In Greek mythology, Perseus ( , ; ) is the legendary founder of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles.Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. The Heroes of the Greeks (London: Thames and Hudson) p. 75. He beheaded the Gorgon Medusa for Polydectes and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. He was a demigod, being the son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, as well as the half-brother and great-grandfather of Heracles (as they were both children of Zeus, and Heracles's mother was Perseus's granddaughter).
Etymology Because of the obscurity of the name "Perseus" and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists think it might be pre-Greek; however, the name of Perseus's native city was Greek and so were the names of his wife and relatives. Greek may have inherited it from Proto-Indo-European. In that regard Graves proposed the only Greek derivation available: Perseus might be from Greek pérthein (πέρθειν) "to waste, ravage, sack, destroy", some form of which is familiar in Homeric epithets. e‑pub . Carl Darling Buck says the -eus suffix typically forms an agent noun, in this case from the aorist stem, pers-. Pers-eus is thus a "sacker [of cities]"; that is, a soldier by occupation, a fitting name for the first Mycenaean warrior.
The further origin of perth- is more obscure. Hofmann lists the possible root as *bher-, from which Latin ferio, "strike". This corresponds to Pokorny's *bher-(3), "scrape, cut". Normally *bh- becomes ph- in Greek. But pérth- could be dissimilated from earlier *phérth-, per Grassmann's law. Graves carries the meaning still further, to Perse- in Persephone, goddess of death. Ventris & Chadwick speculate about a Mycenaean goddess pe-re-*82 (Linear B: ), attested on and tentatively reconstructed as *Preswa.
A Greek folk etymology connected Perseus to the name of the Persians, whom they called the Pérsai (from Old Persian Pārsa "Persia, a Persian"). However, the native name of the Persians – Pārsa in Persian – has always been pronounced with an -a-. Herodotus recounts this story, devising a foreign son of Andromeda and Perseus, Perses, from whom the Persians took the name. Apparently the Persians also knew that story, as Xerxes tried to use it to suborn the Argives during his invasion of Greece, but ultimately failed to do so.
Mythology Birth
King Acrisius of Argos had only one child, a daughter named Danaë. Disappointed by not having a male heir, Acrisius consulted the Oracle at Delphi, who warned him that he would one day be killed by his own grandson. To keep Danaë childless, Acrisius imprisoned her in a room atop a bronze tower in the courtyard of his palace: Zeus came to her in the form of a shower of gold, and fathered her child. Hence, Perseus is also called Chrysopatros (χρυσόπατρος, "gold-fathered").Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 838Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 838 in English Soon after, their child, a son, was born; Perseus. "Perseus Eurymedon, for his mother gave him this name as well".Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1514
Fearful for his future, but unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods and the Erinyes by killing the offspring of Zeus and his daughter, Acrisius cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest.For the familiar motif of the Exposed Child in the account of Moses especially, see or Another example of this mytheme is the Indian figure of Karna. Danaë's fearful prayer, made while afloat in the darkness, has been expressed by the poet Simonides of Ceos. The mother and child were washed ashore on the island of Seriphos, where they were taken in by the fisherman Dictys, who raised the boy to manhood. The brother of Dictys was Polydectes, the king of the island.
Feud with Polydectes When Perseus was growing up on the island of Seriphus, Polydectes came to lust for the beautiful Danaë. Perseus believed Polydectes was less than honorable, and protected his mother from him once he reached maturity; then Polydectes plotted to send Perseus away in disgrace. He held a type of large banquet where each guest was expected to bring a gift, under the pretense that he was collecting contributions for the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus.
Polydectes asked what sort of gift his subjects thought was suitable to give him, and while others answered 'horse', Perseus named the head of the snake-haired Medusa; alternatively Perseus promised to bring him any gift, even something as difficult to obtain as Medusa's head. When everyone, Perseus included, arrived with gift horses Polydectes rejected Perseus' horse and told Perseus to do good on his promise and fetch him the gorgon's head.
Overcoming Medusa
Medusa and her two immortal elder sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were Gorgons, monsters with snakes for hair, sharp fangs and claws, wings of gold, and gazes that turned people to stone.
Before setting out on his quest, Perseus prayed to the gods, and Zeus answered by sending two of his other children – Hermes and Athena – to bless their half-brother with the weapons needed to defeat Medusa. Hermes gave Perseus his own pair of winged sandals to fly with and lent him his harpe sword to slay Medusa with, and Hades's helm of darkness to become invisible with. Athena lent Perseus her polished shield for him to view Medusa's reflection without becoming petrified, and gave him a kibisis, a knapsack to safely contain the Gorgon's head which the goddess warned could still petrify even in death. Lastly, Athena instructed Perseus to seek out the Graeae, the Gorgons' sisters, for the snake-haired women's whereabouts (in other versions, nymphs who gave Perseus the weapons after he sought out the Graeae).Pherecydes of Athens frag. 11
Following Athena's guidance, Perseus found the Graeae, who were three old witches that shared a single eye and a single tooth. As the witches passed their eye from one to another, Perseus snatched it from them, holding it for ransom in return for the Gorgons' location. The Graeae informed Perseus that the Gorgons lived on the Island of Sarpedon. Perseus then gave the Graeae their eye back and proceeded to the island.
