Perseus

Theme: Fate Theme: Recurring idea or

insight found in the story. Also

known as the “hidden

message”.

Repeatedly we have seen the

theme of “fate” emerge in Greek

mythology:

Think about Uranus (he treats his

children badly, and Cronus, his own son,

has to fight him)

Think about Cronus (he becomes so

paranoid he eats his children as infants to

avoid being dethroned)

Think about Zeus (he also believed he

would be overthrown by a son.

Prometheus was the only one who held

that key- he wouldn’t tell him who it was.)

Theme: Fate

Origin King Acrisius was told that

the son of his daughter, Danae, would kill him.

He could not let this happen (he was more afraid of the gods than he was of hurting his daughter) so he locked her in an underground tower made of bronze with part of the roof open to the sky so that she would never marry or have children

However, gold fell from the sky and Zeus arrived. Together they gave birth to a boy, Perseus.

CAST AWAY King Acrisius was

furious when he

discovered the child.

Didn’t believe Zeus was

the father.

He shut Danae and

Perseus up in a chest

and cast them out to sea.

Somehow by “fate” or by

Zeus, they arrived on

land. A fisherman by

Dictys discovered them.

POLYDECTES’ PLOT Dictys & his wife took

Danae and Perseus in for several years.

Soon Polydectes (brother of Dictys) fell in love with Danae and wanted to remove Perseus.

Polydectes plants a seed in Perseus’ head indicating that he wanted the head of one of the Gorgons.

Polydectes then decides he will have a party for his soon-to-be wife. All bring a present except Perseus.

Perseus was humiliated because he didn’t have a gift and instead offered something far greater.

Perseus was tricked into offering anything Poldectes wanted as a wedding gift.

He demanded the head of Medusa, a gorgon with a gaze that turned people to stone.

“No man unaided could kill Medusa” (Hamilton, p. 149).

POLYDECTES’ PLOT

Help from the Gods Divine help was needed

for this quest and it came from Hermes and Athena.

Athena gave Perseus her mirrored (bronze) shield and Hermes gave him his sword.

He then visited the Gray Women (shared one eye) and forced them to tell him how to get to the nymphs of the North.

Pallas Athena’s Advice

When she gave Perseus her shield she

said, “Look into this when you attack

the Gorgon. You will be able to see

her in it as in a mirror, and so avoid

her deadly power” (Hamilton, p. 150).

The Gray Women Hermes tells Perseus that nymphs of the

North hold the items he needed in order

to defeat Medusa.

Nymphs of the north were three aged

women

They shared an eye.

“But their heads were human and

beneath their wings they had arms and

hands” (Hamilton, p. 150).

“Where’s my EYE?!?”

Perseus did as Hermes instructed him

to do and snatched the eye of the Gray

Women.

He used the eye as leverage to find the

location of the nymphs of the North.

Immediately they gave him directions to

the land of Hyperboreans.

Gift from the Maidens of

Hyperboreans – Nymphs of the

North

Winged sandals

A magic wallet that morphed

into the right size of whatever

he was carrying

A cap which made the

wearer invisible

Gorgons When Perseus came

across them they were

sleeping.

They had “great wings

and bodies covered in

golden scales” with

hair of twisting snakes

(Hamilton, p. 151).

Athena and Hermes

were with him to guide

him to Medusa.

Slaying

Medusa

He used the reflection in

his shield to approach

Medusa and cut off her

head through her neck.

Athena guided him.

He put Medusa’s head

into his wallet and it

closed shut.

The other Gorgons

attacked, but Perseus

used the sandals and the

cap to escape. He put the

invisible cap on so that

the other Gorgons

wouldn’t see him.

Princess Andromeda As he passed Ethiopia on

his return trip, Perseus

spied Andromeda chained

to a rock.

Andromeda was chained to

a rock because her mother,

Queen Cassiopeia, bragged

about her beauty. The gods

were not happy with this

and took their fury out on

her daughter, Andromeda.

The Ethiopians

forced Cepheus,

Andromeda’s

father. To sacrifice

Andromeda so they

wouldn’t be

plagued by the

serpent anymore.

Princess Andromeda

Return to Seriphos When Perseus

returned to

Seriphos, he used

Medusa’s head to

turn Polydectes

to stone.

He made

Polydectes’

brother, Dictys,

the new king.

Perseus and his mother,

with Adromeda, decide to

return to Greece to try to

reconcile with Acrisius.

They find that he was driven

away from the city

No one knew where he was

Return to Argos

Prophecy Fulfilled and The End

At an athletic event

sometime later, Perseus

thrilled a crowd with his

discus skill.

However, he

accidentally struck and

killed a man who turned

out to be Acrisius.

The prophecy originally

told to Acrisius had

come true.

Works Cited

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York:

Little Brown & Company, 1940. Print.

"Perseus." Greek Mythology. 2005. Web.

21 Feb. 2010.

<http://www.greekmythology.com/Myth

s/Heroes/Perseus/perseus.html>.