Perseus And Danae

 

The lovely Princess Danae was the mother of Perseus, the legendary Greek hero. The parents of Danae were Acrisius and Eurydice.

Acrisius was king of Argos, which was the major stronghold of an acropolis that included Mycenae and Tiryns. Acrisius' twin brother Proetus was king of Tiryns. From the time they were born, the twins were always fighting each other to become dominant and possess as much as possible, even if it meant the other lost all. Acrisius, having no sons, was in constant fear of Proetus inheriting everything. Seeking help from the Oracle at Delphi, Acrisius was not told what he wanted to hear, that he would have a son, rather, he learned that his own daughter's son would one day kill him. His daughter, Danae, had no children and was unwed. He wanted to keep her that way.

Therefore, Acrisius had Danae locked up in a tower where no man could approach her and fulfill the prophesy.

Now this is where Zeus comes into the story. Having seen Danae, his desire for her was passionate and consumed him. Zeus had a habit of fulfilling his desires in any way he could to get what he wanted. So, one night as Danae lay sleeping in the tower, Zeus transformed himself into gold dust particles, entered the tower from the open skylight above and impregnated Danae. Quenching his lustful desire, he then left the tower the same way he came in.

Nine months later, Danae gave birth to a son. She named him Perseus.

Acrisius, when learning about the child, would not believe that the god Zeus was the father, so he had Danae and the babe put in a chest and cast out to sea. This, he hoped, would break the prophesy when Danae and Perseus died at sea. Yet, once again, Zeus intervenes and asks Poseidon to calm the seas and guide the chest to safety. Danae and her babe are gently swept to the shores of the island of Seriphos in the Aegean Sea.

Dictys, a fisherman, finds the mother and babe and takes them in. Dictys raises Perseus to manhood. The brother of Dictys was Polydectes, the king of Seriphos.

When Perseus was as poor as the fisherman, Dictys, who had raised him. He had no means and no weapons to protect his mother whom Polydectes desired for a wife. Still, Polydectes wanted Perseus out of the way so as to have access to Danae with no trouble and demanded ransom from Perseus to free his mother from marriage.

Since Perseus was not rich and, unfortunately, had no powers bestowed upon him from his father, Zeus. To save his mother from marriage to Polydectes and his evil grasp, he found another way, at the risk of his own life -- he promised Polydectes the head of Medusa.

Perseus had no decent weapons of his own, so he went to Athena seeking help. Now, Athena had a personal vendetta against Medusa, so was happy to help Perseus. Following Athena's instructions, Perseus received a protective sack for Medusa's head from the Hesperides, nymphs of the world ocean. From Zeus, he received a sword made of very hard material that cut swiftly and true. Hades gave Perseus a helmet of darkness which would make him invisible. Sandals with wings to enable him to fly came from Hermes, son of Zeus. Athena gave Perseus a shield of highly polished metal.

Achieving his quest for Medusa's head, Perseus arrived back on the island of Seriphos on the day of the wedding of his mother to Polydectes. Perseus was just in time to step up on the ceremonial platform. He faced Polydectes and pulled the head of Medusa from the sack. Polydectes was turned to stone, as well as Acrisius, who had come from Argos for the marriage ceremony, not knowing that his grandson was there to fulfill the prophesy.

Danae was finally free of the men who controlled her life, free to live her life out with her own choices. Perseus had many other great adventures as Greek's famous hero and eventually became a king in his own right.