▷ Perseus: One Of The Greatest Greek Heroes and Demigod (2024)

Meet with us the myth of Perseus. A hero of legend and a demigod who offers us an endless number of unique adventures.

Perseus, Hero and Legend

The only son of Zeus and Dana and thus half-god by birth, Perseus was one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology, known for beheading the only mortal Gorgon, Medusa, and using her severed head (capable of turning onlookers to stone) as a powerful weapon in his later adventures.

These include the slaying of the sea monster Cetus that led to the rescue of the Aethiopian princess Andromeda, who would eventually become Perseus’ wife and bear him at least one daughter and six sons. One of these was Electryon, the father of Alcmene, whose union with Zeus produced the most complete Greek hero of all time, Herakles. This makes Perseus the great-grandfather of Herakles and his half-brother, both a symbolic predecessor and a worthy companion.

Who was Perseus?

Perseus was considered one of the most famous and popular heroes of Greek culture. He was known for his vigorous strength, incredible bravery and for slaying two of the fiercest monsters, known as Medusa, the youngest of the Gorgons, and Cetus, Poseidon’s sea monster.

He was favored by the gods because, in his quest to defeat Medusa, several gods gave him a lot of equipment that helped him defeat the vicious monster. Perseus was also thought to be a very good son, helping his mother adjust to her new island and keeping her away from a greedy king like Polydectes. At his age, he was an honorable king and a good husband to Andromeda, whom he rescued from the sea monster. After the death of his grandfather, Perseus and Andromeda traveled to Tiryns. Once settled there, Perseus went to found the city of Mycenae in the nearby lands.

History of Perseus

The first years of Perseus’ life

Perseus was the demigod son of the unusual union between Zeus and Dana: the supreme god came to the imprisoned princess of Argos in the form of golden rain through a crack in the roof of her room. Then, locked in a wooden chest, both were thrown into the sea by Dana’s father, Acrisius, who had learned from the oracle that he would eventually be killed by his grandson.

The Prophecy of the Birth of Perseus

The myth begins when the Delphic oracle prophesied to Acrisius, a king of Argos, that his grandson would take his life. As a result, the fearful king decided to lock his own daughter Danae in a bronze chamber in the courtyard, to prevent her from coming into contact with any man. However, this chamber was open to the sky, which allowed Zeus to observe this helpless girl from Olympus and fell in love with her. And so he came in the form of golden rain and impregnated her. Danae gave birth to a son and named him Perseus.

The baby’s cry had not gone unnoticed and the furious king wanted to kill them both, but he feared to provoke the gods and so he threw them into the open sea in a closed wooden chest. When Zeus saw what happened, he asked his brother Poseidon to calm the sea and the chest was sent to the island of Seriphos, where the fisherman Dictis found it and took Danae and Perseus home. The fisherman helped Perseus to become a healthy young man, teaching him all about fishing and life.

Zeus impregnates Danae

Danae’s room was dark and desolate and had no doors, the only opening was a small crack in the roof, but that was enough for the supreme goddess of the Greeks to visit Danae, enraptured by her beauty, one day Zeus rushed into Danae’s lap transformed into a shower of gold.

The banishment of Danae

During a routine visit some time later, Acrisius was surprised to find Danae in her room with a child in her hands. Refusing to believe the story of Perseus’ conception, the king locked Danae and the future hero in a large wooden chest and threw him into the vicious sea.

Myths of Perseus

Dictis

Possibly guided by the gods, the chest finally arrived safely on the island of Seriphos, which was ruled by the relatively righteous king Polydectes. It so happened that the chest got caught in the fishing nets of the king’s brother, Dictys, who not only freed Danae and her son, but also offered them a place to live. It is in the modest house of Dictys that Perseus grew up to become a strong young man.

The tactics of Polydectes

To avoid eventual hostility, Dictis did all he could to protect Perseus and Danae from the curiosity of the Seriphos; and it seems that he handled the situation quite magnificently, for it would be many years before anyone would learn of the existence of Perseus and Danae. As if Dictis knew something he shouldn’t, as soon as Polydectes laid eyes on Danae, he fell in love with her.

He tried to woo her and finally even asked for her hand in marriage, but the shy princess repeatedly rejected his advances. Now, rejections do not sit very well with a king’s reputation, so Polydectes resolved to win Danae by any means necessary. His only obstacle was, naturally, his son; so the king devised a cunning plan to get rid of Perseus.

That is, Polydectes pretended that he had proposed Hippodamia, the daughter of Oenomaus, the king of Pisa in Elis. By royal order, every citizen of Seriphos was obliged to bring a horse as a contribution to the bride’s gift(Hippodamia means “horse tamer”); being poor, Perseus could not oblige, so he asked Polydectes to name any other gift, “I will bring you anything you ask.”

Polydectes could not believe his luck; “Bring me the head of Medusa,” he ordered, fully aware that he might be sending Perseus straight to his death. After all, even a single glance from the snake-haired monster was enough to turn a man to stone.

The search for the Gorgon Medusa

Perseus is most famous for his expedition against the Gorgons, during which he killed the only mortal of the three, Medusa, taking with him her severed head – capable of turning anyone to stone – and using it as a powerful weapon.

