Perseus (son of Zeus)

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Andromeda and Perseus
Perseus with the head of Medusa (wall painting from Pompeii , 1st century AD)

Perseus ( ancient Greek Περσεύς ) is one of the most famous heroes in Greek mythology and the son of Zeus and Danaë .

myth

The divine descent

Akrisios , king of Argos , is prophesied that a son of his daughter Danaë would be his undoing. So he locks Danae and a wet nurse in the basement of the palace and has it guarded by bloodthirsty dogs. Zeus fertilizes the sleeping as a laburnum, whereupon Perseus is born . Descendants in his genealogy are called Perseids or Persids.

The banishment

With the birth of Perseus, Akrisios now faces the aggravated dilemma of what to do with the two of them. Although he loves his daughter, he will have to fear his grandson all the more because his first attempt to escape fate has failed - in a way that is incomprehensible to him. So he locks them both in a box and puts them out at sea. However, with the help of Poseidon , Zeus prevents both of them perishing.

When Danae and Perseus wash ashore on Seriphos , an island in the Cyclades , she finds Diktys , the brother of King Polydectes , and takes her in. Diktys is referred to as a fisherman, in some versions of the myth also as a boatman or shepherd. King Polydectes begins to chase Danae, but Diktys and later the growing Perseus know how to protect her.

The task

Therefore, King Polydectes tries to get rid of Perseus by asking him to bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa , which turns anyone who sees it to stone.

One version reports that Polydektes asks every inhabitant of the island to pay horses for the wedding of Hippodameia , knowing full well that Danaë and Perseus have nothing. According to another version, Polydectes invites Perseus to his court and asks him what the right present for a king is. Perseus replies that he would also bring him the head of Medusa if he asked - and Polydektes takes him at his word. According to yet another version, Perseus wants to save his mother from the king's pursuits. To ensure this, Perseus declares himself ready to bring him everything, even if it is the head of Medusa.

Pallas Athene appears to Perseus and hands him a shiny shield that is able to throw back a reflection. It shows him a way of not looking directly at the danger. He also had to go to Medusa's sisters, the Graien , the daughters of Phorkys , to find out where the Gorgon was.

The Graien

In one version, the Graien , three sisters of the Gorgons - gray-haired since birth, therefore also called the Greyish - are sitting at a lake in Africa when Perseus finds them. They share a tooth and an eye, which they leave to each other if necessary. In the older, at Pherekydes traditional version Perseus asks for the location of the nymphs of which he, a flight sandals portmanteau (thrust bag) and a stealth hopes to get, but gets first no information. Thereupon he begins to eat his food, and because the Graien also want some of it, he offers them to keep an eye and a tooth in the meantime. They consent, and Perseus blackmails them: either they tell him where to find the nymphs, or all three remain blind and toothless. After he has received the information, he gives them both back, according to other stories he throws the eye and the tooth (in some versions only one) into the lake into which the Graien now have to climb. He reaches the nymphs of this area, who suffered from the stench of the Graien and are so grateful to him that they give him the desired items. Aeschylus renounces the detour via the nymphs in his version. With him Perseus receives his miracle weapons from Hephaestus and he directly overcomes the Graien as guardians of the Gorgons.

Medusa

Benvenuto Cellini : Perseus with the head of Medusa ; standing on the rest of the body. ( Loggia dei Lanzi , Florence )

Only the third and youngest of the three Gorgons , Medusa , the former lover of Poseidon and the most beautiful, but now ugliest of the sisters, is mortal. When Perseus arrives, they are all asleep. Their heads have snakes instead of hair, and anyone who looks directly at them immediately turns to stone. He approaches Medusa by looking into the shield of the goddess Athena, cuts off her head under the guidance of Pallas Athenes and catches it in the sackcloth of the nymphs. From the bleeding wound of the headless Medusa spring Pegasus , a winged steed, and a giant named Chrysaor , both creatures of Poseidon.

Atlas

With the help of the invisibility cap and the flying sandals he flees and is thrown over many areas by winds and rain clouds. Finally he sits down in the kingdom of King Atlas to rest and ask him for shelter. But Atlas fears for his possessions and pushes the hero away. Perseus is so angry that he shows Atlas the head of Medusa, whereupon the latter immediately solidifies into the stone that today forms the Atlas Mountains .