On the Island of Sarpedon, Perseus came across a cave where Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa lay sleeping. Using Athena's reflective shield, Perseus overcame the looking taboo by looking at her reflection on the shield to guide himself. He then walked into the cave backwards, safely observing and approaching the sleeping Gorgons. With Athena guiding the sword, Perseus beheaded Medusa. From Medusa's neck sprang her two children with Poseidon: the winged horse Pegasus ("he who sprang") and the giant Chrysaor ("sword of gold"). To avenge their sister's death, Stheno and Euryale flew after Perseus, but he escaped them by wearing Hades's invisibility helm.Apollodorus, 2.4.3 From here he proceeded to visit King Atlas of Mauretania, who had refused him hospitality; in revenge Perseus petrified him with Medusa's head and King Atlas became the Atlas mountains.Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 617
Marriage to Andromeda On the way back to Seriphos, Perseus stopped in the kingdom of Aethiopia. This mythical Ethiopia was ruled by King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia, having boasted that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, drew the vengeance of Poseidon, who sent an inundation on the land and a sea serpent, Cetus, which destroyed man and beast. The oracle of Ammon announced that no relief would be found until the king sacrificed his daughter, Andromeda, to the monster, and so she was fastened to a rock on the shore. Wearing the winged sandals given to him by Hermes, Perseus reached Andromeda and used the harpe to behead the monster (in other versions, Perseus used Medusa's head to petrify Cetus). By rescuing Andromeda, Perseus claimed her in marriage.
Perseus married Andromeda in spite of Phineus, to whom she had been previously engaged. At the wedding, a quarrel took place between the rivals, and Phineus was petrified by the sight of Medusa's head.Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.1–235 Andromeda ("queen of men") followed her husband to Tiryns in Argos, and became the ancestress of the family of the Perseidae who ruled at Tiryns through her son with Perseus, Perses. After her death, she was placed by Athena among the constellations in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia. Sophocles and Euripides (and in more modern times Pierre Corneille) made the episode of Perseus and Andromeda the subject of tragedies, and its incidents were represented in many ancient works of art.
As Perseus was flying in his return above the sands of Libya, according to Apollonius of Rhodes,Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1505 ff. the falling drops of Medusa's blood created a race of toxic serpents, one of whom was to kill the Argonaut Mopsus. Upon returning to Seriphos and discovering that his mother had to take refuge from the violent advances of Polydectes, Perseus killed him with Medusa's head, and made Dictys the new king of Seriphos.
Prophecy fulfilled Perseus then returned his magical loans and gave Medusa's head as a votive gift to Athena, who set it on her aegis (which Zeus gave her) as the Gorgoneion. The fulfillment of the oracle was told several ways, each incorporating the mythic theme of exile. In PausaniasPausanias, 2.16.2 he did not return to Argos, but went instead to Larissa, where athletic games were being held. He had just invented the quoit and was making a public display of them when Acrisius, who happened to be visiting, stepped into the trajectory of the quoit and was killed: thus the oracle was fulfilled. This is an unusual variant on the story of such a prophecy, as Acrisius's actions on hearing the oracle did not, in this variant, cause his death.
In the Bibliotheca,Apollodorus, 2.4.4 the inevitable occurred by another route: Perseus did return to Argos, but when Acrisius learned of his grandson's approach, mindful of the oracle he went into voluntary exile in Pelasgiotis (Thessaly). There Teutamides, king of Larissa, was holding funeral games for his father. Competing in the discus throw, Perseus's throw veered-and struck Acrisius, killing him instantly. In a third tradition,Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.177 Acrisius had been driven into exile by his brother Proetus. Perseus petrified the brother with Medusa's head and restored Acrisius to the throne. Then, accused by Acrisius of lying about having slain Medusa, Perseus proves himself by showing Acrisius the Gorgon's head, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
Having killed Acrisius, Perseus, who was next in line for the throne, gave the kingdom to Megapenthes ("great mourning"), son of Proetus, and took over Megapenthes's kingdom of Tiryns. The story is related in Pausanias,Pausanias, 2.16.3 who gives as motivation for the swap that Perseus was ashamed to have become king of Argos by inflicting death. In any case, early Greek literature reiterates that manslaughter, even involuntary, requires the exile of the slaughterer, expiation and ritual purification. The exchange might well have proved a creative solution to a difficult problem.
King of Mycenae
The two main sources regarding the legendary life of Perseus—for the Greeks considered him an authentic historical figure—are Pausanias and the Bibliotheca. PausaniasPausanias, 2.15.4, 2.16.2–3 & 2.18.1 asserts that the Greeks believed Perseus founded Mycenae as his capital. He mentions the shrine to Perseus that stood on the left-hand side of the road from Mycenae to Argos, and also a sacred fountain at Mycenae called Persea. Located outside the walls, this was perhaps the spring that filled the citadel's underground cistern. He states also that Atreus stored his treasures in an underground chamber there, which is why Heinrich Schliemann named the largest tholos tomb the Treasury of Atreus.