A N hemisphere constellation, in the Milky Way. Fairly easy to see, it includes a double cluster of stars visible to the naked eye, as well as the famous variable star Algol. The Perseid meteors radiate from it every August.
Perseus, Perseos, or Perseas (Greek: Περσεύς, Περσέως, Περσέας), the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits helped establish the hegemony of Zeus and the Twelve Olympians in the mainland of Greece. Perseus was the hero who killed Medusa.
Origin at Argos
Perseus was the son of Danae who, by her very name, was the archetype and eponymous ancestor of all the Danaans She was the only daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.
Fearful for his future but unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods by killing Zeus' offspring, Acrisius cast the two into the sea in a wooden chest (compare the mythemes of Osiris, Karna and Moses).
Adventures with the Gorgons
After some time, Polydectes fell in love with Danae and desired to remove Perseus from the island.
Polydectes announced a banquet wherein each guest would be expected to bring him a horse, that he might woo Hippodamia, "tamer of horses". Polydectes held Perseus to his rash promise.
For such a heroic quest, a divine helper would be necessary, and for a long time Perseus wandered aimlessly, without hope of ever finding the gorgons or of being able to accomplish his mission should he do so.
According to the iconography of the vase-painters, the gods Hermes and Athena came to his rescue. Perseus snatched the eye at the moment they were blindly passing it from one to another so they could see him and he would not return it until they had given him directions.
Marriage with Andromeda
On the way back to Seriphos, Perseus stopped in Ethiopia, ruled by King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia. Here Perseus, returning from having slain the gorgon, found her, slew the monster, and set her free.
In the classical legend, he flew using the flying sandals. In Renaissance Europe, and continuing to at least one modern movie, the idea came in that Perseus flew mounted on Pegasus.
Perseus married Andromeda in spite of Phineus, to whom she had before been promised. Andromeda followed her husband to Tiryns in Argos, and became the ancestress of the family of the Perseidae through Perseus's and Andromeda's son, Perses. After her death she was placed by Athena amongst the constellations in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia.
On returning to Seriphos and discovering his mother had had to take refuge from the violent advances of Polydectes, Perseus killed him with Medusa's head, and made Dictys king.
The oracle fulfilled
Perseus then returned his magical loans and gave Medusa's head as a gift to Athena, who set it in her shield, as the gorgonion.
The fulfillment of the oracle was told several ways, each incorporating the mythic theme of exile.
He had just invented the quoit and was making a public display of them when Acrisius, who happened to be visiting, stepped into the trajectory of the quoit and was killed: thus the oracle was fulfilled.
In Apollodorus' version, the inevitable occurred by another route: Perseus did return to Argos, but when he learned of the oracle, went into voluntary exile in Pelasgiotis (Thessaly). Competing, Perseus struck Acrisius in the foot, killing him instantly.
In a third tradition, Acrisius had been driven into exile by his brother, Proetus. Perseus turned the brother into stone with the Gorgon's head and restored Acrisius to the throne.
Having killed Acrisius, Perseus, who was next in line for the throne, gave the kingdom to Megapenthes son of Proetus and took over Megapenthes' kingdom of Tiryns. Perseus was ashamed for becoming king of Argos by inflicting death.
In any case, early Greek literature reiterates that manslaughter, even involuntary, requires the exile of the slaughterer, expiation and ritual purification.
King of Mycenae
The two main sources regarding the legendary life of Perseus—for he was an authentic historical figure to the Greeks— are Pausanias and Apollodorus, but from them we obtain mainly folk-etymology concerning the founding of Mycenae. Pausanias asserts that the Greeks believed Perseus founded Mycenae. He mentions the shrine to Perseus that stood on the left-hand side of the road from Mycenae to Argos, and also a sacred fountain at Mycenae called Persea.
Apart from these more historical references, we have only folk-etymology: Perseus dropped his cap or found a mushroom there (both named myces), or perhaps the place was named from the lady Mycene, daughter of Inachus, mentioned in a now missing poem, the great Eoeae.
For whatever reasons, perhaps as outposts, Perseus fortified Mycenae according to Apollodorus along with Midea, implying that they both previously existed. In any case, Perseus took up official residence in Mycenae with Andromeda.
The Perseids
Perseus and Andromeda had seven sons: Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus, Electryon and Cynurus, and two daughters, Gorgophone and Autochthoe.
A statement by the Athenian orator, Isocrates helps to date Perseus roughly. He said that Heracles was four generations later than Perseus, which corresponds to the legendary succession: Perseus, Electryon, Alcmena, and Heracles, who was a contemporary of Eurystheus.
It would have been Perseus after all who had the Cyclopean wall built ca.
Etymology
Because of the obscurity of the name and the legendary character of its bearer, most etymologists pass it by, on the presumption that it might be pre-Greek.
Perseus might be from the ancient Greek verb, perthein, “to waste, ravage, sack, destroy”, some form of which appears in Homeric epithets.
The origin of perth- is more obscure.
Graves carries the meaning still further, to the Perse- in Persephone, goddess of death. whether it may be further identified with the first element of Persephone is only speculative.”
The Greeks made a folk-etymologic connection with the name of the Fars people, whom they called the Persai.
Cyrus Gordon, known for his daring theories, proposed that Perseus is a Semitic name, from p-r-s, "to cut." The Greeks thought that Perseus meant "destroyer", but p-r-s would mean that as well.
Other connections
One legend holds that Perseus turned Atlas the Titan into Atlas the mountain using the head of Medusa when Atlas refused to give Perseus shelter, or that Atlas asked to be shown Medusa's head to end the weary labor of holding heaven and earth apart.
Perseus had a daughter called Gorgophone, whose name means "Gorgon Killer".
Abas was a good friend of Perseus.
Modern uses of the theme
Andrew Lang retold the story, removing all the specific names, in the story "The Terrible Head" in The Blue Fairy Book.
John Barth also retells the myth of Perseus in his novel Chimera.
The legend of Perseus was the basis for the film Clash of the Titans.
A large survey software company has named itself Perseus.
The computer game Heavy Gear II uses Perseus as a model name for one of the mechs.
The heavy metal band Virgin Steele has an album titled Invictus which has a picture of Perseus holding Medusa's head.
In the book series The Lightning Theif, Perseus is the main character and it is about modern mythology.
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Preceded by: Acrisius |
King of Argos |
Succeeded by: Megapenthes |
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Preceded by: Megapenthes |
King of Tiryns |
Succeeded by: Electryon |
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Preceded by: — |
King of Mycenae |
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