"The Hero"
Mythology: Boy
oh boy -- if you thought Orion led a complicated and busy life in the tales
told to us in classical mythology, wait until you hear about Perseus.
Like many of the classical heroes, Perseus was an illegitimate son of Zeus
and one of his mistresses, Danae, who was the daughter of King Acrisius
of Argos. Acrisius was told by an oracle that he would be killed
by his grandson, so he kept Danae prisoner in a tower so she would have
no contact with people (especially young suitors!). When Zeus learned
of the torment of Danae, and later of her beauty, he went to her transformed
as golden rain. As a result of her encounter with Zeus, Danae became
pregnant with Perseus.
Acrisius had not forgotten the warning of the oracle, and put his own safety
above that of his daughter and grandson. The king locked Danae and
Perseus in a large trunk and threw them into the sea. After drifting
for several days, the tides took the chest to shore, where they were discovered
by a local fisherman named Dictys, who was the brother of King Polydectes.
Dictys freed them from the trunk and even went so far as to adopt Perseus.
All was well as the years went by, until the day King Polydectes first
met Danae and fell in love with her. Perseus, a now strong and powerful
young man, did not approve of the king's advances toward his mother, so
Polydectes devised a way to get rid of Perseus.
Perseus and his mother were not people of means, having literally been
tossed out of their native home. Knowing this, Polydectes declared
that he was going to marry the daughter of King Oenomaus of Elis, Hippodameia.
Further, it was declared that all in the land must contribute horses to
make up a large herd to act as a wedding present. Since Perseus could
not contribute to the wedding present because he had no horses, Polydectes
insisted that Perseus find another way to make a contribution to his king
-- obtain the head of Medusa (a Gorgon). No mortal had ever survived
the Gorgons, and Polydectes was confident that he would never see Perseus
again, thus giving him the opportunity to pursue Danae.
Many people have heard of Medusa, either in stories or TV and movies, but
many are not aware that Medusa had sisters, and together they were called
the Gorgons. They were so ugly that any mortal who saw them was turned
to stone. Medusa herself was not immortal (although her two sisters,
Euryale and Stheno, were immortal and therefore could not be killed), and
in fact was once a beautiful woman. In an interesting parallel to
Cassiopeia, Medusa was very vain, particularly concerning her long, flowing
hair. The God of the Sea, Poseidon, was taken with the beautiful
Medusa and had an affair with her right in the middle of the Temple of
Athena. Athena was so angered by such a discretion that she transformed
Medusa into a hideous monster like the other Gorgons, and, to make the
punishment even more personal, turned her hair into snakes.
Fortunately, the Gods had not forgotten about Perseus (as he was the son
of Zeus), and many provided assistance to Perseus on his mission to slay
Medusa:
1. Hephaestus (God of Fire and the Forge) gave Perseus a sword
made of diamond that was so strong it could cut through rock.
2. Athena provided Perseus with a bronze shield. Athena told
Perseus that he could look at the reflection of Medusa through the shield
and be protected from the fate of being turned into stone.
3. Hades (God of the Underworld) gave Perseus a helmet of invisibility.
4. Hermes (Messenger to the Gods) gave Perseus a pair of his winged
sandals, giving Perseus the gift of flight.
Perseus hid in the home of Medusa and, looking only in the reflection in
the shield, used the diamond sword to decapitate Medusa. As he placed
her head safely in a bag (it still had the ability to turn people into
stone), it is said that from Medusa's decapitated body emerged Pegasus
the flying horse and a great warrior named Chrysaor (note that some versions
of the story claim that Pegasus rose out of the ocean later when blood
from Medusa's head landed in the tidal foam).
The head of Medusa turned out to be a powerful weapon, since it could turn
both men and beasts into stone. One of the more interesting encounters
Perseus had on his trip home was the encounter he had with Atlas.
Atlas, who bore the world on his shoulders, was rude to Perseus, so Perseus
showed Atlas Medusa's head, and Atlas was turned to stone. According
to legend, Atlas' stone body became the Atlas Mountains in Moracco.
Since Atlas was weary of constantly holding up the world and sky, some
claim that Perseus actually did Atlas a favor and freed him of the responsibility.
The story of Perseus also claims that while on his way home he flew over
Africa. Some of Medusa's blood fell into the desert, where many snakes
arose. This is how snakes got to be in the sand.
The most famous exploit of Perseus, however, involves his trip over Ethiopia.
Queen Cassiopeia, wife of King Cepheus and mother to Princess Andromeda,
was very vain, and declared that she and Andromeda were more beautiful
than the Sea Nymphs. The Sea Nymphs complained to Poseidon, who sent
the Sea Monster Cetus to ravish the Ethiopian Coast. To appease the
monster, Cepheus was told he must sacrifice his daughter Andromeda to the
monster and Poseidon. Perseus flew over the coast just in time to
see Andromeda chained to the rocks while the monster approached.
He used Medusa's head to defeat the monster, and carried Andromeda home.
Upon arriving, they announced their love for each other and further announced
their marriage.
When Perseus finally arrived back home with Andromeda, Polydectes was not
happy to see his success. Perseus raised Medusa's head high, thus
turning Polydectes and his entire court to stone.
Remember King Acrisius? The oracle had told him that he would die
by Perseus, but not in the way Acrisius interpreted the warning.
Years later, Perseus was a competitor in some athletic games. Perseus
took his turn at the discus, but lost control during his throw. The
discus went sailing into "stands" and struck Acrisius, killing him instantly.
The Olympian Gods honored Perseus' life and heroism by placing his image
among the stars on the Celestial Sphere.
Other Interesting Sights: The Double Star Cluster lies toward the Northern portion of the constellation Perseus and is a spectacular sight through even a pair of binoculars. Although the two star clusters, NGC869 and NGC884, appear to be side by side, that is actually an illusion because we are looking at them through the same line of sight. One cluster is about 1,000 light years further than the other.
The Double Cluster, NGC869 and NGC884