the rescue of Andromeda, and end with the death of his grandfather Acrisius, which an oracle had foretold. The fullest ancient telling is in Apollodorus’ Library (2.4.1–4).

The Oracle and the Birth of Perseus

Acrisius, king of Argos, asked the oracle how he might get male children. The god answered that his daughter Danae would bear a son who would kill him. Acrisius therefore built a bronze chamber under the ground and kept Danae there (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1). Sophocles also alludes to Danae shut in a bronze-bound chamber (Antigone 944–946).

Apollodorus gives two accounts of how she became pregnant: according to some, she was seduced by Proetus, Acrisius’ brother, but others say that Zeus came to her as a stream of gold that poured through the roof into her lap. The child was Perseus. Acrisius would not believe that Zeus was the father. He shut Danae and the boy in a chest and threw it into the sea (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.1).

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Seriphus and Polydectes

The chest drifted to the island of Seriphus, where Dictys took up the boy and brought him up. Dictys was the brother of Polydectes, the king of the island, and both were sons of Magnes (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.6, 2.4.1).

When Perseus was grown, Polydectes fell in love with Danae but could not approach her while her son was by. He called his friends together, Perseus among them, on the pretext of collecting contributions for a wedding gift for Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus. Perseus declared that he would not refuse even the Gorgon’s head. Polydectes then demanded horses from the others, and when Perseus could give none, he ordered him to bring the head of the Gorgon (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2).

The Quest for Medusa

Guided by Hermes and Athena, Perseus went to the daughters of Phorcus and Ceto, Enyo, Pephredo and Dino, who were sisters of the Gorgons and had been old women from birth. The three shared a single eye and a single tooth. Perseus took the eye and tooth, and promised to return them if they showed him the way to the nymphs. The nymphs gave him winged sandals, the kibisis (a wallet) and the cap of Hades, which made its wearer invisible to others. Hermes added an adamantine sickle (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2). Hesiod already mentions the kibisis hanging at Perseus’ back, with the Gorgon’s head in it (Shield 216–237).

Perseus flew to the Ocean and found the Gorgons asleep: Stheno, Euryale and Medusa. Only Medusa was mortal. Athena guided his hand while he looked away, watching Medusa’s image in a bronze shield, and cut off her head. From the Gorgon’s body sprang the winged horse Pegasus and Chrysaor, her children by Poseidon. Perseus put the head into the wallet, and the other Gorgons, who woke and pursued him, could not see him because of the cap (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.2–3).

Atlas

In Ovid’s version, Perseus came on his way home to the land of Atlas, who refused him shelter. Perseus held up the Gorgon’s head and Atlas was turned into a mountain (Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.627–662). Apollodorus does not mention this episode.

Andromeda

Arriving in Ethiopia, whose king was Cepheus, Perseus found the king’s daughter Andromeda exposed to a sea monster. Her mother Cassiepea had boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids; the Nereids were angry, and Poseidon sent a flood and a monster against the land. The oracle of Ammon promised relief if Andromeda were given to the monster, and Cepheus, pressed by the Ethiopians, chained her to a rock. Perseus fell in love with her and promised to kill the monster in return for her hand. After Cepheus swore to it, he killed the monster and freed her (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3).

Phineus, a brother of Cepheus, to whom Andromeda had first been promised, plotted against Perseus. Perseus discovered the plot and turned Phineus and his fellow conspirators to stone by showing them the Gorgon’s head (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3). Ovid tells the fight at the wedding at length (Metamorphoses 5.1–235).

Return to Seriphus

On Seriphus Perseus found that Danae and Dictys had taken refuge at the altars from the violence of Polydectes. He entered the palace, where Polydectes had gathered his friends, and with averted face showed them the Gorgon’s head; all who looked were turned to stone, each in the pose he happened to be in. Perseus made Dictys king of Seriphus. He gave the sandals, the wallet and the cap back to Hermes, who returned them to the nymphs, and gave the Gorgon’s head to Athena, who set it in the middle of her shield (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3).

The Death of Acrisius

Perseus then went with Danae and Andromeda to Argos to see Acrisius. Acrisius, who knew of this and feared the oracle, 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 at once. Perseus buried his grandfather outside the city (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.4). Pausanias gives the same story, adding that Acrisius had gone to Larissa on the Peneus and stepped unnoticed into the path of the discus (Description of Greece 2.16.2).

Ashamed to claim the inheritance of a man he had killed, Perseus exchanged kingdoms with Megapenthes, son of Proetus. Megapenthes ruled Argos, and Perseus ruled Tiryns and fortified Midea and Mycenae (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.4; Pausanias 2.16.3).