Perseus left Serifos on a ship in order to search for Medusa. All who met her terrible gaze were said to be turned to stone. An angry Athena then cursed her and turned her into a terrible monster, though early versions of the myth claimed she was already a scaly monster with snakes entwined in her copper locks, pig tusks, large mouths, and large eyes that shot lightning. According to one version of the myth, she was thought to be beautiful and was raped by Poseidon. Unlike her sisters who were immortal, Medusa was mortal. Medusa was one of the three mermaids which, according to Hesiod, lived across the ocean at the edge of the earth near the Night. ( Public domain ) Perseus and the Hunt for Medusa Pollux decided to keep Danae in the palace until Perseus returned with Medusa’s head.ĭanaë, the mother of Perseus, as depicted by Gustav Klimt. Pollux readily accepted this commitment, as no man had ever returned alive from an encounter with a Gorgon. Perseus, being a fisherman, had no horses but pledged to bring the king the head of Medusa, the Gorgon, instead. In an attempt to get his way, Pollux proclaimed his marriage with Hippodamia and asked that each inhabitant of the island provide the wedding gift of a horse. Dictys hosted Danae and Perseus in his home, and they became members of his family but his brother, King Pollux, wished Danae to be his wife and denied Dictys this union with her.Īnother obstacle to the king was Danae’s son, Perseus, who was an extremely protective son. He probably lived in the famous Cave of the Cyclop, as the chest could have washed up on the beach at the front of the cave. ![]() It is worth noting the similarity to Moses who, according to the Bible, was left in the Nile inside a box of papyrus.ĭictys was a fisherman and the brother of the king of the island, Polydeuces, or Pollux. Waves, calmed by Poseidon, led the chest to the coast of Serifos, which is where Perseus grew up to become a strong man. When Acrisius found out about the birth, he ordered the maid to be killed and then had Danae and Perseus enclosed in a chest and thrown into the sea. ![]() The fruit of the union between Zeus and Danae was a son named Perseus who Danae managed to hide from her father for some time. ( Public domain ) The Birth of Perseus and the Deceit of Pollux Side A from a Boeotian red-figure bell-shaped crater housed at the Louvre. Nevertheless, even if we accept that Jupiter had the ability to transform, we have to ask ourselves what made him wish to acquire offspring with humans?ĭanaë and the shower of gold, said to have caused the conception of Perseus. Interesting enough, a recently discovered ancient Coptic text appears to suggest that Jesus also had the ability to shapeshift. This was a common practice for Jupiter, the name of the Roman equivalent to Zeus, changing forms so that he could copulate with female humans, and is a strange phenomenon found in many ancient mythologies and religions. Having grown fond of her, Zeus visited Danae’s cell in the form of golden rain which entered her womb and impregnated her.
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