Perseus

Cast out to sea

King Acrisius of Argos was warned that his daughter’s son would kill him, so he locked his daughter Danaë in a bronze chamber. Zeus visited her as a shower of gold, and she bore a son, Perseus. Horrified, Acrisius set mother and baby adrift in a wooden chest, which washed up on the island of Seriphos.

The Gorgon’s head

Years later, King Polydectes of Seriphos, who wanted to force Danaë to marry him, tricked Perseus into promising him the head of Medusa, the Gorgon whose gaze turned people to stone. With the help of Athena and Hermes, Perseus gathered what he needed: winged sandals, a curved sword, a bag to hold the head and the helm of invisibility of Hades. Watching Medusa’s reflection in his polished shield, he cut off her head while she slept, and the winged horse Pegasus sprang from her neck.

Andromeda and home

Flying home, he found Princess Andromeda chained to a rock on the coast of Ethiopia as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Perseus killed the beast and married her. On Seriphos he used Medusa’s head to turn Polydectes and his followers to stone, then gave it to Athena, who set it on her aegis. The old prophecy still came true: competing at athletic games, Perseus threw a discus that accidentally struck and killed his grandfather Acrisius.