Greek Mythology
Danae - Perseus
Medusa

Acrisius, another king of Argos, was descended from the line of Danaus and had a beautiful daughter called Danae. Since he had once been given an oracle that he would be slain by Danae's son, he shut her up in a dungeon so as to prevent any man from coming near her. But Zeus, who had fallen in love with Danae, transformed himself into a shower of golden rain, penetrated her cell through the cracks in the wall, lay with her and got her with child. Danae brought Zeus' son - Perseus - into the world, whereupon Acrisius, afraid that the prophecy would come true, put Danae and her son in a chest and set them adrift in the sea. The wind blew them to Seriphos, where the fisherman Dictys rescued them and took them into his home.

Polydectes, king of the island, conceived a passion for Danae and wished to make her his own. He organized a banquet at which Perseus, now grown to manhood, was among the guests. Perseus boasted that in order to please the king he was willing to perform any feat, including bringing him the head of Medusa. Polydectes seized the opportunity and challenged Perseus do to precisely that, claiming that otherwise he would take Danae as his wife whether she wished it or not.

Medusa or Gorgo, was a terrible monster with two immortal sisters called Stheno and Euryale. She herself was mortal, but she had the power to turn to stone anyone who looked on her frightful head with its bulging eyes, its broad, flat nose, its boar's teeth and its hair of snakes. Medusa began life as a girl so lovely that she made Athena jealous. Such beauty turned Poseidon's head. Unfortunately, he seduced the girl in one of Athena's temples. Such an affront to Athena would not go unpunished particularly by one already in ill favor. So Medusa was turned by Athena into a Gorgon. Since she started as human she remained mortal.

With the help of Athena and Hermes, Perseus sought first to find the Graiae, who would put him on the road to the Nymphs, who in turn kept the items he would require to dispose of Medusa. The Graiae were three sisters, in the form of old women since their birth, who possessed a total of one eye and one tooth between them. Perseus seized the eye and the tooth in order to compel the Graiae to take him to the Nymphs. The Nymphs gave him a cap which would make him invisible, a pair of winged sandals so that he did not have to stand on the ground, and a magic bag into which he was to put Medusa's head. After crossing Ocean, Perseus found the Gorgons - as Medusa and her sisters were called - asleep. He put on the cap and the sandals, looked at the reflection of Medusa's face in his shield (as Athena had recommended, so that the monster would not turn him to stone) and cut off her head with a diamond-edged sickle supplied by Hermes. Still without looking at the head, he put it into his bag - while from the stump of Medusa's neck were born Chrysaor and Pegasus, Medusa's two children by her union with Poseidon. Eluding Stheno and Euryale, who set off in pursuit of him, Perseus made his way home. As he passed through Africa, some drops of blood escaped from Medusa's head and wild beasts sprang up all over the continent.

In Ethiopia, Perseus came one day to a coastal place in which was a beautiful girl, called Andromeda, tied to a rock. Curious as to what might be going on - and struck by the beauty of the girl - Perseus made inquiries and discovered that a fierce sea-creature was about to emerge from the waves and devour the girl. Cassiope, Andromeda's mother, had boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nymphs themselves, and they prevailed on Poseidon to drown the country in which Andromeda lived and dispatch the monster from the deep. Cepheus, king of the land and husband of Cassiope, consulted an oracle and was told that he would have to give up his daughter as food for the monster. Perseus decided that he would slay the creature, but he demanded that he be allowed to marry Andromeda if he was successful. When he had accomplished the task, Cepheus went back on his word - whereupon Perseus produced the head of Medusa from his bag and turned all those present to stone, with the exception of Andromeda, whom he took back to his home island with him. Back in Seriphos, Polydectes, too, proved to be an oath-breaker, and he was punished in a similar manner, being literally petrified as soon as he set eyes on the accursed head. Dictys became king in the land and Perseus traveled on to Argos, in the hope of finding his grandfather. But learning of his approach Acrisius had taken refuge in Larisa, afraid that the old oracle might be fulfilled. Tentamides, king of Larisa, organized games in which Perseus was among the competitors. Just as destiny had appointed, during the discus-throwing Perseus missed the target and instead struck Acrisius, wounding him fatally. When he discovered that the dead man had been his grandfather, Perseus wept bitterly for him and buried him with all the appropriate honors.

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