The Story of Perseus and the Gorgon The story of Perseus and the Gorgon

There was once a king called Acrisius, who had a beautiful daughter named Danaë. An oracle warned him that he would be killed by Danaë’s son, so he imprisoned her at the top of a bronze tower so that she could never meet a man or have children. But Zeus the king of the gods saw her in the tower and fell in love with her. He turned himself into a shower of gold and poured himself into her room. She had a little boy whom she called Perseus. Acrisius was furious, but he couldn’t bring himself to kill Perseus, as he realised Perseus was the son of Zeus. He had Danaë and Perseus shut up in a wooden box and thrown into the sea. The box floated, and was eventually washed up on the island of Seriphos, where it was found by a fisherman called Dictys. Dictys looked after Danaë and Perseus until Perseus had grown to manhood.

2 Dictys’ brother, Polydectes, was the king of Seriphos. He had noticed how beautiful Danaë was and wanted her for himself. First he needed to get rid of Perseus. He pretended he was going to marry someone else, and said that everyone on the island must give him a magnificent horse as a wedding present. Perseus didn’t have a magnificent horse, or any money to buy one with. He promised Polydectes he would give him anything else he wanted. “Then bring me the head of the gorgon Medusa,” snarled Polydectes. Medusa had once been a beautiful girl, proud of her lovely hair. She annoyed Athena, who turned her and her two sisters into gorgons - terrifying monsters with snakes instead of hair. The worst thing about Medusa was that if you looked into her eyes you were turned to stone. Perseus set out on his quest, though he didn’t really know where to start. He had no idea where the Medusa and her sisters lived, or how to kill her. Then before him appeared a tall, grave woman with grey eyes and a young man with winged

3 sandals. Perseus immediately recognised them as Athena and Hermes. They offered to help him slay Medusa. Hermes lent Perseus his winged sandals, so that he could fly, and a magic curved knife, or sickle. Athena gave him a shield polished like a mirror, so that he could see Medusa’s reflection without being turned to stone. They told him where to find the Graea, or Grey Hags, three old, old sisters who had only one eye and one tooth which they shared between them. He had to persuade them to tell him where to find the Nymphs of the North, who would help him further. When Perseus reached the Graeae’s cave they were squabbling over whose turn it was to use their eye. He snatched the eye off them and refused to give it back unless they told him where to find the Nymphs of the North. Grumbling, they gave him directions. He threw their eye back to them and flew off on his winged sandals, leaving the Graeae scrambling on the ground trying to find their eye. The kindly Nymphs of the North gave him Hades’ Cap of Darkness which made its wearer invisible and a magic knapsack.

4 They told him how to reach the gorgons’ lair. He flew north until he found a cave surrounded by statues. They were people whom Medusa had turned to stone. Perseus put on the Cap of Darkness so that he became invisible, and turned his head so that he could only see what was reflected in Athena’s shield. As he crept slowly into the cave he could see in the shield the sinister shapes of Medusa and her sisters. They were asleep, but the snakes in their hair writhed and hissed. Still looking into the shield he sliced Medusa’s head off with the sickle and put it into the magic knapsack. From the blood that gushed out of her neck sprang two creatures: the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor. The other two gorgons awoke and screamed for revenge; but Perseus was still hidden by the Cap of Darkness. He flew away with the winged sandals, though some artists show him riding Pegasus. On his way home he passed the giant Atlas, holding up the sky. Atlas begged Perseus to take pity on him as he was so

5 exhausted by the weight of his burden; so Perseus took the head of Medusa out of its bag and showed it to Atlas, who was turned to stone and became the Atlas Mountains. Perseus flew on until he saw a beautiful girl chained to a rock by the sea. It was Andromeda, the daughter of the king and queen of Ethiopia. Her mother had boasted that she was more beautiful than the sea-nymphs, and Poseidon had sent a savage sea-monster to punish the country. The only way to get rid of the monster was to sacrifice Andromeda to it. Perseus could not let this happen. When the sea-monster rose out of the water Perseus showed it Medusa’s head. The monster turned to stone and crumbled into the sea. Perseus cut Andromeda’s chains and took her back to her parents. For good measure he turned the man who wanted to marry her into stone as well. Her parents gave them permission to marry and Perseus flew back to Seriphos with Andromeda in his arms. When they arrived at Seriphos, they met Dictys, the fisherman who had looked after Perseus and Danaë. He warned them that King Polydectes had made Danaë his slave as she refused

6 to marry him. Perseus was furious, and even angrier when he arrived at the palace and Polydectes refused to believe that he had slain the gorgon. Perseus took Medusa’s head out of its knapsack and held it up so that Polydectes could see it. The king and his courtiers were all turned to stone. Dictys became king and he and Danaë were married. Much later Perseus was competing in the athletic games at Larissa. When he threw the discus the wind blew it off course and it hit an old man in the audience, killing him instantly. The old man turned out to be Acrisius, Danaë’s father, who was visiting Larissa; so the oracle’s prophecy did come true after all. When Perseus had finished his adventures he gave Medusa’s head to Athena, who put it on her shield. Perseus and Andromeda lived happily for many years and their descendants became great kings.

7