The Mythology Book

83

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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