Perseus (episode)

***Miscellaneous Myths: Perseus*** is the first episode of the *Miscellaneous Myths* series by Red. This first episode of a new series is about the myth of how Perseus, a young demigod son of Zeus, slayed Medusa and saved and married Andromeda.

## Summary

Red begins by saying that this is the first video in a longish series of myths. Her primary focus will be Greek mythology, being the most influential in pop culture, but will often cover other ones as well.

For this video she'll cover a well-known myth, Perseus and Medusa. Perseus' story begins before he did; his grandfather, King Acrisius, was informed by an oracle that his daughter Danae would have a son that would kill him. Determined to avoid this fate, Acrisius locked Danae up in a cell, to stay there forever and die of old age there. This did little to discourage Zeus, however, who transformed himself into golden rain and impregnated Danae. When her son, Perseus, was born, Acrisius reacted by locking up mother and son in a chest and throwing it in the sea.

The chest drifts ashore in the island of Seriphos, where it's found by a fisherman, Dictys, and his wife. Perseus is raised with love in this environment, but years later, the king, Polydectes, falls in love with Danae and decides to get rid off Perseus so he can marry her in peace. Polydectes orders Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa, who was once a beautiful woman, but after being caught having sex with Poseidon in Athena's temple, she was transformed by the goddess into a hideous monster with snake for hair.

Perseus begins his journey, and soon enough is visited by Hermes and Athena, who give him items to help him out; Hermes s sword and winged sandals, Athena a shield he can use as a mirror so he won't look straight into Medusa's eyes and be petrified. They also tell him he has to visit the Graeae sisters first. He goes where they live, and forces them to reveal to him Medusa's whereabouts by holding their only eye hostage.

The next quest marker is the garden of Hera, who's oddly cool with his presence, despite him being Zeus' son. There, some nymphs give Perseus some extra gifts; a sack to put in Medusa's head, and a magic helmet that will make him invisible. Perseus sneaks in Medusa's case while she's asleep and chops off her head.

On his way back, he spots a beautiful woman, Andromeda, chained up on a rock by the sea. He gets closer, and Andromeda explains to him that her mother enraged Poseidon (by claiming that her daughter is cuter than his) so he sent a sea monster to ravage the land, and now Andromeda is offered as a human sacrifice to make it stop. Perseus has other plans however, and after an epic battle, the monster lies dead on his feet.

Perseus (with Andromeda) arrives back in Seriphos, whereupon he uses Medusa's head to petrify King Polydectes. Dictys becomes king in his place, and everybody lives happily ever after. As for Acrisius, the prophecy comes true some a few years down the pike; when he was attending some games in the city of Larissa, Perseus happened to be taking part, so he accidentally killed his grandfather when he threw a discus right at his head.

## Credits

In the credits, Red does not sing, and the song *Kiss from a Rose* by Seal plays instead.

## Characters appearing

* Acrisius
* Danae
* Zeus
* Hera
* Perseus
* Dictys
* Clymene
* Polydectes
* Medusa
* Athena
* Hermes
* The Graeae
* Andromeda
* Poseidon
* Cassiopeia

## Trivia

* In the description, Red says she didn't know Andromeda was from Africa when she created the video, and that's why she didn't draw her as black. The Greeks however thought that Andromeda's home country, Aethiopia, was somewhere vaguely in what's today the Middle East, not Africa. Additionally, Andromeda appears fairly light-skinned in a lot of ancient Greek art.

## Notes

1. ↑ In the version where Medusa was turned into a monster (as opposed to being born like that), courtesy of the Roman writer Ovid, Medusa is *raped* by Poseidon in Athena's temple.
2. ↑ The version where Medusa was a human-turned-monster by Athena comes from Ovid; in this version however, Athena only changes her hair into snakes, she doesn't make her ugly. The versions where Medusa *is* petrifyingly ugly have her being born a monster, as opposed to Athena turning her into one.
3. ↑ Actually, she claimed that Andromeda (or she herself) was cuter than the Nereids, who are Nereus' daughters, not Poseidon's.