Perseus, half in Greek mythology
Perseo is a well -known mythological character, a half -born of the union between Zeus and the mortal Dánae, daughter of the King of Argos, Acrisio, who had been warned by an oracle that he would not have male children and that his grandson would kill him,So he locked Dánae in a ivory tower or in an underground bronze chamber – there is no agreement between the versions – so that he did not have contact with any man. Zeus, for then, had already infatuated her, so she discovered her whereabouts and became a rain of gold to be able to leaked through the roof of the stay and get pregnant, and although this is the most accepted and known version, I have also foundinterpretations that say it became rainbow. When Acrisio learned that Dánae had given birth to a child, he did not believe that the father was Zeus, rather he suspected his brother Preto. Nor did he dare to kill his own daughter, so he decided to throw her into the sea with his son in an ark, a situation they could survive thanks to the protection that Zeus gave them. Finally, they arrived on the island of Serifos and there they picked them up Dictis, the brother of King Polidectes, and the latter ended up falling in love with Dánae, in addition, he thought that Perseus would hinder a lot in his relationship, so he planned to remove it from the medium sending it in search ofMedusa’s head, mythological monster that turned anyone who looked into his eyes into stone. As expected, Perseus showing a lot of courage accepted and began his trip, with the protection of Athena, a sworn enemy of Medusa.
First he met the Greas (or Grayas), who were three old women who only had one eye and a tooth for all, which were alternating. Perseus took their eyes and demanded in exchange for returning it the location of the nymphs of stigia, who were in the care of different objects that were owned by the gods, objects that would help Perseus on their trip. Of them he obtained a winged sandals from Hermes, an invisibility helmet of Hades and a bag called Kística to save the head of Medusa. In addition, he told as an offensive weapon the Hozantina de Hermes and as a defensive weapon the polished Athena shield that would serve as a mirror not to look directly in the eye, because that way he would turn him into stone forever.
It should be noted that Perseus went to the city of Dicerion in Samos, where images of the three gorgons were shown: Medusa and their two sisters: Steno and Euríale, to be able to distinguish it. Medusa had snakes for hair, big teeth, the outgoing tongue and a face as ugly that as you look directly petrified, although there are other versions that say it was very beautiful, being that impossible not to look at it and be petrified.
After preparing for the fight, he undertook his way where the gorgons lived, with the fate that he found them asleep, so he did not have many problems to cut the head of the monster, but that the setback would come after Medusa’s decapitation:The rest of the gorgons – celebrating and Euríale – woke up and began to persecute him, but Perseus was able to mislead them thanks to the Hades helmet, appointed before, which made him invisible. It should be noted that from the blood of the neck, the winged horse Pegaso and the Crisaor warrior emerged because Medusa was pregnant with Poseidon.
After obtaining the head of Medusa, he decided to undertake his trip back to the island of Serifos, but on the road he passed through North Africa (Libya) and there he asked for hospitality in the temple of King Atlas of Mauritania -a terrible giant -But he refused because an oracle had told him that a son of Zeus would destroy the garden of his daughters the Hesperides. Perseo responded to this making him a mountain, because Medusa’s head had not lost his powers, but now he was a very powerful weapon.
He had no choice but the half that follow his way, but Andromeda was found in a rock chained by his own parents, cefo and casiopea, because Poseidon had sent a marine monster to destroy the entire kingdom and thus punishTo Casiopea, who had presumed to be more beautiful than the Nereids. The only way to save the territory was to offer her daughter Andromeda as a sacrifice, but as Perseo had fallen in love with her, she promised to annihilate the monster in exchange for marrying her later. Thus, Perseo ended the monster petrifying it with Medusa’s head, released Andromeda and married her. In addition, later they would end up having a very large offspring, seven children called Perse. Since we have talked about its offspring, I can emphasize that one of the most famous demigods, Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmena, daughter of Electrion, one of the children of Perseo and Andromeda is among her.
At the wedding party, unfortunately, he had to face Fineo, Cepheo’s brother, because he was Andromeda’s previous fiance. A kind of struggle began between those who wanted the husband to be fine and those who wanted him to be Perseus, but finally the latter won because he used his great weapon to petrify both fine and all those who supported him.
After marrying, Andromeda and Perseus resumed the way back to the Isla Serifos, where Dánae was refugee in a temple with Dictis for the fear they had to Polidectes, because he was still in love with her, but she was from herbrother. Perseus ended the problem in the same way as all the previous ones: he petrified and put him from king on the island to Dictis, in addition to that this served as revenge because he knew that sending him to the head of Medusa was a plan forRemove it totally from the medium.
Having finished all this adventure, Perseus returned to the gods all the objects that had left him through the nymphs and that had helped him soaegis. Although there are different versions of the aegis, we know that this was a part of the armor of Zeus and Athena, being in Zeus a shield and in Athena a shell of goat skin.
To end the Perseus myth we have to talk about his trip with Andromeda and Dánae back to Argos, where was his grandfather Acrisio Rey. He had gone to Larisa to see funeral games for fear that what the oracle had said so long ago, with the bad luck that Perseus, Andromeda and Dánae also went to see them and, even, Perseus participated in theDisco launch test, which deviated and ended up giving Acrisio in the head, killing him totally involuntarily. It was an accident, but the prophecy had still been fulfilled: Acrisio had been killed by his grandson. After the burial of Acrisio, he had to take the title of King of Argos to Perseus, but he refused because he felt too bad, so to solve it he decided to exchange with his megapersArgus. We also have to highlight the work he did during his reign: Fortified Midea and Mycenae, although I have also found versions that say they found them directly.
Perseus, when I died as an old man and after a long reign, was located between the constellations, as was Cefo, Casiopea and Andromeda.
Perseus’s myth also has a Roman version which says that both he and his mother had been thrown by acrisio into the sea, but that they had ended up arriving at the coasts of the Lacio region, and that instead of Polidectes fell in loveDe Dánae, she married King Pilumno, with whom she had offspring between which she was shift, the legendary king of the labels.
After having counted the origin, the myth as such as Perseus and one of its versions – in this case the Roman – we are going to talk about the iconographic attributes that this character has and that will serve us to recognize him in different works of artthat we are going to see later, since they do the same ways of telling their myth, because the essential never changes. For example, we can find versions in which Polidectes does not send Perseus to the head of Medusa because he wantsimportant because it does not intervene in Perseo’s exploits.
Perseus is usually in the vast majority of the time represented with the head of Medusa holds in one of his hands as a trophy, while in the other he can carry the sickle that Hermes had given him as a weapon, also known as Harpe. It is also very normal to find the helmet – sometimes winged – of Hades that made him invisible and the winged sandals of the messenger god. What is no longer so common but it can also happen is to see him represented with the bag called Kística that, as I said before, served to keep Medusa’s head. To finish this section I cannot forget to mention that he is a character who does not wear clothes in almost any sculptural representation, while in the paintings he usually carries.
Bibliography
- Albizu, j. L. (1981): Greek and Roman mythology, Madrid, Rioduero Editions.
- From the square sneak, l., Martínez Murillo J. M., Ibarra J. Yo. (2016): Guide to identify the characters of classical mythology, Madrid, Art Cátedra.
- DIEL, p. (1976): Symbolism in Greek mythology, Barcelona, Editorial Labor.
- Serious, r. (1987): Greek myths, 1, Madrid, Editorial Alliance.
- Hamilton, e. (1976): Mythology, Barcelona, Daimon Editions, Manuel Tamayo.
- Humbert J. (1984): Greek and Roman mythology, Barcelona, Editorial Gustavo Gili.
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