Perseus and Medusa the Gorgon
The Origin of the Hero
Acrisius was the king of the powerful city of Argos, however he lived in anguish for not having a male heir appointed. In order to cease his anguish he decided to visit the Oracle of Delphi, but the prophecy he was told only increased his despair. “You will never have a son and no matter where you hide your destiny is to be killed by your grandson” the King only had one daughter called Danae, to protect himself from the prophecy he decided that the princess had to spend her whole life trapped in the palace.
Zeus, the lord of the olympus, hearing the young girl’s prayers fell in love and decided to visit her. The god turned himself into golden rain and this way, managed to get inside through the openings of the tower where the princess was enclosed. The golden rain fell on Danae’s lap and zeus impregnated her. Time went by and the child was born, his name was Perseus. Knowing about his grandsons birth, the King Acrisius was furious.
He suspected that his brother Proetus was the one who impregnated his daughter in order to claim his throne in the future. The King took a drastic measure to punish his daughter’s betrayal, he decided to lock the princess and her baby in an urn and throw both into the sea. “Gods can’t punish me for killing my daughter and my grandson as I did not kill them if their destiny is to die in the ocean. I will not do anything to prevent that to happen”.
However, this was not the destiny conceived by the gods. At the request of Zeus, Poseidon guided the urn to Seriphos where Perseus and her mother were rescued by Dictys, a Fisher and the brother of the king Polydectes. The humble fisherman hosted the mother and raised Perseus as if he was his son. Perseus grew and became a handsome, strong and brave man.
One day there was a party in the palace, Dictys and his protege as were invited for the festivities the king was enchanted by Danae but realised that she was always protected by his jealous son. The moment came when the king was offered with several gifts the invitees brought him horses and jewels as presents. The turn of Perseus came right after who was merely a Fisher, like his adopted father, and had nothing particularly valuable to offer.
“I’m not rich so I don’t have horses nor jewels to offer you but I’d give you the head of the monstrous Medusa if that pleases you”. The king, realising the opportunity to definitely separate Perseus from his mother, says “if what you’re saying is true go after the pesky creature and do not come back here until you bring the monsters head as a trophy”. Being the son of Zeus, Perseus always knew that inside of him lied a great power and that his fate was to achieve great things. The hero did not hesitate, and rose to the challenge proposed. So Perseus fearlessly took off to meet his destiny.
Perseus and Medusa
Perseus was given a mission to find the dreadful Gorgon Medusa and bring her head as a trophy. However, the creatures whereabouts were unknown. All he knew is that several brave heroes had gone after the creature and ended up disappearing. Perseus had the help of his half-brothers, the gods Hermes and Athena. The goddess of wisdom offered him her shield as protection and only the gree knew the hideout of the nymphs who had the artifacts needed to accomplish this mission. Hermes worked as his guide, given that as the messenger of gods he was aware of all the routes that led to any destination.
The young men arrived at the cave of greed who were the prime mortal deities and relatives of Medusa. There were three old ladies however they only had one eye to share between them, so only one of them could see at any given time. Perseus furtively approached the gree and managed to steal the eye of the creatures. Desperate and blind they tried to get him, without success. The heroes said he would give them the eye only if they pointed the right way to reach the guardian nymph of the artifact and the Medusa’s hideout.
Without any other option, they agreed and told him the whereabouts of both. Perseus gave them the eye and departed to meet the nymph, who appeared to be expecting him right from the start. She gave the hero wing at sandals quite similar to the ones of Hermes, the helmet of Hades which gave to anyone who wore at the power of invisibility and one special bag where he would have to keep the head of the Medusa. Through the nymph Perseus found that the Medusa was not always a dreadful creature with serpent like hair. She once was a beautiful priestess, who was cursed for having offended the goddess Athena.
Due to the curse, those who looked her in the eyes would become a stone statue. Now the hero was heading towards the Medusa’s lair Hermes told him that he would not be able to follow the hero. Instead he would give him a divine sword made in the forges of Hephaestus. Whilst arriving at the creatures cave, the hero perceived that to other Gorgons were guarding the entry. These were Euryale and Sthenno, the sisters of medusa. Wearing the helmet of hades, Perseus managed to enter the hideout of Medusa without being spotted by her sisters. When entering the spot, Perseus is confronted with countless statues of men who were victims of the creature.
The hero was cautious and feared being caught by surprise, having then to face Medusa. Perseus wants the shadow of a creature carrying an arch. She shot an arrow against the hero who protected himself behind a pillar, inspired by the goddess Athena he was able to surpass the fear and focus himself on a way to defeat the creature. The hero realised that the shield he was offered was so polished that it almost resembled a mirror, using the reflection of the shield Perseus saw Medusa getting closer to strike him. She launched an attack but Perseus dodged it and counter attacked by beheading her.
Medusa died, and from the creatures blood the winged horse Pegasus and the golden giant Chrysaor was born. Without looking at the head of Medusa Perseus put it inside the special bag that the nymph had offered. Him using the winged sandals Perseus victoriously headed back home.