Chapter 14 Lecture Two of Two Perseus and the Myths of the Argive Plain ©2012 Pearson Education...

Chapter 14Lecture Two of Two

Perseus and the Myths of the Argive Plain

©2012 Pearson Education Inc.

LEGENDS OF PERSEUSDanaë and the Shower of Gold


Shower of Gold

• Lynceus (the one spared) in Argos after Danaüs

• His son Abas has twins– Acrisius, rules in Argos– Proetus, rules in nearby Tiryns

• Acrisius has a daughter, Danaë, but wants sons


Shower of Gold

• Oracles says Danaë will have a son, but that he will kill him (Acrisius)

• Zeus’s “rain shower” impregnates her


Fig. 14.4 Shower of Gold


Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, New York

Shower of Gold

• Set adrift in a wooden box• Dictys at Seriphos• Polydectes

– Perseus tricked into going on a quest for the head of a Gorgon


Fig. 14.5 Locked in a Box


Photograph © 2011 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

THE LEGEND OF PERSEUSPerseus, the Gorgon Slayer


Perseus, the Gorgon Slayer

• Gorgons– Stheno– Euryalê– Medusa (the only mortal Gorgon)

• Help from the Graeae– “Where can the Gorgons be found?”



• Magical implements– Cap of Hades– Winged sandals– The kibisis– Extra sharp sword– Highly polished bronze shield


Fig. 14.6 The Gorgon-Slayer


Musée du Louvre, Paris; © Giraudon/Art Resource, New York


• From the body of Medusa, who was pregnant by Poseidon– Pegasus, later tamed by Bellerophon – Chrysaör

• Perseus frees his mother from Polydectes’s aggression with the head of Medusa


Fig. 14.7

The Gorgon in Flight Perseus in Pursuit


Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich; Hirmer Fotoarchiv, Munich

PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA


Perseus and Andromeda

• A variant has Perseus returning to Seriphos after a few adventures

• Joppa ruled by Cepheus


Perseus and Andromeda

• Cepheus’s daughter, Andromeda, about to be sacrificed to a sea monster, because of the rash boast by her mother, Cassiopeä– Perseus given Andromeda and the kingdom for

having freed her

• Phineus, to whom Andromeda had been betrothed, killed with his men by the head of Medusa


Perspective 1“Although they are false gods, it is lawful in this to imitate the ancients, who under these names hid allegorically the concepts of philosophy."


Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Scala/Art Resource, New York

THE DEATH OF ACRISIUS


The Death of Acrisius

• Perseus returns to Argos• Acrisius flees (it is fated that Perseus will kill

him)• At a sports contest in Thessaly, Perseus

accidentally kills him with a stray discus• Trades Argos of Tiryns with Megapenthes, a

son of Proteus• Perseus also builds Mycenae


The Death of Acrisius

• After a long rule, Perseus and Andromeda become constellations, where their story can be seen


OBSERVATIONSPerseus and Folktale


Perseus and Folktale

• Perseus’ tale is nearly a child’s fairy tale• Closest we have to a folktale• The form of the girl’s tragedy for Danaë



• Prohibition– Can’t marry

• Seclusion– Locked in a chamber

• Violation of the prohibition– The shower

• Threat of punishment or death– Set adrift in a box

• Liberation– Save by Dictys



• Perseus’s story somewhat like Gilgamesh’s– More emphasis on the quest

• Extraordinary birth; his own strength a threat to his family; impossible labors with divine help; rewarded in the end with a kingdom and wife

• Differences: no taboo, no male friend



• Perseus devoid of internal struggle and personality– These are adult themes and not a part of folktale

• Perhaps the Perseus story circulated as oral tales (for children?) before it was written down


MEDUSA’S HEAD


Medusa’s Head

• Deeper, psychological meaning?– Freud: Medusa’s head is the female pudenda

• A reflection of the social conditions under which a young boy was raised?– The death of Medusa symbolic of the boy’s

release from his mother

• Overthrown of aboriginal matriarchy ?


Medusa’s Head

• Medusa perhaps not an original part of the Perseus story

• Homer:– Gorgo on the shield of Agamemnon– Gorgo on the walls of Hades’s palace

• When, where, how, and why the “Gorgons” develop their full iconography is not known


Medusa’s Head

• Cult of the snake goddess?• Image used as apotropaic device


End


Chapter 14 Lecture Two of Two Perseus and the Myths of the Argive Plain ©2012 Pearson Education...

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