Polydectes
Polydektes ( Greek Πολυδέκτης , the multi-receiver ) is in Greek mythology, the king of Seriphos that of Perseus is petrified.
As the brother or half-brother of Diktys - "the net man" (fisherman) who pulls the ark into which Perseus and his mother Danaë were locked up by their father Akrisios on the beach - he chases after Danaë. However, Diktys and the growing Perseus know how to protect them. After all, he seems to want to advertise Hippodameia and organizes a banquet ( eranos ), to which the invited have to bring a horse as a gift so that he does not fall behind the other competitors. He knows that Perseus has neither a horse nor the money to get one. When the youthful Perseus was a bit reckless - or thoughtless! - offers to name something else, even if it is the head of the Gorgon Medusa , Polydektes quickly agrees, knowing full well that the Medusa petrifies everyone who sees it.
Perseus succeeds in fulfilling this task with the help of the goddess Athena and actually creating the requested gift. Polydektes and the bystanders do not want to believe him, so that Perseus pulls the head of Medusa out of his pocket one more and last time. Since then, visitors to the island have been shown this circle of rocks or Seriphos is considered to be one of the stony islands in the Aegean .
According to another version, Polydektes marries Danaë, having previously shown himself to be a good host. When Akrisios - who was prophesied that he would perish at the hand of his grandson - tried to kill Perseus there with his own hands, he was prevented from doing so by Polydectes. He now makes everyone swear that no one should ever threaten the life of the other again. However, a storm prevents the departure of Akrisios. Polydectes dies, and during the funeral ceremonies, Perseus throws the disc, which accidentally kills Akrisios.
literature
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll , Otto Höfer : Polydektes 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 3.2, Leipzig 1909, column 2640 ( digitized version ).
- Karl Kerényi : The Mythology of the Greeks - The Heroes Stories , dtv, ISBN 3-423-30031-0
- Michael Grant and John Hazel: Lexicon of ancient myths and shapes , dtv, ISBN 3-423-32508-9
- Robert von Ranke-Graves : Greek mythology - sources and interpretation , rororo, ISBN 3-499-55404-6
Individual evidence
- ^ Ovid Metamorphoses , V 242-249
Radio feature
- Michael Köhlmeier: Classic legends of antiquity , ORF, 1995, Edition Radio Literature