Greek mythology features extraordinary men with superhuman abilities who put all their strength, courage, and wisdom at the service of humanity, saving them from disasters, monsters, and any other horror sent by the gods; one of the most renowned is Perseus , and through this article you will learn his entire story.
The Myth of Perseus
Danae's father, King Acrisius, had learned from an oracle that he would not have a male descendant and would still lose his life at the hands of his grandson, the descendant of his first-born daughter Danae. Acrisio did not have the courage to have his own daughter killed, but he was very much afraid that his life would be blinded by his grandson; so he resolutely ordered that Danae be locked up in a deep underground dungeon.
Chained below the surface, no risk would cause her only offspring. So Acrisius was silent as the unfortunate Danae spent her days in this gloomy pit, without illumination or connection to the outside world. The gods, realizing this unjust act, did not tolerate the king's contradiction; then Zeus accustomed to punish mortals who try to change the course of things for personal gain, he changed his material form.
The king of the gods transformed into a golden drizzle, entered the dungeon in which Danae was held and drenched the body of the princess with that flowing appearance of golden hue; nine months after their fusion, Perseus the son of the gods and destiny emerged.
Acrisio could not let Perseus develop, moreover his decisions were still fragile to order his execution immediately, since his own blood flowed in him as a child. Resolving the matter in other ways, he had his grandson and his daughter thrown into the sea in a fully sealed wooden box; once again it is not known whether Danae and Perseus, due to fate or the intervention of the gods, arrived safely on the island of Seriphos.
Where they managed to be rescued and cared for by Dictis who was the former king of the island, enthroned by his brother Polidectes who was the present sovereign of it. Similarly, Polydectes gave Danae and Perseus a warm welcome to his court (it was rare in the land these days to welcome foreigners).
Almost immediately the king fell in love with the princess, so he maintained that at some point he would take her as his own; so Polidectes asked Danae to marry him, however, the princess repeatedly rejected her proposal, while the king played on hers never giving up this obsession for her.
As the years passed, Perseus became an extraordinary and strong warrior, so much so that, although Polidectes still wanted to own Danae, he was incredibly afraid of his son; he then he hatched a plan to separate him from her. He announced a fake engagement to the princess in a neighboring kingdom, so he needed an exotic gift for her that would make him look rich in the eyes of others.
The monarch sent the young man after the head of the gorgon, famous for its terrifying ability to turn anyone who looked at it into stone; He thought that Perseus would never be an obstacle between him and Danae, so this was the perfect opportunity for the young man to be turned into stone.
What Polidectes did not know was that he was at the command of the son of Zeus himself, god of Olympus and gods. Athena goddess of Wisdom, she prepared Perseus to recognize Medusa from other Gorgons and gave him a shield and with the assistance of this gift, she would be able to visualize her through metal and kill her without turning him into stone. But that was not all! Hermes, the messenger god, gave Perseus the magic sickle capable of cutting the neck of this monster.
But the journey was not going to be so easy, Perseus still had to find the path that would take him to the Gorgon and he did so by threatening the infamous Grayas sisters of the Gorgons, who also had an oracle that had the answer to the death of Medusa ; this required sandals with wings, a bag to store the head of the gorgon and the invisibility helmet of Hades god of the underworld.
Thank the gods Perseus arrived at the exact spot while the gorgons rested in a deep sleep, triumphantly lopping off Medusa's head. The monster's blood gave life to Pegasus, a horse with wings that helped him escape from the fury of his sisters; this is how Perseus became a legendary hero. On the way home, he freed Andromeda from a sea monster, triggering the marriage bond between the two young men.
When he returned home, Polidectes was about to force his mother Danae to join him, however, the young man, realizing such abuse, took the head of Medusa that the king had commissioned and turned it into stone, thus rescuing Danae. his mother from the hands of the monarch. Later, he proclaimed Dictis king of Seriphos, who reconciled peace throughout this territory.
Next, the young Perseus returned again to Argos, the kingdom from which his grandfather Acrisio had expelled him, who had fled so as not to be killed now that his grandson had become a hero; but fate is very capricious.
As time passed, the two attended a sporting event where neither noticed the other's attendance there. Then, when Perseus was participating in a sports discipline he made a bad throw where a puck landed squarely on his grandfather's head, Acrisio almost immediately left this world due to his fatal injury; and this is how the gods showed that no mortal can fight against destiny.
