Perseus = Clash of the Titans
• Movie has many errors, but
it is pretty cool.
• Here is the trailer for the
2010 movie:
• http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=rcdP8YAW-8A
• After we watch it, we will
talk about the creatures,
images, story, etc.
TAKE NOTES!
• On main characters and
monsters.
• On stages of the hero’s
journey & Archetypes!
Mythic Heroes – ‘cluster’ specifications
Common Features of Legends
•Miraculous birth, early threats
•Disinheritance and/or powerful enemy
•Quest(s) – impossible tasks requiring strength and
courage
•Helpers – often divine
•Warrior mentality
•Inability to manage women
•Difficulty controlling passions
•Egocentricity
Perseus – Legends of Argos
Acrisius, King of Argos, and the
prophecy of his death
• King’s daughter was Danae.
• An Oracle foretold that
Danae’s son would kill
Acrisius.
• So Acrisius hid her away in
a Bronze (or Ivory) tower
(or vault.)
• Zeus visited her as a shower
of gold and she had a son,
Perseus.
• Really, Zeus? Okay.
Zeus impregnates Danae
Acrisius set Danae & child adrift,
locked in a wooden box
• Acrisius put them in a box and had it
thrown overboard a ship.
• They came to shore on Seriphos.
• They were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman
and brother of the King: Polydectes.
• Dictys was a nice guy, took care of them,
helped raise Perseus.
Polydectes wants Danae, Perseus
goes on his quest.
• Polydectes, king of
Seriphos, fell in love with
Danaë, but she rejected his
advances.
• Polydectes wanted to get
Perseus out of the way so he
could take Danae.
• Polydectes sent Perseus on
a quest to bring back the
head of Medusa– He hoped
to get rid of Perseus so he
could have his way with
Perseus’ mother.
• Perseus leaves for his quest.
Perseus had help
• Perseus has no idea where Medusa is.
• Athena and Hermes guide Perseus:
– They tell him to visit the Graeae (Old Gray
Women) for advice on where to find the
Nymphs (who can also help him) and Medusa.
– Hermes gives Perseus a sword.
– Athena gives him a shield with a mirror on it.
He can look at Medusa through the mirror (if he
looks directly at her, he will turn to stone).
• Nymphs offered cap of Hades (invisibility)
winged sandals, and leather pouch.
The Graeae/Old GrayWomen
The Graeae (Old Gray
Women) represent old
age.
They share one tooth and
one eye.
Perseus takes their one
eye and won’t give it
back until they tell him
where he can find the
Nymphs and then
Medusa and her sisters,
the Gorgons.
The Graeae
Nymphs give Persues gifts.
Nymphs are beautiful women.
Three objects given by nymphs
1) cap of invisibility
2) winged sandals
3) leather pouch
He is now prepared for his fight with Medusa.
Fighting Medusa
Medusa and the Gorgons
• They are snakewomen with snakes
for hair. Immortal.
• Can turn men to stone
by making eyecontact.
• The only way to kill
Medusa is
decapitation.
• Even dead, her stare
can turn men to stone.
Medusa, one of 3 Gorgons
Link to youtube clip of old
movie: killing Medusa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB
tAO4dYL98
In beheading
Medusa
• Pegasus is born
from Medusa’s
blood.
• Although in myth,
Perseus does NOT
get Pegasus, he is
usually drawn or
depicted with
Pegasus for this
reason.
Pegasus
Perseus then travels home, meets
Andromeda.
Andromeda: daughter of Cepheus & Cassiepea.
• Cassiepea boasted she was more beautiful than the
Nereids (sea goddesses), so Poseidon flooded the
kingdom & sent a sea monster.
• The oracle of Zeus said the sea monster could only
be appeased by offering a virgin.
• Andromeda was chained to a rock as an offering
to sea monster, Ceto.
Note: Not the Kraken
(a HUGE sea monster).
After the monster was slain…
• Perseus and Adromeda fell in love.
• They got married and returned to Perseus’s home.
• Perseus returns home to discover that Polydectes
has been a bad boy. A tyrant. Perseus’s mother
and Dictys are in hiding.
• Perseus turned Polydectes & followers into stone;
returned the gifts to Hermes; Medusa’s head given
to Athena who put it on her shield.
• Perseus & Andromeda returned to Argos & left
Dictys as king of Seriphos.
The End – And the Stars!
Death of Acrisius
• When Danaë’s father, Acrisius, learned that
Perseus was coming, he left for Thessaly
because of the prophecy that Danaë’s son
would kill him.
• Perseus ended up in Thessaly & killed
Acrisius accidentally when he hit him with
a discus in the Games celebrated there.
• Descendant of Perseus = Hercules.
• Constellations.