Cepheus is depicted kissing the hand of Perseus after he rescues his daughter Andromeda. They are remembered as the ancestors of a number of great heroes, including Heracles.ĭetail from Perseus and Andromeda by Pierre Mignard I (1679). Perseus and Andromeda soon traveled to Greece, where they had many children.
In gratitude, Cassiopeia and her husband Cepheus gave Andromeda to Perseus in marriage. Seeing the beautiful girl chained to a rock, he killed the sea monster and returned her to her parents. Perseus happened to be passing by at this time. Andromeda was thus chained to a cliff on the seashore to be devoured by a sea monster sent by Poseidon. Andromeda’s mother, Cassiopeia, had offended the sea gods by boasting of her own beauty as punishment for this arrogance, she was made to sacrifice her daughter to the gods. Perseus married Andromeda, an Eastern princess. He became king of Mycenae (or Tiryns, in some versions), establishing the great mythical dynasty of the Perseids.Ī photo of the Lions Gate in Mycenae Andreas Trepte CC BY-SA 2.5 Who was Perseus’ wife? Years later, after accomplishing various heroic feats, Perseus returned to the Argolid to reclaim his birthright. The chest floated safely to the island of Seriphos, where the mother and son were taken in by a kindly fisherman. But when his grandfather Acrisius discovered that Danae had become pregnant despite his precautions, he locked her and her child in a chest and threw it into the sea. Perseus was conceived, and perhaps born, in Argos, the homeland of his mother Danae. Louis, MO Public Domain Where did Perseus live? But Zeus visited Danae as a shower of gold dust, and Perseus was conceived from their union.ĭanae by Artemisia Gentileschi (ca. Thus, he locked Danae up in a dungeon to prevent her from ever bearing a son. Perseus was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Danae, a mortal princess and daughter of the Argive king Acrisius.ĭanae’s father was told by an oracle that he was destined to die at the hands of his grandson. Later, while passing through Ethiopia, Perseus rescued the princess Andromeda from a sea monster and made her his wife.Īt the end of his adventures, Perseus became the ruler of Mycenae and founded the important dynasty of the “Perseids.” The Greeks of the Argolid revered Perseus as one of their most important ancestral heroes. When he came of age, he was sent to kill the Gorgon Medusa, a monster whose gaze turned all who looked upon her to stone. Perseus’ numerous exploits included beheading Medusa, saving the princess Andromeda, and founding the city of Mycenae and the Perseid dynasty.īanished from Argos before he was born (due to an ominous prophecy), Perseus grew up on a remote island. Perseus, son of Zeus and the Argive princess Danae, was a Greek hero and king connected with the Argolid.
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