Mother of Perseus
Danae was a beautiful and innocent princess who lived in Argos, this city was in the Gulf of Tiryns and was the capital of all Argolida in the Greek Peloponnese and from which two twins reigned, alternately: the kings Acrisio and Preto, son of the famous Abante warrior. Acrisius was Eurydice's husband, and from her marriage a daughter was born: Danae.
This beautiful princess lived a happy childhood, oblivious to the rivalry that existed between her father and her uncle caused by the alternation of the throne. This rivalry grew due to Acrisio's inability to secure a son and Preto's insinuating glances at her daughter Danae, who even appeared to him in nightmares. Disappointed at not having a male heir, Acrisius goes to the oracle of Delphi to find out if that would ever change this situation; to which the oracle told him not only that he would never have an heir, but that he would die at the hands of his own grandson.
To prevent this claim, King Acrisius confined his daughter to an underground room or a completely enclosed bronze fortification. However, the supreme Zeus, the most passionate of the gods, is captivated by her and tries to take her by resorting to one of his many tricks or conversions with mortals (he had already transformed into a swan to join Leda, adopting the appearance of Host to possess Leda). his wife Alcmene, was transformed into a meek bull to love Europe, into a goddess Artemis herself to sleep with her nymph Callisto).
It all happened on a night full of stars, Danae was without clothes in her bed dreaming of the desired freedom when Zeus appeared through one of the cracks in the room, transformed into a very soft golden drizzle. Then, Zeus brushed with a light spray the naked and frightened body of Danae, who was impressed with such an important visit. This golden dew, through a luminous and vibrant embrace, possessed the young woman, presenting her with the seed of a new life: that of the future hero Perseus.
According to some authors, for a time Danae raised her son in secret, others say that just after giving birth Acrisius discovered the truth and after hearing the shocking news, he locked his daughter and son in a box or chest, throwing them into the ocean. This is how Danae and little Perseus began the journey inside the chest, which thanks to the favorable winds and the waves pushed by Poseidon reached the island of Seriphos, managing to escape from drowning safely and where they were rescued by the fisherman Dictis who welcomed them. to your house.
Some time later, King Polidectes fell in love with Danae and tried to get Perseus away from his mother by making him promise to get the head of one of the gorgons, the one that petrifies whoever looks at it. Returning to Seriphos with Andromeda, Perseus takes revenge on the king (who had tried to rape his mother and fled to the temple in Athens) by petrifying him with the head of the gorgon Medusa.
Perseus returns with Danae to Argos, from where Acrisius fled when he remembered the oracle's prediction. But, the old king while attending Larisa in a sports celebration in which Perseus competed as an athlete, he was fatally struck by mishandling and disc propulsion done by Perseus.
Perseus and Medusa
In ancient Greece Medusa was one of the 3 gorgons who were evil deities of the sea, but only Medusa was mortal, while the other 2 sisters Esteno and Euríale were immortal. These resided in the far west, beyond the land of the Hesperides on the border between land and sea almost colliding with the border of the realm of the dead.
They had golden wings that gave them the ability to fly, hair made up of snakes, sharp fangs similar to those of a boar, the neck was lined with thick dragon scales, and the gaze was so sharp and terrifying that anyone who dared to interrupting his path was surprised by terror and immediately turned into stone; so everyone was afraid of her.
All except Perseus, who was a Greek demigod who decided to kill Medusa and redeem the world from the transformation of stone figures. But the situation was not easy for him, Perseus requested assistance from the Greek gods who helped him by giving him gifts that he would need to defeat Medusa. To do this, Athena gave him a shield that was also a mirror, Zeus gave him a very sharp sickle, Hermes lent him his winged sandals and Hades lent him his helmet that made him invisible.
Armed with all these gifts, Perseus went to the shock of the Gorgon. And there he found Medusa, walking amused turning all who were in her path into figures of stone. When Medusa sat down to rest, Perseus started her ploy, he couldn't see her in her eyes as she would turn him into stone, so he used the mirror shield to control Medusa's movements.
As soon as he saw her resting, Perseus put on his helmet of invisibility, his winged sandals and flew with his sickle ready to lop off Medusa's head. Finally, he had a great success, since Perseus managed to cut off Medusa's head and put it in an opaque bag so that he could not petrify anyone else; Furthermore, the famous Pegasus horse was born from the blood of Medusa, a flying horse.