Athena and Hermes

Barely a few days passed and Perseus set out on his adventure; he wandered for days, searching in vain for the lair of the Gorgons, whose whereabouts no one knew. Fortunately for Perseus, the gods mercifully looked upon his despair; a tall woman and a young man with winged sandals appeared before him and introduced themselves as the goddess Athena and the god Hermes. Following their advice, Perseus set off to find the Greas, the sisters of the Gorgons, who were supposed to give him further directions.

The Greas and the Nymphs

The Greas were three gray-haired women who lived in a cave and shared a single eye and a single tooth among them. When one of them was about to give the eye and tooth to one of the others, Perseus grabbed them and blackmailed the Greas to help him.

Having no choice but to oblige, the Greeks informed Perseus that he must go and visit certain northern nymphs, who not only knew the location of the Gorgons, but also possessed winged sandals and a kibisis, probably something like a magical, impenetrable pouch. Arriving among the hospitable nymphs, Perseus learned that they also retain possession of an even more precious object; Hades’ cap of invisibility.

The murder of Medusa

Equipped with all the necessary parts, Perseus “hung the bag (kibisis) around him, put the sandals on his ankles and put the cap on his head. Wearing it, he saw whom he wished, but was not seen by the others. And having also received from Hermes an adamantine sickle, he flew into the ocean and caught the Gorgons asleep.” On tiptoe, he approached Medusa the only one of the three Gorgons who was mortal; as he carefully watched the monster’s reflection in Athena’s bronze shield.

Guided by the goddess, Perseus raised the sickle and violently struck Medusa’s head. To his utter amazement, a golden-sworded soldier and a winged horse leapt from her neck; Medusa’s two unborn children, conceived during her union with the sea god Poseidon at a time when she was still a beautiful mortal.

Fully aware that Medusa’s head was still potent, Perseus quickly stuffed it into his magic bag and, using the power of his winged sandals, managed to escape from the golden-winged Gorgons, who discontentedly returned to their lair to mourn their sister. To emulate the sound of this lament, Athena invented the music of the double pipe, the aulos.

The later adventures of Perseus

On his way back to Seriphos, Perseus encountered the Atlas of Titan and turned it into a stony mountain; he then killed the sea monster Cetus and thereby won the hand of the princess of Aethiopica Andromeda, who was supposed to be sacrificed for him. Back in Seriphos, upon learning that he had harassed his mother, Perseus turned Polydectes to stone. Then, accidentally, he also killed his grandfather Acrisius, thus fulfilling the prophecy that caused his wanderings in the first place.

Perseus and Atlas

On his way back to Seriphos, Perseus encountered Titan Atlas, condemned to hold the heavens on his shoulders. Either because he did not want to give him hospitality or because he wanted to be released from his pain, Perseus pulled Medusa’s monstrous head out of his bag and turned Atlas into a vast rocky elevation, known to this day as the Atlas mountain range.

Marriage to Andromeda and rescue of his mother

Traversing farther across Africa, Perseus came to the land of the Ethiopians ruled by the good, but unfortunate king Cepheus. That is, through no fault of his own; and simply because his mother Cassiopeia had once boasted of being more beautiful than all the Nereids, Cepheus’ daughter Andromeda was waiting to be devoured by the sea monster Cetus, chained to a rock at the edge of the sea.

Perseus fell in love with Andromeda at first sight and made a deal with her father: he vouched to kill Cetus, and Cepheus promised to give Perseus Andromeda’s hand in marriage. When the monster appeared, Perseus flew over her head and killed her, either by striking a vicious blow with the uncompromising sickle from above or by pulling her head out of the bag at Cetus’ eye level. Witnessing her bravery, Cepheus gladly gave Andromeda in marriage to Perseus. Within a year the couple had their first son, Perses, the ancestor of all future Persian kings.

Killing polydectes

Back in Seriphos, Perseus learned from Dictis the full extent of Polydectes’ stratagem, not only did he never actually marry (or intend to), but also, the moment Perseus left, he began to harass Dana. More than furious, Perseus burst into Polydectes’ palace and, finding the king and his attendants all feasting together, raised Medusa’s head “and all who beheld it were turned to stone, each in the attitude he happened to have struck.”

After making Dictis king in place of his petrified brother, Perseus returned the divine objects in his possession, giving the Gorgon’s head to the goddess Athena, who subsequently placed it at the center of her shield, the aegis, to be her most recognizable emblem forever.

Killing Acrisius

By this time, Perseus had fulfilled his obligations to fate, but fate did not seem to have fulfilled its obligations to him. Intending to make peace with Acrisius, Perseus took Danae and Andromeda to Argos. Upon hearing this, Acrisius, still painfully aware of the oracle’s prophecy, left Argos and went to the land of Pelasgus.

Ironically, that is precisely where Perseus went after failing to find Acrisius in Argos, stopping in Larissa, so that he could compete in the athletic games that King Teamides held in honor of his dead father. When Perseus threw the discus, he accidentally struck an old man in the foot, killing him on the spot. As should be evident by now, that the old man was none other than Acrisius; thus, the prophecy was fulfilled.

After burying Acrisius outside Argos, Perseus was too ashamed to return there and ask for the throne. So he went to Megapentes, who ruled Tiryns and made an exchange with him, delivering Argos into his hands and receiving Tiryns in return. After some time, he also founded Mycenae, where he and his wife Andromeda lived happily for many years and raised at least one daughter and six sons.