The beloved

On the way back, Perseus sees a beautiful young woman on the Ethiopian coast who is chained to a rock. It appears pale and motionless, so that at first he thinks it was carved out of stone. Finally he sees her hair blowing and a tear flowing.

Perseus and Andromeda ( Titian )

Andromeda is to be sacrificed because her mother Cassiopeia boasted that she was much more beautiful than the Nereids , the beautiful sea nymphs. Therefore, Poseidon is angry and sends the sea ​​monster Ketos , which overwhelms the coastal areas with so much misfortune that a seer is asked what to do. Andromeda must be sacrificed to the monster, is his saying, and because the people are of the same opinion, their father, King Cepheus , gives in.

When the monster shoots at Andromeda to devour her, and her parents rush to mournfully, Perseus asks for Andromeda's hand to rescue and is promised not only this, but also the whole kingdom. Perseus succeeds in killing the monster and thereby saving Andromeda's life. According to one traditional version, Perseus shows the monster the head of Medusa , according to another there is a dramatic fight in which Perseus uses his sword.

During the wedding supper, however, Phineus , Andromeda's uncle, who had previously wooed her, shows up with an excess of armed men to renew his claims. There is a fight. When Perseus threatens to succumb, he pulls the Gorgon's head, after which all his enemies freeze to stone. Before doing this, however, Perseus warns his companions by asking that anyone who is still his friend should turn their face away from him.

the return home

Before his return to Seriphos , Perseus' son Perses is born , who will stay with Cepheus and take over the kingdom. Perses is said to be the ancestor of all Persian kings. Arrived with his wife on Seriphos, Perseus shows Polydektes, who continues to chase his mother, the head of Medusa, because the latter does not want to believe that he actually got it.

According to an ancient version summarized by Karl Kerényi , the Eranos , the gathering of the Seriphians, is not yet over when Perseus returns and describes his task as completed. Nobody believes him and Perseus shows the head of Medusa. That is why Seriphos is said to be one of the rockiest islands in Greece today. He hands control of the island to Diktys.

On the way to the “home” Argos, Perseus stops in Larisa , Pelasgian , where competitions are currently taking place. While throwing the discus , he unhappily and unintentionally meets his grandfather - who had just fled there to avoid his grandson - so that the oracle is fulfilled. Perseus buries his grandfather in deep sorrow. He gives back all received magical objects, the head of Medusa receives Pallas Athene. According to Pausanias , the head of the Gorgon near the market of Argos is in a hillside grave buried. Because of the killing of Akrisios with Megapenthes , he exchanged the now inherited rule over Argos for Tiryns and founded Midea and Mycenae from there .

The offspring

Perseus was granted a long and happy life with Andromeda. Both have many children, in addition to Perses, Alkaios , Sthenelos , Heleios , Mestor , Kynouros and Elektryon as well as their daughter Gorgophone . In addition, they are the grandparents of Alcmene , Eurystheus and Amphitryon and the ancestors of the Telebo king Pterelaos and Heracles . After their death, both of them are raised into the sky as constellations, together with Cepheus , Cassiopeia and the whale Cetus as a shining example .

Others

Pausanias reports that Dionysus , coming from the sea with a group of women ( Aliai = sea women), made war on Argos. Perseus can fend them off, with many of the women dying. Finally, Dionysus and Perseus are reconciled.

swell

  • Libraries of Apollodorus 1.87; 1.94; 2.35-59; 3.117
  • Herodotus , Histories 2.91; 6.53; 7.61; 7.150
  • Hesiod Theogony 280
  • Hesiod The shield of Heracles 216–230
  • Hesiod Eoien , 129.11; 135.3
  • Pausania's travels in Greece 1,22,7; 2,15,3-4; 2,16,2-3; 2.18.1; 2,20,4; 2.21.5-7; 2.22.1; 2.23.7; 2.27.2; 3,1,4; 3.2.2; 3.17.3; 3,18,11; 3,20,6; 4,2,4; 4.35.9; 5.18.5; 10.10.5

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Commons : Perseus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
predecessor Office successor
Akrisios King of Argos
14th century BC BC
(mythical chronology) 		Megapenthes
Megapenthes King of Tiryns
14th century BC BC
(mythical chronology) 		Alcaios
none King of Mycenae
14th century BC BC
(mythical chronology) 		Electryon