Perseus
（
Περσεύς). Son of Zeus and Danaë, the daughter of
Acrisius. A sketch of his fabulous history has already been given under a previous article
(see
Danaë); and it remains here but to
relate the particulars of his enterprise against the Gorgons. When Perseus had made his rash
promise to Polydectes, by which he bound himself to bring the latter the Gorgon 's head, he
retired full of grief to the extremity of the island of Scyros, where Hermes came to him,
promising that he and Athené would be his guides. Hermes brought him first to the
Graiae (see
Phorcydes), whose eye and tooth he
stole and would not restore until they had furnished him with directions to the abode of the
nymphs who were possessed of the winged shoes, the magic wallet, and the helmet of Pluto which
made the wearer invisible. Having obtained from the Graiae the requisite information, he came
to the nymphs, who gave him their precious possessions: he then flung the wallet over his
shoulder, placed the helmet on his head, and fitted the shoes to his feet. Thus equipped, and
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Perseus and Andromeda. (Marble relief in the Naples Museum.)
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grasping the short curved sword (
ἅρπη) which
Hermes gave him, he mounted into the air, accompanied by the gods, and flew to the ocean,
where he found the three Gorgons asleep. (See
Gorgones.) Fearing to gaze on their faces, which changed the beholder to stone, he
looked on the head of Medusa as it was reflected on his shield, and, Athené guiding
his hand, he severed it from her body. The blood gushed forth, and with it the winged steed
Pegasus and Chrysaor, the father of Geryon, for Medusa was at that time pregnant by Poseidon.
Perseus took up the head, put it into his wallet, and set out on his return. The two sisters
awoke, and pursued the fugitive; but, protected by the helmet of Pluto, he eluded their
vision, and they were obliged to give over the bootless chase (
Scut. 220-230;
Pausan. v. 18, 1). Perseus pursued his aërial route, and after having, in the course
of his journey, punished the inhospitality of
Atlas
(q.v.) by changing him into a rocky mountain (Ovid,
Met. iv. 626 foll.), he came to the country of the Ethiopians. Here he
liberated Andromeda (see
Andromeda), whom he
married. He is also said to have come to the Hyperboreans, by whom he was hospitably received.
On his return to Seriphos, he found his mother with Dictys in a temple, whither they had fled
from the violence of Polydectes. Perseus then went to the palace of Polydectes, and
metamorphosed him and all his guests, and, some say, the whole island, into stone
(
Pyth. xii. 10). He then presented the kingdom to Dictys. He gave the winged
sandals and the helmet to Hermes, who restored them to the nymphs and to Pluto, and the head
of Gorgon to Athené, who placed it in the middle of her shield or breast-plate.
Perseus then went to Argos, accompanied by
Danaë and Andromeda. Acrisius, remembering the oracle, escaped to Larissa, in the
country of the Pelasgians; but Perseus followed him, in order to persuade him to return. Some
writers state that Perseus, on his return to Argos, found Proetus, who had expelled his
brother Acrisius, in possession of the kingdom; and that Perseus slew Proetus, and was
afterwards killed by Megapenthes, the son of Proetus. The more common tradition, however,
relates that when Teutamidas, king of Larissa, celebrated games in honour of his guest
Acrisius, Perseus, who took part in them, accidentally hit the foot of Acrisius with the
discus, and thus killed him. Acrisius was buried outside the city of Larissa, and Perseus,
leaving the kingdom of Argos to Megapenthes, the son of Proetus, received from him in exchange
the government of Tiryns. According to others, Perseus remained in Argos, and successfully
opposed the introduction of the Bacchic orgies. Perseus is said to have founded the towns of
Midea and Mycenae. By Andromeda he became the father of Perses, Aïcaeus, Sthenelus,
Heleus, Mestor, Electryon, Gorgophoné, and Autochthé. Perseus was
worshipped as a hero in several places in Greece and even in Egypt (
Herod.ii. 91).
