Perseus is a Greek hero best known for killing Medusa and rescuing Andromeda. Ancient authors preserve several versions of his birth, equipment, journey, and later kingship.
Perseus in the surviving tradition
Perseus is the son of Zeus and Danaë. Her father Acrisius shuts Danaë away after an oracle warns that her son will kill him. Zeus reaches her as golden light or a shower of gold. Acrisius sets mother and child adrift in a chest, which reaches Seriphos. There King Polydectes later sends Perseus to obtain Medusa’s head.
Texts, objects, and evidence
Athena and Hermes guide Perseus. Depending on the source, he receives winged sandals, a cap of invisibility, a curved sword, and a special bag. He approaches Medusa while looking away or using a reflective surface, then escapes her immortal sisters. On the return journey he rescues Andromeda from a sea creature and marries her.
Key points
- Medusa: She is the only mortal Gorgon in Hesiod’s genealogy.
- Atlas: The episode in which Perseus turns Atlas to stone is best known from Ovid and creates tension with other myths about Atlas’s earlier petrification.
- Acrisius: Perseus later kills his grandfather accidentally with a discus, fulfilling the oracle despite efforts to avoid it.
- Kingship: Traditions link Perseus with Mycenae and make him an ancestor of Heracles.
How to read the material
The myth is a chain of variant stories, not one screenplay. Details from Ovid, Apollodorus, vase painting, and modern film should be identified rather than blended.