Perseus and Andromeda
Cassiopeia, convinced of her daughter's beauty, boasted in an act of pride that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, a group of sea nymphs. Offended by this statement, the Nereids protested to Poseidon, god of the sea, who as punishment sent a barrage on the kingdom and a monster that devastated the eastern coast. Desperate for the situation, Cepheus surrendered to the oracle, who told him that the only way to save her kingdom was to chain her daughter Andromeda to a rock at the foot of a cliff and let the sea monster eat her.
Cepheus prepared to accept the verdict of the oracle and Andromeda yielded to her destiny with total dedication. However, Perseus walking through Joppa and there he visualized Andromeda tied up, falling in love with her. So he went to visit Cepheus, to ask for the engagement with the beautiful noblewoman, the king accepted as long as Perseus killed the sea monster.
In fact, Perseus had just killed Medusa, one of the three gorgons, who was a monstrous being with snakes instead of hair that possessed the power to transform any being that observed her into stone; In the bag that she was carrying, she had her head, so she showed her head to the sea monster, who immediately turned into stone.
Unbeknownst to Perseus, Caffeus had already promised Andromeda to his uncle Phineus. At Perseus and Andromeda's wedding feast, Phineus appeared with a group of armed men and demanded that Andromeda be handed over to him; however, Perseus used Medusa's head again, transforming Phineus and his men into stone.
Perseus and Andromeda had seven children and remained together throughout their lives. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the monarchs of Persia are heirs to the first son of the Perses couple. When Andromeda and Perseus died, the goddess Athena placed them in the sky as constellations, keeping Andromeda's parents and the sea monster company.
Perseus and Hercules
Hercules was a descendant of Zeus and Alcmene, and one of the most popular Greek heroes for his strength, daring, endurance, kindness, compassion, appetite, and gluttony. This had a maternal filial link with Perseus, he was the great-grandson of the latter. When he was born he was given the name Alcides, in gratitude and honor to his grandfather; however, when he reached adulthood, he was given the name of Hercules by Apollo, thus linking him as a servant of the goddess Hera.
His myth is determined during an act of madness intentionally caused by Hera, where Hercules murdered part of his family, including: his wife, children and two nephews; In penance for this, he was ordered to perform twelve labors organized by Eurystheus.
Perseus and Atlas
When Perseus killed Medusa, he took her head and flew to the land where the Titan Atlas dwelt. Atlas was an immortal of formidable size and his great pride was taking care of his garden where there were trees with golden fruits. Arriving at this place, Perseus introduced himself as the son of Zeus and said that he was visiting as a guest, but Atlas, suspicious and fearing that he wanted to steal the golden fruits from him, threw him out.
Atlas was a giant and Perseus did not dare to meet him, so he offered him the bag that hid Medusa's head as a gift; so Perseus proceeded to remove Medusa's head while looking away, where almost immediately the body of the Titan Atlas was transformed into a stone mountain of colossal dimensions.
Perseus and Pegasus
A pegasus is a large, majestic horse with enormous feathered wings. In general, they are usually white, although they can also appear in shades of brown and even black. These creatures have noble, pious, warm and friendly qualities with high sensitivity and perception, which is why, according to Greek mythology, they can only be tamed by men with a good heart.
Legend has it that Perseus, son of Zeus, when he severed the head of Medusa and the blood that emanated from her neck gave rise to Pegasus. Shortly after birth, Pegasus administered a blow to the ground of Mount Helicon and from this blow emerged a stream that is believed to be the seed of idyllic inspiration. According to classical sources, Perseus did not fly over Pegasus as he preferred the use of his winged sandals.
After that, a considerable group of individuals tried to tame the mystical and dizzying horse, but only Bellerophon reached it with the assistance of a mysterious rein that the goddess Athena gave him in a dream, after which Bellerophon and Pegasus obtained enormous feats such as the down from the vile chimera to the point where Bellerophon collided with the gods themselves and tried to fly Pegasus to Olympus to join them.
Pegasus knocked down Bellerophon before he succeeded and Zeus rewarded the horse by giving him refuge in the stable of Olympus, giving him lightning and thunder as a gift as hallmarks of his power. Later, Pegasus was turned into a constellation of stars located between Pisces and Andromeda over the years.
