Perseus and Medusa

Author: Hesiod; Aeschylus; Ovid; Pseudo-Apollodorus

Time Period: 999 BCE–1 BCE; 1 CE–500 CE

Country or Culture: Greek; Roman

Genre: Myth

Overview

For centuries, the myth of Perseus and Medusa (Medousa) has thrilled readers with its famed hero who conquers the Gorgon and harnesses the force of her petrifying gaze. Showcasing a mysterious quest, high adventure, and even romance, the story evolved in ancient versions and continues to fascinate audiences, with countless representations in poetry, prose, and especially the visual arts.

Originating in ancient Greece around 700 BCE, two of the story’s most developed versions survive in the Bibliotheca (The Library of Greek Mythology), once attributed to the Greek grammarian Apollodorus and now credited to a writer known as Pseudo-Apollodorus, and in the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Both writers lived during the first century BCE, and they tell of how Perseus embarks on a quest to find the snake-haired Medusa, one of the three Gorgons, when Perseus’s friend Polydectes (Polydektes) commands him to bring back her head. With the help of a diverse cast of gods, crones, and nymphs as well as the magic objects they bestow, Perseus decapitates the Gorgon by gazing only at her reflection in his shield. Then, he defeats his enemies in other exploits—most notably the rescue of Andromeda, a beautiful maiden whose father sacrifices her to a savage sea monster sent as divine punishment after his wife offends the sea nymphs. In exchange for her rescue, Andromeda is given to Perseus in marriage, and when her abandoned fiancé Phineus (Phineas) opposes the union, Perseus uses Medusa’s head to petrify him and his crew. The hero also turns Polydectes to stone when the ruler turns corrupt.

The story in the Bibliotheca is chronological, beginning with Perseus’s birth and ending with the accidental death of the hero’s father, which an oracle had initially predicted. In contrast, Ovid begins with the rescue of Andromeda, after Perseus has already defeated Medusa, telling the story of the Gorgon’s defeat in retrospect when a wedding guest asks the hero to describe the deed. Ovid’s version also includes the story of Medusa’s transformation into the Gorgon and provides a different ending regarding Perseus’s father.

Remarkably, monstrous Medusa has come to overshadow Perseus even though he is the story’s nominal hero. This shift partly results from how Ovid’s version diminishes the heroism of Perseus. Ovid is also unique in evoking sympathy for Medusa by telling the story of her rape, for which the goddess Minerva unjustly transforms her into the hideous Gorgon. Partly as a result of this important detail, Medusa in modern feminist interpretations has become, among many other things, a fascinating symbol of female power in the context of patriarchal cultures. A thematic interpretation explores how Ovid embeds the myth within a series of tales about the power of snakes, which emphasize the fascinating duality of the Medusa figure and snakes in general as sacred life givers and yet vicious destroyers. This thematic approach in turn invites readers to view Medusa within larger contexts of myth and anthropological studies, which demonstrate her likely ancestry in several ancient deities and show how she became linked increasingly with violence and death in ancient Greek culture.

Summary

The story of Perseus in the Bibliotheca begins with the hero’s birth. Acrisius (Akrisios), father of Danaë, learns from an oracle that his daughter will bear a son who will kill him, so he locks her in an underground bronze chamber. Nonetheless, Danaë becomes pregnant, either because she is seduced by Acrisius’s twin brother, Proteus, or because Zeus transforms himself into a shower of gold that penetrates her womb. When Danaë gives birth to Perseus, Acrisius casts them both out to sea in an ark, which drifts to Seriphus (Seriphos). There, the fisherman Dictys finds and raises Perseus. Polydectes, the ruler of Seriphus, loves Danaë but is “unable to have sex with her, now that Perseus was a grown man” (34), so he pretends to want to marry Hippodameia and asks his friends for contributions so that he may obtain her hand. He requests horses from his friends but receives none from Perseus, who had claimed that he “would not deny Polydectes even the Gorgon’s head” (34), so he accepts Perseus’s brave offer.

Assisted by Hermes and Athena, Perseus first goes to Enyo, Pephredo, and Deino, the three daughters of Phorcus (Phorkys) and Ceto (Keto). The sisters of the Gorgons, these three crones possess one eye and one tooth, which they share and which Perseus takes, promising to return them once the sisters lead him to certain nymphs. The nymphs give Perseus winged sandals, a special knapsack, and the helmet of Hades, which causes whoever wears it to become invisible. In addition, Hermes gives him a harpé (curved sword). With these magical objects, Perseus flies to the ocean and finds the three sleeping Gorgons, Euryale, Stheno, and Medusa. The only mortal Gorgon, Medusa is Perseus’s target. The three creatures, whose gaze turns humans to stone, are described as having heads “entwined with the horny scales of serpents . . . big tusks like hogs, bronze hands, and wings of gold on which they flew” (35). Looking into Medusa’s reflection on his bronze shield rather than directly at her, Perseus cuts off her head with the aid of Athena, who guides his hand. Immediately, the winged horse Pegasus (Pêgasos) and his brother, Chrysaor (Khrysaôr), spring from her headless body; Poseidon is said to be their father. Perseus flees with Medusa’s head in his special knapsack, and with his helmet, he evades the pursuing Gorgons.

