The Mythology Book

82

WATCHING THE

GORGON’S HEAD IN

THE POLISHED SHIELD,

HE BEHEADED HER

PERSEUS AND MEDUSA

T

he origins of Perseus were

as extraordinary as they

were unlikely—his mother,

Danaë, conceived him when Zeus

impregnated her with a shower of

gold. Perseus was born in Argos, in

Greece, but when his grandfather

Acrisius was warned that he would

one day be killed by his grandson,

he cast Danaë and Perseus adrift in

a wooden chest to drown. They

landed on the Aegean island of

Serifos, where the king took them in.

Perseus’s quest

Years passed and the king,

Polydectes, wanted to marry the

beautiful Danaë, but she refused.

In some versions of the story, the

king sent Perseus away with the

deadly task of slaying the monster

Medusa, leaving Polydectes free to

marry Danaë. In others, Perseus

volunteered as a dare. In any case,

Perseus set off to kill Medusa and

bring back her head as evidence.

Medusa was one of a trio of

Gorgons, creatures who had snakes

for hair, and faces so hideous that

the slightest glimpse would turn

any onlooker into stone. According

to some myths, Medusa had been

born monstrous, but in others she

had been cursed by the goddess

Athena for her vanity. Medusa’s

two sisters were immortal, but

Medusa herself had been specially

punished by Athena with mortality

and could therefore be killed.

Divine assistance

Faced with the challenge of killing

Medusa, Perseus turned to the

gods for assistance. Athena gave

him a gleaming shield of bronze;

Zeus supplied him with a sword;

The beheading of Medusa by

Perseus, accompanied by Athena,

as depicted in a 6th-century bce

limestone relief carved in Temple

C, Selinunte, Sicily.

IN BRIEF

THEME

The threat of female

sexuality

SOURCES

Theogony, Hesiod, ca. 700 bce;

Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus,

ca. 430 bce; Library, Pseudo-

Apollodorus, ca. 10 0 ce;

Description of Greece,

Pausanias, ca. 150 ce.

SETTING

Argos; Asia; Aethiopia.

KEY FIGURES

Perseus A hero; son of Zeus

and Danaë.

Danaë Daughter of Acrisius;

mother of Perseus.

Zeus King of the gods; father

of Perseus.

Medusa One of three

Gorgons.

Andromeda Daughter of

Queen Cassiopeia and King

Cepheus of Aethiopia.

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Perseus’s armor consisted of items

given to him by several different gods.

Often, in ancient Greek mythology,

enchanted items imbued with magical

powers would aid a hero in his quest.

See also: Prometheus helps mankind 28–31 ■ The many affairs of Zeus 39–47 ■ The labors of Herakles 70–73 ■ Theseus

and the Minotaur 74–75

ANCIENT GREECE

Hades provided a helmet of

invisibility; and Hermes granted

him winged sandals. At Athena’s

prompting, Perseus also visited the

Hesperides, who gave him a bag

with which to safely carry the head

of Medusa: even in death, her

petrifying stare and her hissing

hair could prove fatal.

Finally, Perseus reached the

Gorgons’s island of Sarpedon, near

Cisthene. The Gorgons slept in a

cave guarded by the Graeae, three

hags who shared a single tooth and

one eye. While they were switching

their shared tooth and eye from one

hag to another, he snatched them

both and slipped past. Finding

Medusa asleep, Perseus crept up on

her undetected and looked not at

her actual face but at her reflection

in his shield. Raising his sword

high, he swung it down with all his

might, cut off her head, and put it

into his bag—never once looking

directly at Medusa’s petrifying face.

New life

Medusa had been made pregnant

by Poseidon, and from the gaping

wound left by her decapitation,

the winged horse Pegasus came

galloping out, followed by his giant

brother Chrysaor, named for the

golden sword he brandished.

Perseus rode off on Pegasus and,

during his return voyage home, he

rescued the maiden Andromeda

from a sea monster. When he finally

reached home, Perseus entered the

palace victoriously bearing

Medusa’s head. Polydectes looked

upon it and was turned to stone.

Perseus then returned his gifts to

the gods, giving the Gorgon’s head

as a gift to Athena. ■

Winged sandals

enabled Perseus to fly to

the end of the world.

Athena’s

mirrored

shield let

Perseus

gaze safely

upon

Medusa’s

reflection.

Hades’s cap of

darkness made

Perseus invisible

to his target.

A sword-cum-

sickle was

provided

by Zeus.

They turned

to stone all those

who beheld them.

Library

Andromeda

The daughter of the king and

queen of the ancient kingdom of

Aethiopia—Africa’s upper Nile

region—Andromeda was

renowned for her beauty. She

was humble, but her mother—

the sea-nymph Cassiopeia—was

not. Boasting that her daughter’s

allure surpassed even that of

the Nereids—the nymphs who

attended Poseidon—she caused

the god of the sea unpardonable

offense. Every day, he sent the

giant sea monster Cetus to

attack Aethiopia’s fields and

villages. Andromeda’s father,

Cepheus, begged Poseidon

to spare his kingdom further

persecution. Poseidon replied

that he would only call off the

monster if Cepheus offered it

his daughter as a sacrifice.

Andromeda was stripped

naked, chained to a rock beside

the sea, and left to her fate

when Perseus chanced upon

this scene and swooped down

to intervene. He killed Cetus,

freed Andromeda from her

chains, and took her to be his

bride and live with him at his

home on the isle of Serifos.

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