The Myth of Perseus and Medusa

Acrisius was king of Argos. He had a beautiful daughter names Danae. One day he was told by the oracle of Delphi that
someday his own grandson would kill him. This grandson would be Danae's son. He was scared of his destiny so he
decided to isolate his daughter ever having the chance to procreate. He built a room underneath the earth and kept
Danae there. The room had a small window in the roof to let light and air through.
According to the myth, Zeus came to her in the form of golden rain and got in through the window. After a while,
Perseus was born. Acrisius heard that Danae gave birth to Perseus but couldn't believe that Zeus was the father. He let
his daughter and grandchild out to the open sea on an ark. The wind and waved guided them to the small island of
Seriphos. They were saved and adopted by a local couple. The man was the brother of the king of the island,
Polydectes who was an evil person.
Perseus grew up to be a handsome and strong young man. One day he found himself in the way of the king. the King
wanted Danae to become his wife. He knew he wouldnt have her all for himself as long as Perseus was there to protect
her. So the king made a plan to send Perseus far away and also to a dangerous mission. Polydectes told Perseus to
bring him the head of Medusa, a gorgon.
Medusa was one of three gorgon sisters, but she was the only mortal one. Some myths say all three were born as
monsters, but the main myth had them as gorgeous women. Medusa was so beautiful that Poseidon was crazy about
her, but she didnt care about him. Poseidon wasn't happy about that and turned her and her sisters into monsters with
live snakes replacing their hair. Medusa kept her beautiful face but everything else was hideous, and whoever dared to
look at her face ended up being turned into stone.
Perseus knew he had a hard task. He asked Athena and Hermes for help and two of them along with the nymphs, gave
Perseus winged sandals to fly him to the end of the world where the gorgons lived. They also gave him a cap that made
him invisible, a sword and a mirrored shield. The mirrored shield was the most important tool Perseus had. It allowed
him to see a reflection of Medusas face without being turned into stone.
When he cut Medusas head off, the drops of her blood created Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant winged
boar.
Once he completed his task, Perseus flew back. Perseus used Medusas head as a weapon in many occasions until he
gave the head to Athena to place it on her shield.
I found this myth interesting as I learned a lot of things I didn't know. For example Poseidon was crazy about Medusa. I
also learned that the God's can take any shape they want ie Zeus turning into golden rain. I thought that they could only
take the form of a human or animal.
What this myth taught me about the Greek world is that almost always there's a king who sends a young man on a
dangerous task thinking that they won't come back, only to be proven wrong.

Marta Nieborak
Word Count: 598