Perseus, slayer of Medusa and founder of Mycenae

Perseus is one of the founding heroes of Greek mythology. Son of Zeus and the mortal Danaë, he accomplishes what the gods themselves present as impossible: killing the Gorgon Medusa, whose gaze turns anyone who meets it to stone. His story weaves together inescapable prophecy, divine cunning, and the generosity of the gods.

A birth inside a bronze tower

King Acrisius of Argos receives a terrifying oracle: his grandson will kill him. To prevent his daughter Danaë from bearing a child, he has her locked in a bronze tower — or, in other versions, an underground chamber. But Zeus enters as a shower of gold and unites with Danaë. Perseus is born.

Unable to kill his own blood, Acrisius has the mother and child cast out to sea in a chest. They wash ashore on the island of Seriphos, where the fisherman Dictys takes them in.

The trap of Polydectes

Dictys’s brother, Polydectes, king of Seriphos, desires Danaë. To get Perseus out of the way, he pretends to demand a wedding gift worthy of kings: the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Perseus, boastful, accepts — without grasping the absurdity of the enterprise.

But the gods intervene.

Divine armament

Athena and Hermes come to Perseus’s aid. Hermes gives him his winged sandals and an adamantine sickle-sword that cuts through iron like silk. Athena provides her polished shield as a mirror — the decisive tool — and teaches him how to use it.

To obtain the remaining equipment (the kibisis, a sack to carry the head, and the cap of invisibility of Hades), Perseus must first consult the Graeae, three ancient sisters who share a single eye and a single tooth. He forces them to reveal the path to the Nymphs by stealing their eye. The Nymphs give him the missing items.

The death of Medusa

Perseus finds the three Gorgons sleeping at the edge of the world, beyond the Ocean. Only Medusa is mortal — her sisters Stheno and Euryale are immortal. Guided by the reflection in his shield, never looking directly, Perseus approaches and severs Medusa’s head in a single blow.

From the severed neck spring two beings, born of Medusa’s union with Poseidon: the winged horse Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor. Perseus slips the head into his kibisis and flies away on his winged sandals, pursued by the immortal sisters.

Andromeda and the sea monster

On his return, flying over the coast of Ethiopia, Perseus spots a young woman chained to a rock. She is Andromeda, daughter of King Cepheus, offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster sent by Poseidon to punish the vanity of her mother Cassiopeia. Perseus kills the monster — or, in some versions, shows it Medusa’s head — and frees Andromeda, whom he then marries.

The return and vengeance

Back on Seriphos, Perseus finds his mother Danaë persecuted by Polydectes. He enters the banquet hall, orders all present to avert their eyes, and produces the Gorgon’s head: Polydectes and his court are instantly petrified.

On the road back to Argos, Perseus takes part in funeral games. A discus he throws veers into the crowd and kills an unknown old man — who turns out to be Acrisius, his grandfather. The oracle has fulfilled itself despite all precautions.

Mycenae and the legacy

Too troubled to rule Argos, where he has killed the king, Perseus exchanges his kingdom for Tiryns and founds Mycenae, destined to become one of the most powerful cities of archaic Greece. He is the ancestor of the great Argive line from which, several generations later, Heracles descends.

Further reading

To understand Perseus’s divine origin, read the page on Zeus. For the creature he faces, see the page on Medusa. For his divine allies, explore the pages on Athena and Hermes. For the hero whose ancestor he is, see Heracles.