Perseus

the name of a Grecian character in mythology, was the son of Zeus and Danae, and grandson of Acrisius. Acrisius had been warned by an oracle that he should be killed by the hand of the son of Danae, so he shut her up in a brazen tower. Zeus visited her there in the form of a shower of gold, and became the father of Perseus. Hence his is called Aurigena. When Acrisius discovered the birth of the boy, he put both him and his mother into a chest and cast it into the sea, but Zeus carried it ashore at Seriphos (and there Perseus was brought up), one of the Cyclades, where Polydectes reigned, who, wishing to get rid of him to be free in his approaches to Danae, with whom he had become enamored, sent Perseus, when yet a youth, to bring the head of the Gorgon Medusa, on the pretense that he wanted to present it as a bridal gift to Hippodaania. Perseus set forth under the protection of Athena and Hermes, the former of whom gave him a mirror, by which he could see the monster without looking at her (for that would have changed him into stone); the latter, a sickle; while the nymphs provided him with winged sandals, and a helmet of hades, or invisible cap. After numerous wonderful adventures, he reached the abode of Medunsa, who dwelt near Tartessus, on the coast of the ocean, and succeeded in cutting off her head, which he put into a bag and carried off. On his return he visited Ethiopia, where he liberated and married Andromeda, by whom he subsequently had a numerous family, and arrived at Seriphos in time to rescue his mother from the annoyance of the too ardent addresses of Polydectes, whom, along with some of his companions, he changed into stone. After this he went to Argos, from which Acrisius fled to Thessaly, but Perseus followed him in disguise, hoping to persuade him to return. While taking part in the games there, he threw the discus in such a way that Acrisius was killed by it, without Perseus's intention. Then Perseus assumed the vacant throne. Perseus was worshipped as a hero in various parts of Greece, and according to Herodotus in Egypt too. In ancient works of art the figure of Perseus much resembles that of Hermes. See Vollmer, Mythologisches Worterbuch, s.v.; Mrs. Clement, Sacred and Legendary Art and Mythol. p. 478, 479.