MYTHOLOGY: TIMELESS TALES OF GODS & HEROES Chapters 9-12

PERSEUS First of the mythic Greek heroes

Origins of Perseus Son of Zeus and Denae Zeus came to Denae in a shower of gold The Oracle told Denae’s father, King Acrisius of Argos, that his daughter’s son would one day kill him The king threw Denae and Perseus into the water in a wooden chest Mother and child washed onto shore Perseus raised by Dictys (brother to Polydectes) who rescued them

The Quest for Medusa Polydectes, the king of the island Seriphos is in love with Denae Perseus will not allow the king to marry his mother The king sends Perseus on a seemingly impossible quest He is to bring back the head of Medusa as a gift The king figured Perseus would be turned to stone once he looked at her

Medusa the Gorgon One of the Gorgon sisters Depicted as beautiful and terrifying Born beautiful like her sisters; she was vain about her hair Athena punishes Medusa for her relationship with Poseidon Athena turns her hair into serpents Athena makes her face so terrifying that one look at her would turn a man to stone

The Graeae – The Gray Women Perseus consults Athena about how to cut off Medusa’s head He’s directed to the Graeae to ask them the whereabouts of the Hesperides, who have weapons to defeat Medusa The Graeae are three perpetually old women who share one eye and one tooth between them Perseus steals the eye and demands to know where he can find the Hesperides (nymphs)

Hesperides (Nymphs) Nymphs tending Hera’s orchard Hesperides give Perseus a knapsack to hold the head of Medusa From Zeus he receives an “adamantine sword” and the “cloak of invisibility” Hermes loans Perseus some winged sandals Athena gives him a polished shield

The Slaying of Medusa Perseus visits the gorgons’ cave He views Medusa only through the reflection on his polished shield He hovered above her with his winged Slays Medusa with his adamantine sword Escapes from the sisters Gorgon by using the cloak of invisibility

The Rescue of Andromeda On his return journey Perseus stops at Ethiopia He finds that a lovely maiden has been given up to be devoured by a horrible sea serpent Andromeda was daughter of Casiopeaia, who was being punished for her vanity Poseidon sends sea serpents to gobble up the Ethiopians Perseus falls in love with Andromeda and rescues her

Polydectes Turned to Stone Perseus returns to his mother with Andromeda and Medusa’s head His mother is in hiding, afraid of King Polydectes When he shows the head to the kin and his servants they all turned to stone The island was free from the tyrant Polydectes

The Prophecy Fulfilled Perseus and Denae return to Argos to be reconciled with Acrisius They found the king had been driven away and no one knew where to find him Perseus enters a discus-throwing competition in Larissa He hurls the discus into the crowd and it hits and kills Acrisius

THESEUS

Theseus, King of Athens Son of Athenian King, Aegeus Raised by his mother in southern Greece When he first went to Athens to meet his father, he refused to go by sea, because it was too safe He wanted to prove himself as a hero on the way to Athens He meets and defeats a number of nasty monsters and villains along the way, including:

Villian: Procrustes Kept a house by the side of the road where he offered hospitality to passing strangers Invited his guests in for a night’s rest in his very special bed. Procrustes described it as having the unique property that its length exactly matched whomsoever lay down upon it. This "one-size-fits-all" was achieved by stretching the guest on the rack if he was too short for the bed and chopping off his legs if he was too long. Theseus turned the tables on Procrustes, fatally adjusting him to fit his own bed.

Villain: Sinis the Pinebender Bandit and son of Poseidon Known as “Pinebender” Killed people by fastening them to two pine trees bent to the ground Catapulted them to their deaths Theseus captured Sinis and catapulted him to his death in the same manner

Villian: Sciron Made those he captured kneel to wash his feet and then kicked them over a cliff into the sea into the mouth of a giant turtle Theseus killed Sciron by hurling him over a precipiece

Quest for the Minotaur Greatest deed was killing the minotaur Every seven years King Minos of Crete forces Athenians to send a seven boys and seven girls to Crete where they are fed to the Minotaur - a half-man, half-bull who lives a maze called the Labyrinth. Theseus volunteers to be one of the boys and gets sent to Crete

Ariadne When Theseus arrives at Crete, King Minos’s daughter falls in love with him Ariadne assists Theseus to slay the Minotaur by giving him a ball of string Theseus agrees to take Ariadne with him in exchange for her help He slays the minotaur Finds his way out by following the ball of string

The Return to Athens On the return trip to Athens Theseus leaves Ariadne on the island of Naxxos Dionysus claims her as his wife-to- be Theseus forgets to remove the black sail on his ship and to replace it with a white one Aegeus then thinks Theseus is dead and throws himself into the sea

The Geography of Greece