Perseus then proceeds to Ethiopia, where he rescues Andromeda from a sea monster sent by Poseidon as punishment after the boastful wife of King Cepheus (Kepheus) challenges the beauty of the Nereids (sea nymphs). Cepheus ties Andromeda to a rock after he receives a prophecy declaring her sacrifice necessary to resolve the offense. Smitten, Perseus promises to free her if her parents will give the girl to him in marriage. Perseus then kills the sea monster and weds Andromeda, but then he must defeat Phineus, brother of Cepheus and former fiancé of Andromeda. Perseus uses Medusa’s head to petrify Phineus and his supporters. Upon his return to Seriphus, Perseus likewise turns Polydectes and company to stone when the hero learns that his mother and Dictys have fled the ruler’s violence. Perseus then makes Dictys ruler, returns his magical items to Hermes, and gives Medusa’s head to Athena, who places it on her shield. The story also mentions that some report that Athena is responsible for Medusa’s beheading when the latter allows herself to be compared to Athena’s beauty. The story concludes with the hero returning to Argos with Danaë and Andromeda to “get a look at Acrisius” (34). Acrisius flees to the Pelasgian land but is nonetheless killed by his grandson, as the oracle had predicted, when Perseus takes part in a pentathlon and accidentally strikes his grandfather with a discus. Perseus buries him and refuses to inherit Argos, instead reaching an agreement with Megapenthes, who allows him to rule the two realms of Tiryns as well as Mideia and Mycenae.

“Her beauty was far-famed, the jealous hope / Of many a suitor, and of all her charms / Her hair was loveliest. . . . / She, it’s said, / Was violated in Minerva’s shrine / By Ocean’s lord. Jove’s daughter turned away / And covered with her shield her virgin’s eyes, / And then for fitting punishment transformed / The Gorgon’s lovely hair to loathsome snakes. / Minerva still, to strike her foes with dread, / Upon her breastplate wears the snake she made.”

Ovid’s version begins quite differently, with Perseus’s rescue of Andromeda after he has already defeated Medusa. As Perseus flies over Libya with the Gorgon’s head, drops of her blood fall on the sand below and become deadly snakes, accounting for the prevalence of snakes in that region. Flying among the stars, Perseus is wary of flying at night and lands on shores belonging to Atlas, a wealthy giant. Boasting of his divine lineage, Perseus requests lodging, but Atlas rejects him because he recalls an oracle predicting his downfall. When both words and arms fail, Perseus petrifies Atlas with Medusa’s head. The giant first becomes a mountain and then grows “beyond all measure” so that “on his shoulders rest[s] the whole vault / Of heaven with all the innumerable stars” (4.664). The next morning, Perseus proceeds to Ethiopia, where he discovers Andromeda chained to a rock and is so astonished by her beauty that he nearly forgets “to hover in the air” (4.676). Perseus condemns the chains and persuades the modest Andromeda to recount her plight, but soon the terrifying sea monster appears. Perseus presents himself to Andromeda’s cowering parents and offers to rescue her if they agree to promise her as his wife. The couple agrees, and Perseus promptly kills the monster. Meanwhile, Medusa’s head, resting on a rock, transforms the fresh seaweed into coral, engendering a new species.

After Perseus sacrifices to the gods, he and Andromeda enjoy a royal wedding, and the hero then learns of his new wife’s country. In turn, Cepheus asks Perseus to recount his defeat of Medusa. Perseus then briefly describes how he cunningly stole the single eye from Phorcys’s daughters, after which he arrived in the land of the Gorgons, where he witnessed many petrified figures. Looking at only the reflection of Medusa’s head on his shield, he decapitated her, at which point Pegasus and his brother sprang from her body. After recounting other adventures, Perseus falls silent. When another guest asks why Medusa is the only sister to have “snake-twined hair” (4.793), Perseus then tells of how Medusa was once famous for her beauty, particularly for her lovely hair. As Medusa worshiped in Minerva’s temple one day, Neptune raped her, and the offended virgin goddess shielded her eyes but then punished Medusa by turning her hair into snakes. Then, she placed the head on her breastplate “to strike her foes with dread” (4.803). Perseus’s story concludes in book 5 as Phineus interrupts the wedding party to reclaim his “stolen bride” (5.10). When Cepheus cannot persuade Phineus to back down, an epic battle follows, running for nearly two hundred lines, in which Perseus slays many warriors. Ultimately outnumbered, Perseus resorts to Medusa’s head, turning everyone to stone and mercilessly refusing to spare the defeated Phineus. Perseus and Andromeda then return to Argos and use Medusa’s head to avenge Acrisius, his grandfather, who had been expelled by his brother. When Polydectes denies Perseus’s heroism and his defeat of Medusa, he too is turned to “bloodless stone” (5.251).

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