Perseus is one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology, famous above all for killing Medusa, the Gorgon whose gaze turned people to stone. His story is a true adventure: a prophecy, a journey to the edge of the world, magical gifts from the gods and the rescue of a princess.
A birth marked by prophecy
An oracle had told the king of Argos, Acrisius, that he would be killed by his daughter Danae's son. To prevent it, the king locked the girl in a bronze chamber. But Zeus reached her as a shower of gold, and from their union Perseus was born. Terrified, Acrisius shut mother and son in a chest and cast it into the sea. The chest washed up on the island of Seriphos, where a fisherman took them in.
The impossible task
Years later the king of Seriphos, Polydectes, wanted to marry Danae and looked for a way to get rid of the now-grown Perseus. He tricked him into promising an impossible gift: the head of Medusa, the only mortal among the three Gorgons, who turned anyone who looked at her to stone.
The gifts of the gods
Perseus did not face the task alone. According to the myth, he received several divine aids:
- From Athena, a shield polished like a mirror.
- From Hermes, winged sandals to fly and a curved sword, the sickle called harpe.
- From the nymphs, a magic bag to hold the head.
- From Hades, the helmet of invisibility.
To find his way, Perseus forced the Graeae, three old sisters who shared a single eye, to give him the information he needed.
The slaying of Medusa
At the Gorgons' lair, Perseus approached the sleeping Medusa without ever looking her in the eye, following her reflection in Athena's shield. With one stroke of the harpe he cut off her head and placed it in the bag. From the Gorgon's neck sprang the winged horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor. Hidden by the helmet of invisibility, Perseus escaped her immortal sisters Stheno and Euryale. Learn more about her in our guide Who was Medusa.
Andromeda and the return
On his way home Perseus saw the princess Andromeda chained to a rock, offered as a sacrifice to a sea monster to appease Poseidon. The hero killed the monster, freed Andromeda and married her. Back on Seriphos, he used Medusa's head to turn Polydectes, who had been tormenting Danae, to stone, and then gave the head to Athena, who placed it on her aegis.
The prophecy fulfilled
Years later, during a discus-throwing contest, an unlucky throw by Perseus struck an elderly spectator: it was his grandfather Acrisius. The prophecy had come true despite every attempt to escape it, a favourite theme of Greek tragedy. Perseus, Andromeda and other figures of the myth later became constellations that still bear their names.
The meaning of the myth
Perseus embodies the hero who wins not only by strength, but by cunning and the right help: he looks at danger indirectly, through a mirror, instead of facing it head-on. He is also a symbol of courage that protects others – his mother and Andromeda.
Perseus in art
Two Italian masterpieces made the hero holding Medusa's head immortal: Benvenuto Cellini's bronze in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, and Antonio Canova's neoclassical marble Perseus Triumphant in the Vatican Museums.
That triumphant pose inspired our Perseus with the Head of Medusa statue in white plaster-effect resin, hand-finished in Turin and available from 10 to 30 cm. Find the other heroes of Greek legend in the Greek Heroes collection, and read the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur.