Banished from Argos ahead of he was born (as a consequence of an ominous prophecy), Perseus grew up over a distant island. When he came of age, he was despatched to kill the Gorgon Medusa, a monster whose gaze turned all who seemed on her to stone.
The wedding day of Perseus and Andromeda was disturbed, on the other hand, from the arrival of her uncle Phineus, who had originally been engaged to Andromeda. A quarrel erupted. Ultimately, Perseus turned Phineus and his supporters to stone by displaying Medusa’s head.
As Andromeda was awaiting her destiny, Perseus took place to move by on his way property from killing the Gorgon Medusa. When he uncovered what was occurring—that the beautiful girl sure to the rock was being sacrificed to Poseidon’s sea monster—Perseus made Cepheus and Cassiopeia a suggestion: whenever they promised him Andromeda’s hand in marriage, he would conserve her lifestyle.
This stem is attested while in the identify in the Anatolian weather conditions god Pihassasi, who was liable for thunder and lightning. Since Pegasus was usually imagined given that the thunder-bearer of Zeus, it's been advised that Pegasus’ myth and title ended up derived from Pihassasi.[two]
Perseus transpired being passing by at the moment. Looking at The gorgeous girl chained to the rock, he killed The ocean monster and returned her to her dad and mom. In gratitude, Cassiopeia and her husband Cepheus gave Andromeda to Perseus in relationship.
Whilst Perseus was participating in athletic video games in the town of Larissa, he threw a discus, which struck an previous gentleman from the viewers and killed him straight away.
Historical writers generally stated which the Graeae lived in a very remote part of the whole world. According to Aeschylus’ Prometheus Sure, they could be located in the mysterious “Basic of Cisthene,” someplace from the Much East, not considerably through the Gorgons. There, “neither does the sun together with his beams search down upon them, nor ever the nightly moon.”[eleven]
Perseus married Andromeda, an Jap princess. Andromeda’s mother, Cassiopeia, had offended The ocean gods by boasting of her individual magnificence; as punishment for this conceitedness, she was created to sacrifice her daughter towards the gods.
Perseus was nevertheless armed While using the divine weapons the gods had presented him for his struggle with Medusa: a helmet of invisibility, an adamantine sword, and winged sandals.
As Jason and the Corinthians grappled with what Medea had done, she manufactured her escape. Her grandfather read more Helios despatched her a chariot drawn by flying dragons; Medea obtained into the chariot and flew away.
Pegasus roamed far and large through the cosmos. He experienced Specially close ties with springs including the Hippocrene, the spring of the Muses, as well as Peirene, where by he was finally captured and tamed by Bellerophon.
The serpentine locks of Medusa’s hair experienced an result similar to that of the head: when they did not always transform folks to stone, they might scatter entire armies. One particular such lock was often reported to protect the Greek metropolis of Tegea.[23]
Like a lot of the children Zeus had by mortal mothers, Perseus’ early a long time were tumultuous and unhappy. Prior to Perseus was born, Acrisius, the king of Argos, was warned that he would one day be killed by his grandson. Acrisius as a result imprisoned his only baby, Danae, to prevent her from at any time aquiring a son.
Poseidon was normally named as The daddy of both of those creatures, even when the mechanics of his paternity have been obscure at finest.[five]
In the future, Polydectes held a large banquet at which Each and every guest was requested to provide him a present. Of Perseus, Polydectes demanded The pinnacle of Medusa. This was regarded as a nearly not possible process: Medusa was on the list of a few monsters known as the Gorgons, whose heads were ringed by snakes as opposed to hair and whose gaze turned men and women to stone. Not shrinking with the overwhelming undertaking, Perseus promised to provide Polydectes The top of Medusa.