One of the most famous illegitimate sons of Zeus, King of the Greek Gods, Perseus was conceived after Zeus rained himself onto the lap of Perseus’ mother, the beautiful Danaë, in the form of a shower of golden coins.
Unfortunately his maternal grandfather, Acrisius, has decided to kill him for he had been warned in a prophecy that a son of his daughter would slay him.
As he did not dare to kill Zeus’s illegitimate son, Acrisius locked the mother and the child in a wooden crate and casted them out to sea.
Perseus and Danaë would be rescued and protected by Dictys a kind fisherman, on the island of Seriphos.
Unfortunately for Perseus, Polydectes, the ruler of Seriphos, fell in love with Danaë. To rid himself of Perseus, who disapproved of the relationship, the cunning ruler tricked the hot-blooded young man into agreeing to bring him the head of the Gorgon Medusa.
Medusa : a sad destiny
Medusa was once considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She was a priestess of the Goddess Athena and no man was allowed to touch her.
But she was raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple. As Athena could not punish Poseidon for the desecration of her temple, she directed her fury towards the victim, the poor Medusa. Athena transformed Medusa into a Gorgon, a horrific humanoid with a serpentine body and slithering snakes for hair.
To kill Medusa was considered to be an impossible task for the very gaze of Medusa was enough to turn any mortal being into stone.
So that his son would survive, Zeus then instructed the Greek gods to aid Perseus with divine gifts, the most famous of which being a polished mirror shield from Athena.
Perseus ultimately succeeded in beheading Medusa by only viewing her reflection using this extraordinary shield.
While returning to Seriphos, he also rescued Princess Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. Andromeda was being offered as a sacrifice to appease Poseidon.
Andromeda’s mother, Queen Cassiopeia, had bragged that Andromeda was equal in beauty to the Nereids (sea nymphs). Irked, Poseidon dispatched the sea monster Cetus to devastate Cassiopeia’s kingdom. After rescuing Andromeda he married the beautiful princess.
The evil Polydectes was ultimately turned into stone by Perseus using Medusa’ head.
As a tribute for her help, Perseus gave Medusa’s head to Athena, who then magically incorporated the grisly trophy into the middle of her shield. Today, many depictions of Athena include Medusa’s horrific visage in the middle of her shield.
Perseus had other lesser known adventures. He is also believed to have founded the Peloponnesian city of Mycenae.
Perseus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda are also immortalized as constellations. The mythical winged horse, Pegasus, which was birthed from the blood of Medusa, is also a constellation.