Since then it has been said that there is a sublime race of winged horses called the "Great Pegasus" that are born from the neck of a slain jellyfish. These are more energetic and larger, are usually leaders of Pegasus packs and only allow themselves to be tamed by the noblest of heroes.
Death of Perseus
Perseus killed his grandfather Acrisio, when a disc that the hero threw in a sports competition deviated from its path and crashed into the head of the old man who was among those attending the event. But it was not by his own will, not even by accident that Perseus killed his grandfather, but by the mysterious design of the gods who had warned him long ago (Acrisio):
"You will not have sons, but there will be a grandson who will take your life."
In any case Perseus was full of remorse, he was overwhelmed by a great sadness that took away his desire to live in Argos. So after this event, Perseus took the body of the deceased Acrisius to this city and buried it in the temple of Athena, his patron goddess, which was located in the highest part of the acropolis, that is, the fortified citadel. Later, accompanied by his wife Andromeda, Perseus went to Tiryns where Megapente reigned, to whom he proposed to exchange the kingdoms.
Megapentes accepted Perseus's proposal and remained reigning in Tiryns, but Perseus did not find the peace that his soul, tormented by the complex of guilt for the death of his grandfather, needed either. So later he went to found another city which he called Mycenae, whose walls became very famous because they were built by the Cyclopes (giant fantastic beings who had only one eye in the middle of their foreheads) and that is why they were impregnable, like Troy. .
Perseus and Andromeda long reigned in Mycenae and procreated six sons Persian men (who was the father of the Persian nation, now called Iranian) named Alcaeus, Mestor, Helleo, Electrión and Estenelo; and an unmarried daughter who was given the name Gorgophene, apparently in memory of Medusa who was killed by Perseus and thus became a protégé of the goddess Athena.
According to myth, after spending an extended period of time ruling Mycenae, Perseus was killed by Megapente; the latter had accused him of killing his father, Preto. However, after the death of Perseus, which supposedly occurred almost instantly than that of his wife Andromeda, Athena settled that they would not enter the world of the dead but were placed in the sky forming the constellations that bear their names.
Perseus and Kraken
According to Greek mythology, Perseus was the one who faced the Kraken using Medusa's head as a defense instrument to protect the princess Andromeda and then bond with her. Perseus was traveling through the sky of Ethiopia on his way to see his king Polydectes, to whom he had to give the head of Medusa as a wedding gift just when he heard heartbreaking cries for help without knowing where they came from.
Perplexed Perseus visualized a woman tied to some stones next to the raging sea; she was the first-born princess Andromeda of Cassiopeia and Cepheus monarch of Ethiopia. When he was in front of her, Perseus questioned her to find out the reason for her ties and what she was so afraid of, to which she explains that she had offered herself as a sacrifice to calm the god Poseidon who was furious with his mother Cassiopeia and who had unleashed a great destruction in the kingdom of Ethiopia.
Slowly the Kraken began to emerge from the ocean fixing its gaze on the chained maiden and without thinking twice Perseus raised Medusa's head in front of the Kraken, partially turning it to stone, thus ending with a direct attack from his sword to the heart. Andromeda, fascinated by the great deed that Perseus had just accomplished, jumped into her arms showing how grateful she was and falling in love with him completely and unexpectedly.
Perseus in movies and video games
Perseus is so emblematic and significant in Greek mythology, that on many occasions the history of this character has been approached both in movies and in video games, such as those that we will detail below:
Wrath of the Titans
The first part of this film tells a story very close to the representation in Greek mythology about the demigod Perseus, but this story begins when King Acrisius and his brothers rebelled against the Supreme God of Olympus, Zeus. Zeus seeking revenge on King Acrisius, assumed the form and appearance of the king and slept with his wife Danae.
Acrisio after learning what happened, murdered his wife and confined her in a coffin with the baby she had from Zeus, throwing them into the sea, then Zeus punishes him by turning him into a beast; although they were thrown into the sea, the baby managed to survive.
In short, the king of Argos led the inhabitants by demolishing a sculpture tributed to Zeus. The brother of the god Zeus, Hades chooses to punish everyone for the insult of the people of Argos and exterminates them, including the parents who adopted Perseus when he was a baby. Hades appears in front of all the inhabitants of the city of Argos, to warn them that in the next solar eclipse, a demon would come to destroy the city and take revenge for the offenses.
