October 2, 2017

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. The cards were stacked against Perseus from birth, but with the help of a few gods, he did not let that stop him from making a name for himself and becoming one of the greatest heroes in ancient Greek mythology.

This statue shows Perseus holding aloft the severed head of the monster Medusa. Credit: Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy. (SCALA/Art Resource)

Perseus was born in a unique way. The king of Argos, King Acrisius, imprisoned his daughter and only child, Danaë, because the Oracle of Apollo told him that there would come a day when Danaë’s son would kill him. King Acrisius locked Danaë away in hopes that she would never marry or have children. One version of the myth tells how Danaë’s sadness grew and grew, until one day, a bright golden light came through the small window where she was imprisoned. A man appeared holding a thunderbolt in his hand and offered to make her happy. At the time, Danaë did not know which god had visited her, but eventually she learned it was Zeus.

One day, King Acrisius saw light coming from Danaë’s small prison window. After his servants tore down one of the prison walls, the king found Danaë smiling and holding a baby: Perseus. King Acrisius was enraged—and afraid for his life. Unable to kill them himself, he packed the mother and son in a chest and set them adrift at sea. Dictys, a fisherman, rescued them, and Danaë and young Perseus lived in Dictys’s home on the island of Seriphus. There, Perseus grew into a handsome and strong young man.

King Polydectes, Dictys’s brother, tried to force Danaë into marriage. To prevent that from happening, Perseus agreed to slay the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa. Medusa’s hideous face turned all who looked at her to stone. With the help of the goddess Athena and the god Hermes, Perseus beheaded Medusa. He killed her while gazing at her reflection in his polished shield. Unhappy with Polydectes, Perseus turned him to stone with Medusa’s severed head, which Perseus kept hidden in a magic bag. As a reward for ridding the world of Medusa, Perseus earned a constellation in the northern sky.

Perseus’s other adventures included the rescue of the princess Andromeda from the giant sea monster Cetus. Soon after, Perseus and Andromeda married. Among their descendants was Hercules, another great hero in Greek mythology. Perseus also fulfilled his destiny foretold by the oracle by accidentally killing his grandfather, King Acrisius, with a discus. Perseus refused to take his grandfather’s place on the throne in Argos, but he became a successful king in nearby Tiryns.

May 22, 2017

This week’s mythological figures are monstrous creatures called Gorgons. The Gorgons were so ugly that anyone who looked at them would turn to stone. Medusa and her two sisters made up the Gorgons of Greek mythology. Gorgons had hair that was a mass of writhing snakes, and they had terrifying faces with wicked eyes and hideous grins that revealed protruding fangs. The three sisters were also said to have golden wings and bronze hands.

This sculpture of Medusa is not terribly fearsome—if you can overlook the venomous snakes for hair. Credit: © Davide Catoni, Shutterstock

According to most ancient sources, the Gorgons were daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his sister Ceto, a sea monster. The daughters were given the names Medusa (meaning queen or ruler), Stheno (strength), and Euryale (wide-leaping). Medusa was the most famous of the Gorgons. But, unlike her sisters, Medusa did not always have a frightening appearance. She was beautiful in her youth, and she boasted about her good looks and beautiful hair to the goddess Athena. In a fit of rage, the jealous Athena changed Medusa into a horrible-looking creature with a terrible curse: all who gazed upon Medusa (and her sisters) faced certain death.

Medusa’s sisters were immortal, but she was not. Medusa could be killed by an assailant who managed to avoid looking directly at her creepy face. With Athena’s help, the hero Perseus killed Medusa. He cut off her head while gazing at her reflection in his shield. It is said that upon her death, the blood dripping from Medusa’s head turned to slithering, poisonous snakes, and the mythical winged horse Pegasus sprang from Medusa’s bloated body. Athena took some of Medusa’s blood and gave it to Asclepius, the god of healing. Blood from the right side of Medusa’s body had the power to revive the dead. But blood from her left side was poisonous and killed instantly. One had to choose wisely.

During battles, the ancient Greeks often displayed images of a Gorgon’s head on their armor to frighten their enemies. They also wore charms with images of Gorgon heads to protect them from evil spells.