Polydectes, king of the island of Seriphos, fell in love with a princess called Danae, but before he could marry her he wanted Perseus, her son by Zeus, out of the way. So he ordered the young hero to bring him the head of Medusa as a wedding present. The king thought that this was effectively a death sentence: the Gorgon would surely turn Perseus to stone.
Above: The Head of Medusa by Italian painter Caravaggio (1573—1610). Even after her head had been severed, Medusa’s gaze could still turn people to stone.
Before Perseus could find Medusa, he first had to confront the Graeae, whose main task was to bar the road leading to their sisters the Gorgons. Perseus stole the Graeae’s single eye and tooth and refused to return them until they told him the location of the Gorgons, which turned out to be in the far west, the place of the setting sun and the entrance to the underworld. The gods supplied Perseus with the other equipment he needed to complete his task. That included the cap of Hades, god of the underworld, which would make him invisible (Hades means “unseen”); the winged sandals of Hermes, the messenger of the gods; a purse known as a kibisis for carrying the Gorgon’s head; and a scimitar, a curved sword.
Perseus used his winged sandals to fly over the ocean to the home of the Gorgons. On the advice of Athena, he approached Medusa backward, taking care not to look at the monster directly, but observing her reflection in his polished shield. Perseus decapitated Medusa as she slept, stuffed her head into the kibisis, and then, without ever looking at his prize, used his winged sandals and the cap of invisibility to escape the wrath of his victim’s sisters, Stheno and Euryale. In one version of this myth, it was at this point that two children of Poseidon sprang fully formed
GORGONS
Above: This illustration by Philip van Gunst (18th century) shows Perseus slaying Medusa. Both the hero and his winged horse, Pegasus, avert their gaze from the monster, because to look at her is fatal.
From the blood that flowed from Medusa’s neck. One was Pegasus, the winged horse; the other was Chrysaor, a giant with a golden sword.
Medusa’s head was a powerful weapon for Perseus. When he fell in love with Andromeda and saved her from a sea monster, he turned her betrothed and his followers to stone so that he could marry her. He freed his mother, Danae, from the evil clutches of Polydectes, king of the island of Seriphos, by turning him and his followers to stone. He then made Polydectes’ brother, Dictys, king. Perseus is also said to have used Medusa’s head to turn Atlas to stone, thus easing the strain felt by the Titan who had been condemned to bear the weight of the heavens for eternity. Finally, Perseus gave Medusa’s head to Athena, who placed it on her aegis (shield) or her breastplate as a symbol of her protective power.
World History