To save themselves they had to offer to the daughter of the king of Argos, Andromeda. Furious Perseus guides a bunch of warriors and hunters to help him defend the capital and punish the perpetrators of the crime in his family; Thus begins Medusa's quest to defend the city from the demon Kraken and, in turn, accept his demigod power and create his own destiny.
In the second part, Perseus is represented as a fisherman because he did not want to accept being a god. Perseus had a son and he was responsible for his protection and education, because his wife had died. Zeus appears in the house where Perseus lived, to ask him for help.
Explaining that due to the lack of prayers to the gods, the gods were weakening on Olympus. This would have consequences, freeing creatures and demons that were locked up; to which Perseus rejects Zeus, telling him that he is not interested in helping him.
Some time later, a creature called Chimera attacks the city where Perseus lived, the hero had to fight with the creature to save his people. Immediately afterwards, Perseus goes to talk to his father Zeus in order to accept his proposal and help him with his request. But the god Poseidon tells him that the gods Hades and Ares betrayed Zeus, taking the latter because he was weak in order to free the Titan Cronos; so as Zeus gets weaker, Cronos gets stronger.
Perseus and other companions search for the counterfeiter of all the weapons of Olympus Hephaestus, to help them reach the underworld. When they reach the underworld, Perseus kills Ares and grants freedom to Zeus who was already on the verge of death. Hades forgives Zeus and restores his powers to fight Cronos, then Perseus and Zeus battle Cronos and manage to defeat him, but in the end Zeus the great god of Olympus dies.
God of War II
In this game, Perseus embarks on a journey to the Island of Creation, with the intention of being able to speak with the sisters of destiny to save his beloved Andromeda from the god Hades. In the temple of Atropos, Perseus runs into Kratos, whom he blames for his ignorance, leading him to believe that meeting the two is a test of courage.
Perseus to try to kill Kratos using his invisibility helmet, but Kratos manages to hurt him by ruining the helmet, since his steps could be seen in the water. After a time of quarrel between the two, Kratos manages to damage Perseus's sword, leaving him alone with a magical sickle and a blinding shield. Kratos after leaving Perseus weakened, crushes him against the wall and drowns him in the water of the temple, then throws him against the wall and hangs him with a hook.
Mythic Blades
This video game is inspired by Greek mythology in which twelve different characters can be managed, one of them is Perseus, but you can also use Medusa, Polyphemus, the Minotaur, among others; the game has a three-dimensional appearance and features a combat system very similar to the great game Street Fighter.
Art and Perseus
The myth of Perseus has been a key piece of inspiration for countless artists, who have sought to represent it through various artistic manifestations such as sculpture and painting, among the most outstanding and recognized works the following are mentioned:
Painting
Among the artistic manifestation of oil on canvas, wood or canvas are the following works, where many artists obtain their inspiration through the Greek mythological character Perseus, these are:
- Perseus and Andromeda from Luca (1699)
- Perseus freeing Andromeda by Rubens (1622)
- Perseus and Andromeda from Leighton (1891)
- Danae receiving the golden shower by Titian (1553)
- Perseus, victor over Medusa from Luca (1698)
Sculpture
There are various sculptures inspired by the Greek mythological character of Perseus, among the executed works that are linked to him are:
- Perseus and Medusa by Cellini (1545)
- Perseus and the Gorgon from Claudel (1902).
Perseus constellation
In the northern hemisphere, the hero Perseus finds himself in the sky specifically in the winter season. With a little imagination, you can see the drawing of a man in the stars, this one has a triangle-shaped complexion, with two lower limbs and feet that seem to be tilted towards the head; there are also two upper limbs that splay outward, possibly bearing some sort of weapon or Medusa's head.
Algol is a very famous star in Perseus, looking at the picture, Algol is the "white star" on the right leg. In Arabic, the name Algol means "demon head", which leads many scientists to believe that the star represents the eye of Medusa.
What makes this star special is that it blinks! Algol is a special type of binary star, with a fainter star orbiting a brighter star. When the darker star crosses in front of the other, Algol's strength decreases, giving a twinkling star! Perseus is located along the Milky Way, so it is full of deep celestial objects. When you find Perseus, look for the constellations that accompany him, these are Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Andromeda.
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