He is a descendant of Io, Zeus’ beloved, who had
been turned into a cow and then made a goddess
of Egypt.
 He was the first Greek hero
of mythology (paved the
way for Heracles)
 Also, like many heroes,
he was conceived under
unusual circumstances.
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Perseus’ grandfather, Acrisius had received word
from the Delphic oracle that the child of his
daughter, DANAE, would grow up to kill him. To
prevent her from having a child, he imprisoned
Danae in a tower of bronze with doors of oak
always guarded by dogs. However, the crafty Zeus
entered her prison by transforming himself into a
shower of gold.
-Danae
tried to hide her child from her father, but
eventually the baby was noticed.
-Acrisius, fearful of the prophecy, locked both mother
and baby in a chest and threw them into the sea.
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The chest with mother and child, both still
alive, washed up on the shore of Seriphos.
King Polydectes took them in, but he wanted
to make Danae his wife. Danae wanted
nothing to do with the icky, evil king.
Polydectes decided that if he could get rid of
Perseus, he would have a better chance with
his mom, so he sent him on a quest to kill
MEDUSA.
A little background on Medusa…..Medusa
was one of three sisters called the Gorgons. They
had hair of snakes, sharp teeth, claws, and
scales. They were so ugly that they turned
people who looked at them directly into stone.
 How did these three sisters become so ugly?
One word: Athena.

Medusa was a very beautiful woman at one
time—her best feature was her HAIR. Poseidon,
god of the sea, was in love with Medusa. They
met in all sorts of secretive places
to…ahem…discuss their love.
One such place was in a temple.
The temple of Athena, the virgin
goddess, to be exact. Athena was
NOT happy. She punished Medusa
and her two sisters with
hideousness and the inability to ever
have a boyfriend again.
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Once set on this journey to kill Medusa,
Perseus suddenly wondered how on earth he
could to it. He was aided by some of the
gods: Hermes and Athena.
They told him to find the Graeae, sisters of
the Gorgon and force the one tooth,
one eye sisters to tell him
where nymphs are that can
help him in his journey
to slay Medusa.
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In order to find out how to find the nymphs,
Perseus steals the one tooth and one eye of
the sisters and they tell him where the
nymphs are.
From the nymphs he receives a cap of
invisibility from Hades, a pair of winged
sandals , and a sack in which to store
Medusa’s severed head.

The Gorgons lived in the land of the
Hyperboreans. Athena guided Perseus and
he looked at Medusa only through his shield,
thus not turning into stone. He cut off her
head and put it in his sack. In order to avoid
getting caught by her sisters, he put on the
helmet of invisibility. Out of the blood left
from Medusa’s head sprung PEGASUS—a
product of her union with Poseidon.

Perseus had another adventure while he was
journeying back with Medusa’s head. It dealt
with the princess of Ethiopia, Andromeda.
Andromeda’s mother had foolishly boasted
that she was more beautiful than the sea
nymphs called Nereids, one of whom was
Amphitrite, Poseidon’s WIFE. As punishment
for Cassiopeia’s hubris, Poseidon sent the sea
monster, Cetus to ravage the land.
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Andromeda’s father, Cepheus consulted the
oracle of Zeus to find out how to be rid of the
reature. He received a horrifying response—
he had to sacrifice his daughter to the sea
monster.
She was chained to a rock to await her death.
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As Perseus is flying by, he sees the beautiful
princess hanging out on the rock and falls in
love with her. He makes a deal with her
father to kill the monster in exchange for
Andromeda’s hand.
Perseus killed the monster with the help of
Medusa’s head and left with Andromeda to
head back to take care of his evil wannabe
stepfather, King Polydectes.
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On the way home, Atlas refused Perseus
hospitality and Medusa’s head turned him
into a mountain range.
He showed Polydectes the head and he was
turned to stone.
He went to a discus competition in Thessaly
and accidently killed his grandfather with a
discus, fulfilling the prophecy.
While washing his hands in water, he formed
coral with Medusa’s head.
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He returned Medusa’s head and the helmet
and sandals (which Hermes now wears) to
Athena and Hermes. Athena placed
Medusa’s head in shield and terrifies foes to
this day.
Perseus founded the city of Mycenae, his
sons became kings, and he and Andromeda
and even the sea monster, Ceto, all became
constellations!